REDS:

One could probably just skip this section because my red program is languishing at this time.  I have certainly made lots of crosses using many excellent red parents but nothing of true distinction or significant improvement has shown up among the seedlings so far.  Oh, there are some pretty blooms, some large blooms, some true red flowers that do not slick on hot days, some well branched and budded scapes, some rebloomers, etc., but not a single seedling in the group combines all of the traits I want in the line I am trying to develop, so it is back to the drawing board next year.  Meanwhile, here are a few seedling photos.

                         1                                    1a                                         2                                                3

4                                      5                                   6

Seedling #1 is likely the best of this group.  It is a baby from my best red breeder for rebloom, T01-06 (see FUTURES section later in this narrative), which is SERENA DANCER x PEARL HARBOR 3.  In a cross with GREAT WHITE pollen, the resulting seedlings have excellent scapes with wide branching (see photo 1a), the blooms are large at 6 in., ruffled, there is vigor and excellent rebloom. It sends up the first scape, then an instant rebloom scape, then sends up another scape in late July or early August.  It is quite fertile too.  So what is the problem?  Bloom substance by 2 pm the color fades and by 4 pm the blooms can look pretty haggard on hot, humid days in late July and August.  I am using it heavily with plants whose blooms hold better in the heat and will bloom quite a few seedlings this coming summer and next year.

Seedlings #2 and #3 are crosses of PELES FIRE x MOMENTUM and show a little of the variety MOMENTUM can give to sibs in a cross. Both are large blooms - #3 approaches 7 in., but the scapes are low and in their first year of bloom there was not much in the way of branching and budcount.  I will have to wait until next year to give them a thorough evaluation.

Seedling #4 is SERENA DANCER x GREAT WHITE and is a huge, 8 in. bloom with nice ruffling.  The scape was tall too, but with only 1 lateral branch, it is going to have to develop much more next year before it ever gets flagged for further consideration.

Seedlings #5 and #6 are sibs from (SERENA DANCER x PEARL HARBOR 3) X WOMEN SEEKING MEN.  Scape height and branching are good, so is bloom size, but there’s no rebloom and I would like to see better color quality.

I will be making some crosses between the half sibs, #1 onto #5 and #6 this coming season in hopes of reinforcing some of the positive traits of both plants and overcoming some of the faults.  

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