Disgusted

From Mike Groothuis   (bounced for some reason, Dan)
 
I was leafing through the "volume" of this years new registrations and was
completely disgusted. Granted there are many many plants that were worth
introducing and registering, I found there is an increasing number that
should remain in the garden and stay away from any registration form.
"Cordate, rugose, puckered, blue green, leaf 8 by 9, (sieboldiana hybrid) x
(sieboldiana hybrid). Have I seen this one before? Hmmm...I think so.
Another is a 2 year old streaked plant from weak parents. My favorite is
seeing hostas registered, you read through the description only to read the
bottom few lines, "original seedling 1 year old growing, blah-blah-blah."
Sorry folks, but I for one, am afraid for the hosta business if this keeps
up. How will we be able to tell plants apart if there are 57 clones of a
single plant? Worse yet, what if there are 57 clones of 57 other clones all
resembling 57 clones of an original sport from say . . 1982? How many of you
can swear on your LIFE that your 'Elegans' isn't one of the other
sieboldiana clones. Are you willing to bet some money that your 'Christmas
Tree' isn't 'Grand Master'? I personally feel that some people just want to
see their name printed in that registration book for their 10 minutes of
glory. Please understand that I am certainly not pointing my finger in any
particular direction. What ever happened to growing a unique hosta for 5,6,
or 7 years and properly EVALUATING and photographing it periodically to
track it's growth? Reading through this years issue, I see it less and less.
This isn't a race to register your plant first. Actually chances are,
there's already a better plant out there. They're just little plants that we
enjoy growing for the fun and beauty of it. Let's not flood the market with
plants that aren't garden worthy. You can tell me, "Mike's you really can't
talk here. You've NEVER registered anything." Well, that's true, but being
in the graphic design business I've learned one important thing. A third
party on the outside looking in, occasionally can have better views and
opinions than I could ever come up with on my own. That's my two cents.
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