HYB: Seedlings

---

Sorry, the first two messages seem to be reversed.

This week the row covers came off as the largest seedlings reached the top.

The seeds in the two pots had 32 and 34 seedlings growing from the 36 each planted.  They all germinated at the same time and were the same size.  However they had stopped growing at three inches high, were a paler color and just didn’t look as healthy as those in the ground.

In the bed, 492 are growing out of a little over 800 planted.  They range from ½ inch to ten inches in height and some seem to be still coming up. 

The empty space in the left row of the picture is where one large cross, Silverado X (Pink Lenox x Celebration Song), had zero germination.  Yesterday I filled it in with those from one of my pots.  Strangely, Appleblossom Days X the same seedling, is growing 14 vigorous plants out of 15 seeds.  Such a variation is hard for me to understand as I had heard that Silverado was a good parent.

Half of the seeds were from 2002, and many of them had germinated in the refrigerator.  However I can’t find any difference in the final germination percentage.  I had more crosses that did poorly from 2002 than from 2003 so that distorts the data.  The one cross that I made each year had a nearly identical germination rate.  

They all have at least one and mostly two pink parents, combinations of Happenstance, Appleblossom Days, Pond Lily and Elegant Girl.  At least ¼ of them have one SA parent, besides EG, Margaret Inez, Coral Point, Twice Thrilling and Mesmerizer.  Three crosses with Pink Champagne as pollen parent seem very vigorous.

They give me a lot to hope for in 2005, unless we have a summer like 2002 and they nearly all die.  If the worst should happen, there will be plenty of room for the strong survivors to grow.

Francelle Edwards  Glendale, AZ  Zone 9