HIST: Re:Emma Cook pattern

Fred Kerr's use of the description for the banded falls as "the Emma Cook pattern" as undoubtedly since then you (Harold Peters) have learned refers directly to the first of this type, one which Paul Cook introduced as 'Emma Cook' along with the DM winner, 'Whole Cloth' and the excellent parent 'Melodrama.'
 
I remember them well. When they were first introduced a friend in the Boise area bought 'Whole Cloth' and 'Melodrama.'  The next spring she came down to my garden bringing a bloom of each.  Not one scrap of the pollen on those six stamens was wasted.  There were some very interesting seedlings, one of which should have been introduced.  Circumstances and other involvements got in the way.
 
I don't recall just when I acquired 'Emma Cook,' but I have a memory of a very long, fat seedpod in which there were 90 seeds.  That is the record number I have ever seen in any one pod from those I've grown.  I don't remember ever blooming the offspring, however.  There were just too many complications in my various endeavors during those years.
 
A couple years ago I came close to matching 'Emma Cook's' seed count. 'Happenstance' and 'Vienna Waltz' had pods three years ago with 87 and 81 seeds in single pods, both from pollen from a seedling since named 'Power Woman' whose parents were Swingtown X Romantic Evening.  I guess the Lady had plenty of male power too.
 
One thing I also remember about 'Emma Cook' is that the fall band was not as sharply defined as in Kerr's best products.  Those seem unusually neat and clean.  The original 'Emma Cook' had a somewhat irregular and blended inner border that did not give a crisp impression such as more recent banded beauties have had.
 
Neil Mogensen   z 7 western NC

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