> That's a really pretty AB, Donald. Do you think you might change
your mind about introducing things?
It is. I'm not suprised. I thought the cross might give some nice
things.
As for introducing something, my disinclination is not written in
stone. I'm not qualified. Not being a judge, I can only evaluate
something by comparing it to things others introduce. I'd be
insecure about a selection in the best circumstances. Under my
conditions it would be really hard. I think there is one seedling
here that is probably worthy in terms of growth, bloom habits. garden
impact and distinctiveness - but just the one. That evaluation comes
after growing it over 3-4 years. Nice blooms aren't enough. They
seem to come about regularly. But plant habits, health etc. have had
enough faults or difficulties to rule most out. Also, they need to
be unique. I wouldn't want to introduce look-alikes.
The real crunch comes otherwise, though. The whole process of
introducing something sounds miserable to me. I do this for my
enjoyment. What I enjoy is getting a seed and growing it to a
blooming plant. To introduce anything I would have to relinquish
hard-won space to give to growing rhizomes that would otherwise be
given to doing what I do enjoy. I really do have a program, but it
involves plants where seeds are hard to get and even harder to get
any germination. They may not have the quality of bloom, but those
plants are more interesting to me than more straightforward crosses
that yield much superior blooms. Because germination is so hard to
come by, I make other crosses - such as this one - because otherwise
I'm having to care for pots of seeds that aren't likely to
germinate. These motivate me to care for planted seeds because many
are going to give me live plants. It's hard to toss really nice TBs
and ABs while keeping and growing something else, but it needs to be
done to keep focused. I sure don't do enough tossing.
In a way that's too bad. I think more folks working and introducing
ABs is needed. However, at my age and with my program I really don't
see any intros coming down the pike.
Donald
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