HYB: lighten up

Yesterday I reported that a seedling, which first bloomed in the house after
being brought in to avoid a deep freeze, was a red-violet self.  Indeed, it
is, but today, a third bud opened and, upon taking it outside to photograph in
natural light, I saw that the beard, which appeared to be as red-violet as the
petals when seen indoors, is actually blue-violet.  Granted, one must look
closely.  But if one can visualize the very thinnest of lines dividing the two
shades, the petals are on one side of the line and the beard on the other.  I
brought it back inside and, under incandescent light, it once again appeared
to be red-violet.  I then put it under flourescent light, and the blue-violet
shade was just discernable.

I mention this in order to buttress a little peeve of mine, which is the
lighting found at shows, which ranges, in my experience, from good to awful.
Sometimes, I think that the folks choosing the place were so concerned about
finding available space that they gave very little, if any, thought to the
lighting.  The opinion is strengthened when I see that the shades are still
drawn.  And, if anyone doubts that lighting can make a difference, try taking
some varieties outside the showroom into natural light and see the difference.
A variety that will illustrate this very well is LUMALITE.  It is an
attractive flower in any case, but in natural light it fairly glows!

More than once, I have heard judges debating, because of its shade, the
labeled identity of a flower being exhibited.  And more than once, we have
carried them outside to help decide.  Some flowers which have iridescence in
the garden look bland under certain indoor lighting, and the same happens to
some varieties that have "diamond dusting" on the petals.  The judging of
seedlings is, I think, particularly affected by poor lighting.

At one show, the darkest place in the room (really gloomy) was the alcove
where the awards table was set up!  The reason: a spotlight bulb was out.
While the hotel manager was telling me that it might be 2 hours before the
hotel's contract electrician could get to changing the bulb, one of our
members climbed up and found that the bulb was only loose.  Fiat lux!  We were
lucky.  The point here, however, is that had the lighting been checked and the
management informed when the room was being set up, we wouldn't have faced a
last-minute crisis.

For what it's worth, I think that the more natural light that can be let in,
the better.  Glass-topped malls and high-windowed gymnasiums come to mind.
But sometimes, a lot can be achieved by just opening all the blinds!  --
Griff

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