TB: early bloom

They are coming!
I'll have to go clean up my beds in the next few days, and I'm sure I'll see
more, but a quick glance shows a few aphids from this early hot weather (time
for that systemic insecticide/fertilizer).

Also, current stalks on:
Stingray (of course)
Rock Star
New Leaf
Plum Wine
Fancy Woman
Floorshow
Cupid's Arrow (the prettiest currently blooming)
Busy Butterfly

And fan swellings indicating incipient stalks on:
Louisa's Song
Valentine's Day
Honky Tonk Blues X Larry Gaulter
Spirit World X Epicenter
Mulled Wine X Reincarnation

And probably a lot more that I'll notice when I clean up the beds.  The early
bloom on the seedlings is surprising; it is their first bloom season and they
are not too large yet, also they are a bit more shaded than most of my other
beds.  They also get more water (probably too much); maybe a good screening
for rot resistance.  They were baked in the sun to the point of significant
foliar bleaching last summer in crowded and insufficiently watered 3" deep
trays.  Darwin is working overtime.  Anything I introduce (someday?) is
unlikely to be a wimp.  Actually all this is rationalizing my abusive
treatment due to a lack of time and space, but the surviving plants should be
healthy growers.  I just hope I don't consistently eliminate the best genes if
they are linked to ones for finicky growth; it could be argued that that is
the reason why two "broken color" crosses I made resulted in no broken color
seedling among those that bloomed.

John Reeds
lamegardener@msn.com
USDA zone 9b in sunny southern California,
where the weather the last few weeks has been like (high: 80, low: 50)

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