RE: Re: HYB: seedling changes was PHOTO JEANNE HOLLEY SEEDLING
From: "Mark, Maureen" <MARKM@tc.gc.ca>
Hi Linda,
From my observations, changes to a seedling are related to its growth and
maturity. It can affect any part of a plant from the number of branches,
quality of the stalk, depth of colour of the bloom, number of blooms,
substance, vigor etc.
This is not unique to iris seedlings but applies to all plant seedlings and
even plants that have been divided or propagated in any other way. Many
hybridizers consider their seedlings to be children and observe them
"growing up". Like humans, maturity can mean no change, little change, some
change, lots of change and dramatic change -- some change quickly, some
change slowly and some change for the better, some for the worse.
From what I've seen, changes to bloom colour and pattern are minor. Colour
can fade, deepen or take on a slightly differently hue but not change colour
completely. Patterns can vary slightly such as more stippling on plicatas
or a slightly broader band edging the falls, but you won't see changes such
as bicolours becoming selfs.
As to physiology, I speculate that the plants undergo a botanical equivalent
of adolescence.
Maureen Mark
Ottawa, Canada (zone 4) -- where it was a frigid -51C with windchill this
morning
> From: linda Mann <lmann@mailhub.icx.net>
>
> Would some of you who have had experience with seedlings and the way
> they 'metamorphose' talk about this some? It's been mentioned here, but
> not discussed enough for me to know what it means.
>
> Are all seedlings different their first year of bloom? What's
> different? How does it change (abruptly the next year or gradually over
> several years)? Do some charactersitics take longer to change than
> others? Are the changes only related to plant habit or do they apply to
> bloom color and pattern as well?
>
> And anything else you can think of.
>
> Such as, does anybody know or care to speculate about <why> these
> changes happen (re: plant morphology/physiology)?
>
> Linda Mann east Tennessee USA
>
>
>
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