RE: Re: HYB Goals

Char Holte <cholte@wi.rr.com> wrote:

I would like to see a flower that would last a little
longer. In spring three days is the max here yes there are new ones usually
on the same stalk opening but one more day would be a bonus.


Char,

Growing considerable numbers of Historic TBs (mostly 1930's to '50's intros) and modern TB's (mostly from the 1980's to the present) virtually side by side, one of the consistent distinctions I have noticed between them is the greater durability of the individual blooms on the modern TB's. It is probably no more than a one-day advantage on average, but given that the average lifetime of an individual bloom on the Historics is barely more than two days, that represents nearly a 50% increase (in just 50 years of hybridizing). It doesn't seem like much, but it does show that durability of individual blooms is a trait that responds to selection.

The greater lasting power of individual blooms on modern cultivars does not mean that the average total length of bloom on modern clumps is longer than on Historics; in my experience the Historics tend to have more stalks per clump, and more buds per stalk, which tends to counterbalance the shorter duration of the individual blooms.



Jeff Walters
in northern Utah
(USDA Zone 4)

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