Re: perennials DIGEST V3 #529

Mea, I know Graham can probably answer this better, but will stick in my
oar FWIW...  

You are right that seed from hybrids doesn't come "true" in the sense that
it might from an isolated stand of a species (which, however would have a
good deal of variation in it).  For instance, I have H. foetidus 'Wester
Flisk'.  It seeds all over the place.  All of the plants are H. foetidus,
but some of the plants grow up to have the characteristic red stained stems
and some don't...some have some staining and some have more.   In reality,
I should never call these plants 'Wester Flisk', but something like
'hellebores of the 'Wester Flisk' strain'.  I grew my original stand from
seed in the first place.

However, what I think is going on in regard to hybrids is controlled
crosses which produce seedlings of whom a large percentage will have the
characteristics desired.  They won't be absolutely identical, but in many
cases, close enough to what is wanted.  To be certain that you have
produced a plant with the desired characteristics, you need to grow it on
to flowering size (something like at least 3 years) and then, probably
another year as I understand the first flowers are not necessarily typical
of what a mature plant will produce.  

But, if you're aiming for 'white flowers' or 'pink flowers' or another
specific trait, and you have enough experience with your crosses, you can
be pretty certain that most of the plants from that seed will turn out to
be 'white' or 'pink' or whatever.  Thus, growing seed from named or
specific strains will produce (generally) plants characteristic of that
strain.

As I understand it, all plants grown from seed need to be termed 'strain'
(or something like this).  Only vegetative propagation of named cultivars 
should carry the 'Cultivar' name.  As I understand current hellebore
propagation, this needs to be done by division.  I believe some work is
being done with tissue culture, but without fantastic results as of yet.

Also, from what I have read, the genus Hellebore is incredibly variable. 
Isolated wild stands of a species will have considerable variation within
in them as to leaf shape and flower color (this information gleaned from a
talk by Will McLewin as well as reading Graham's great book).

Hope I got this right:-)

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@clark.net
Editor:  Gardening in Shade
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----------
> From: Zick, Mea <Mea.Zick@arbitron.com>
> Date: Thursday, December 02, 1999 2:49 PM
> 
> One of the posts mentioned ordering seeds for Hellebores hybrids.  It was
my
> understanding that seeds of hybrids don't come true, that the hybrid
plant
> must be vegetatively propagated.  Can someone clarify this for me? 
Thanks!
> Mea

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