Re: mystery coreopsis - Millions in the making?
- To: perennials@mallorn.com
- Subject: Re: mystery coreopsis - Millions in the making?
- From: D* M*
- Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1998 19:12:07 -0600
>Please do keep us posted. I love anything with a blue foliage!!!!! Maybe
>you'll make millions or have something named after you.
>
>Sandy
>
Nearly 5 years ago, while vacationing in Costa Rica, I noticed a hollyhock
of quite unusual coloration.
(For a picture, see: http://www.excecpc.com/~llmen/holly.jpg )
I found some mature seeds, brought them home (I had an import permit) and
proceeded to grow them here in Wisconsin. Following survival in a typical
Wisconsin winter, they grew and flowered again, with the same coloration.
I decided to contact some flower/seed growers to see if there was any
interest in marketing this plant. I contacted White Flower Farm, Park
Seed, Burpee, and Thompson & Morgan. They all express initial interest,
but only Thompson & Morgan followed through. I got the impression that
one's best bet is to secure naming rights (ala Daphne 'Carol Mackie') and
that in most cases monetary compensation is quite modest.
Thompson & Morgan is growing a test crop of 200 plants this summer and may
offer it in their year 2000 catalog if the plant continues to grow true
from seed. Don't look for Alcea rosea 'Don Martinson', however. I've
requested that it be named 'Centennial'.
Any comments on this cultivar are welcome (e.g. Would you buy seeds of this
plant???)
Don Martinson
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
d*@post.its.mcw.edu
"Existing order thrives upon ignorance and lies.
Objective truth and individual reason are feared above all."
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