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Antirrhinum 'Jamaican Mist'

Vicki Morin Gallagher wrote: 'Do you know whether Antirrhinum 'Jamaican
Mist' is a color selection or a hybrid?... Do snapdragons bloom inside in
winter?'


It so happens that last week I was looking at part of the seed crop of
Antirrhinum 'Jamaican Mist'. The seed is produced by Thompson & Morgan
themselves, it is not a hybrid, but an open pollinated cultivar created by
blending seed collected from a number of different controlled populations.

The seed is grown in blocks of separate 'shades': pale apricot hades, dark
apricot shades, pale pink shades, dark pink shades.... The bees are left to
do the pollination in each block and seed is then collected from each of
these blocks and mixed in controlled proportions to give the blend in the
packet.

This technique is being used increasingly in open pollinated cultivars as
an intermediate between simply growing a huge field full of all the colours
and collecting all the seed (which gives the breeder relatively little
control) and the usual formula mix technique of growing each colour in the
mix separately, roguing rigorously to keep it uniform and then blending to
a set formula. It is far easier (and cheaper) simply to grow blocks of
similar shades rather than rogue to pure colours.

Antirrhinums can be grown under glass over the winter, and many cut flowers
are produced this way; a minumum temperature of 12C is usually recommended
for this but plants will survive happily at lower temperatures. Individual
plants of 'JamaicanMist' could easily be rooted and grown on, rust would
probably be the main problem.

Graham Rice
graham@groll.demon.co.uk
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