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Re: [SG] Parentage of plants

Hello Lesa,
        I would like to invite you to one of my slide presentations or editions of
my newsletters, or articles I have written. My whole aim is in finding
plants that will do well in my area. Plants that will thrive with
'ordinary" care and maintenance. I do stress understanding the needs of a
plant.  Relationships with plants and ultimately the garden are similar to
ones between people. One must try to understand and appreciate the needs of
the other. You do your best to supply and nurture and then allow growth to
happen in its own time and way.
        Relationships are not always complete successes with people or plants.
Sometimes it takes years to realize you  bedded a plant that will suck all
the energy out of the garden, infect or poorly effect the rest of the
plants.
        I find no pleasure and do find some snobbery in the growing of a plant for
its difficulty. I do not gain anything from a relationship with a difficult
person no matter how beautiful on the outside. If they are hard to get
along with...they are hard to get along with.... and I need to be somewhere
else in life.
        It would seem not too many warnings get into print today about plants the
author considers inferior. Everyone is too busy censoring themselves before
the article ever goes to the editor. The circle between magazine and
advertisor is a tight one. No one wants to offend with what is ultimately
an opinion. Gardening articles are exactly that...including my own. Just
opinions. If you are lucky they are opinions based upon personal
experience. I try to stress this in my slide presentations. If you have
something that works for you, and I am saying the contrary,  then ignore me
until I say something that does apply.
        I am not into the latest and greatest of anything. I do read and I do on
occasion play with a new entry into the market. Since I am into the native
aspect of gardening more than anything else, I do no face the pressure you
are in the perennial market. Daylilies, Hosta, and to a lesser extent, a
few other plants are driven by money more than beauty or performance in the
garden. I do not find much pleasure in paying $200 for a plant that my
neighbor does not have. You will find some lovely Hosta in my shade garden,
but most have been around for over 60 years in the trade and they sure are
great performers. Some of the news minis have trouble existing outside a
nursery pot.
        My advice is to trust yourself more. I have watched your messages in the
past. you know.
        Gene Bush     Southern Indiana    Zone 6a     Munchkin Nursery
          around the woods - around the world
genebush@otherside.com     http://www.munchkinnursery.com

----------
>
> Clyde brought up something that I find very frustrating: I attend garden
> society meetings, and the speaker whips up a photo of a stunning plant,
> then says something like, it's from such and such and therefore not
> vigorous...but if you're interested in growing something difficult...
>
> Sure, knowing the parentage will allow you to avoid paying a fortune for
a
> genetically inferior plant, but where do you get information about
previous
> genetically inferior plants??  I really don't see gardening articles that
> warn the unsuspecting gardener to avoid such and such because they aren't
> vigorous after X years.
>
> How does one find out this information?  Are there records kept of
crosses
> somewhere?  How can the average person, without access to university
> research or large urban libraries find this information?  Keep in mind
> that this average gardener doesn't have thousands of dollars to invest in
> reference materials...
>
> And, whenever I join a specialty society, be it Hosta, Rock Gardening, or
> Daffodil, I find the long-time members are interested in the high-priced
> introductions or in growing difficult plants!   .
>
> Oh, well, I don't know what I want in terms of a solution, but this whole
> aspect of gardening frustrates me no end...
>
> Lesa in Coventry, Connecticut, zone 5
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