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Re: [SG] Parentage of plants

Gene: Hear, hear!

All of us non-commercial types have limited space in our gardens...I give a
plant 3-4 years to prove itself for me (may even move it if I think that
will help) then if it doesn't perform, or at least give me a hint that it
will in the near future, Off With Its Head (or at least Off to Somebody
Else's Garden!!)

Gerry

At 03:42 PM 6/22/98 -0400, you wrote:
>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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