This week I was sorting through my 2009 photo library and encountered a group of photos depicting seedlings from a 2006 cross of 'Joycie' X 'Fortune's Double Yellow'. For most of these seedlings, 2009 was their first flowering and I documented all of the dozen or so that had bloomed. I intended on writing about these ages ago, but had forgotten to do so!
Rather than assemble these photos all into one article, I am going to present them one at a time over a period of a few days. More fun that way, don't you think? ;-)
47-06-01, the seedling depicted here, was the first one to bloom, flowering for the first time in 2008. It was one of only two that bloomed in its second year and this photo illustrates its second year of blooming. As it happens, this is the only one out of 14 that shows strong yellow/orange coloring. The rest are pinks with various shadings of red or peach. (well, one is a clear pink and one is a lavender/pink) This bloom is about 1.5" in diameter, has no fragrance, lasts for several days and tends to deepen in color rather than fading with age. The photo is an accurate depiction: it is a deep yellow/orange with a dark rust colored overlay towards the outer petal edges.
The idea here had been to introduce remontancy genes into the 'Fortune's Yellow' breeding, and to reduce the size of the plant by using 'Joycie', a miniature. It was hoped that some strong yellows would result, but that wasn't the case, except this one plant. None of these seedlings has shown any inclination to repeat, which may or may not happen with age. However, all of these seedlings should have one copy of the modern remontancy gene which can be passed on to the next generation, assuming there is some fertility moving forward.
47-06-01 is one of about four selections that I attempted to use in breeding in 2009. Not one of these four set seed (in fact none of this group of seedlings set open pollinated seed). However, pollen from this seedling (and one other, which I will describe soon) did result in a few seeds when placed on some of my more willing seed setters. We will see in a few months whether any of these seeds is viable or not. I will continue to use pollen from two seedlings from this cross in other crosses in 2010.
In terms of plant habit and behavior, this seedling (and most of the others) is what you might describe as a "climbing miniature", with long arching canes that branch and bloom on the lateral branches. Most of these remain under 6 feet tall so far, but I get the impression that some of them will exceed that height by at least 2X. All but one have small, modern looking foliage. At this time, all are growing in containers in one greenhouse, and so I know little about disease resistance, except to say that they have all shown a marked resistance to Mildew when grown under glass. All of these are moderately thorny as well, and have proven to be quite deciduous, unlike 'Fortune's Yellow' which is inclined to hang on to its foliage.
Stay tuned for more about the 47-06 group.
Pictured here is 47-06-06, the sixth of this group of seedlings to bloom.
