... growing and hybridizing all kinds of plants in zone 6b Maryland since the 1980's.

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Hibiscus 'Blue River II' X grandiflorus

Well the hybrid seedling looks like it's not going to bloom as early as mama, which is in full bloom now. But at least it's going to bloom well before frost, which is much better than papa. This picture was taken almost a week ago, so I should be posting open bloom pictures soon. I don't expect this one to be a great garden plant itself, but the breeding potential it should have is what makes me so happy to have it.

Rubus illecebrosus

Rubus illecebrosus hardly evers sets any fruit here, so I'm pretty sure this red fruit is holding hybrid seeds. It formed after I put pollen from yellow 'Anne' raspberry on a flower of illecebrosus. That's 'Anne' below it, for comparison.

Sleeping bat

This little fellow decided to rest under our front porch the other day. He left when it started getting dark.



Rosa palustris X fedtschenkoana

Fun new rose species cross seedlings. And yes the foliage is just as blue as the picture shows it. There's no doubt about its hybridity, since that blueness is just like the pollen parent.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Rosa palustris

I was out competing with probably a hundred bumblebees this morning, trying to do some crosses on my single 7 ft tall plant of the native swamp rose (Rosa palustris). The combined buzzing of all those bees was amazingly loud. One I'm most hopeful to see offspring from, would be from some frozen Rosa xanthina pollen. I also did a few blooms with 'Old Blush' pollen (only had one flower because the plant is new and small), and a dozen or so with pollen of 'Winner's Circle'. Here are some blooms of Rosa palustris and one of those little bumblebees for scale.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Daylily Seedlings

Daylilies are in full bloom here so I'll post pictures of some seedlings from a few fun crosses.
These three seedlings have bloomed before. They're ones that I selected for their nice purple foliage bases. 

Next are seven seedlings from hakuunensis x various reds and purples. I didn't get the seeds collected from these crosses until after most had dropped, but then didn't get the collected ones planted. So these self-sown seedlings are all I've got from those crosses.

One year I used pollen from 'Blue Moon Rising' on a bunch of different daylilies. 'Blue Moon Rising' is pretty cool looking but didn't seem very happy here, so I was hoping to incorporate its pretty blue eye genes into some different lines. All of the seedlings are pretty vigorous and all have a similar look. I'm hoping that intercrossing will get me the blue eye back.
 Last picture is a volunteer seedling - most likely from the two seedlings of 'Double Cutie' X citrina that I have growing nearby. I have no idea who the pollen parent was but this offspring is darker yellow, wavy edged and taller than my belly button. Should be neat to see how it looks as a clump in the next couple years.