Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
alicia7b

Do you have 'originals' in your garden?

alicia7b
16 years ago

Seedlings you've kept that are gardenworthy? This is one of the Prunus mume I grew from seed:

{{gwi:560753}}

I know, I know, it looks just like one of the many cultivars out there but I like it. I grew a bunch from seed and they're all different, from color and flower size to fragrant to habit. Some are in my yard and some in MIL's yard. Next year I need to post them in full bloom if they'll cooperate -- some years they only bloom in flushes due to freezes. I have some seedling roses I want to post some pictures of when they bloom.

How about you? Do you have keepers that originated in your own garden?

Comments (44)

  • Hollyclyff
    16 years ago

    This is my favorite daylily seedling that I've kept.

    {{gwi:560754}}

  • alicia7b
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Dana, that is beautiful.

  • tamelask
    16 years ago

    Dana that's a stunner! Have you ever considered getting it named, etc? What's involved in that anyhow?

    I have some seedling daylilies that have crossed and siberian iris crosses, but nothing out of the ordinary. My mentor, Betty, has a stunning sport of her pink single chrysanthemum (the one i've brought to the swaps many times) that is a much deeper shade of magenta rather than the baby pink i have. It's really gorgeous.

  • alicia7b
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Dana, what is the parentage of that daylily?

  • Hollyclyff
    16 years ago

    Thanks for the compliments. I wish I knew the parentage, but either the deer or squirrels messed up my labels and I have no idea. I don't even know if it's a tet or a dip. I moved it to my protected area so I can try and set some pods on it to test that out. I'm sure it doesn't come up to professional daylily breeder standards, but I just love the color and don't have any others like it.

  • aisgecko
    16 years ago

    Tammy, is it a sport or seedling chrysanthemum? If it's a seedling I wonder if it crossed with a darker one of those popular fall varieties. (A sport is a mutation on the same plant, I think) I'm just curious. It sounds neat. The single ones I've seen are usually pale pink or peach.

  • tamelask
    16 years ago

    Dana, i have one about that color and it's one of my very favorites. Almost all of mine are old varieties and the tags are long buried, so i couldn't tell you what it's called. I was just beginning when I did that and if i did it now, it'd be different. Yours is a gorgeous color.

    Ais- it was a sport- part of the light pink plant, not a seedling. I'm not sure but i think the parent may be the single pink that Elizabeth Lawrence liked so much. I know she has the light peach, too- because she gave some of that to Carla. She plants very few 'modern' things- her love is the old fashioned stuff. Unfortunately, I don't have it, and sadly, her and her husband's health is ailing to the point she hasn't been up to the 'farm' in Louisburg where it is in nearly a year. We just visited with her in Raleigh yesterday. She's 86 and it just breaks my heart to see her in such a way, and i know it kills her not being able to get up there. She can barely walk right now. Her hired guy did move some to another spot where it's thriving . I'm hoping i can talk him into getting me a piece at some point, but it's a weird situation (the short story is Betty is funny about stuff sometimes, rarely, and that's one of the few things). The last thing i want to do is make her mad. So i'll just wait, patiently. She's contributed a lot to gardens and gardeners in this area (she's very well known among the older set), and i'd love to see it named and in the trade in her honor.

  • alicia7b
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Tammy I hope you can get a piece of that mum. It sounds beautiful and it would be great to have something named in her honor.

  • aisgecko
    16 years ago

    Tammy, it would be wonderful if you could get it named for her. That seems like a very unique mutation (not that I really know).
    I'm constantly on the lookout for unusual seedlings or mutations. I think it's every gardener's dream to find a "new" plant. The closest I've come is a clump of solomon's seal among my natives with red-ish stems. My best guess is that it got cross pollinated with the variegated ones in the back yard. It's not terribly exciting, but I like them.
    And I found a daffodil in the woods that had a bunch of frill, but no discernable "cup". I don't know if it's unique or anything, but I've never seen one. (I'm debating the morality of sneaking a bulb off the clump, or at least collecting seeds) Maybe I'll go get a picture or it and see if anyone can identify it. -Ais.

  • alicia7b
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Some of the best plants that Michael Dirr introduced were plants that he found.

  • trianglejohn
    16 years ago

    In my limited experience rubbing elbows with the hoity-toity plant breeders/growers/sellers, they get a LOT of their unusual offerings from other gardeners. People find something weird in their flowerbed and send it to them to trial and promote, often without ever seeking compensation.

  • tamelask
    16 years ago

    Well, since Betty knows and is friends with some of the hoity- toits, it's up to her if she wants to do that while she's around. If nothing happens, perhaps after she's gone I'll see if her family thinks it could be done- but i'm not pushing the issue now. She knows what she has- she was extremely excited when she showed me a few yrs ago. Ed, her help, also knows some movers & shakers, so if she still wanted it done even with her health the way it is, she could. I do hope it happens one way or the other- she deserves it. She's had some interesting rose seedlings pop up, too, as well as daylilies. Her big 3 loves are daylilies, iris and roses- all the old types. Probably has more than 200 different roses, and at least that many daylilies and iris, too. Her place is amazing in spring. With their health, i think the annual, well attended open houses are done. They used to host 2 weekends a year in april/may as well as a rose cutting workshop and daylily tour in june. So sad, in many ways. She was featured in Carolina Gardener last year, but the article really didn't have great shots and didn't do her garden justice.

    Ais, your daff sounds interesting. I wonder if it's a really old variety that could have come from a homestead or something. I have some 'wild' daffs that are as simple as they come- regular height, small cup with 6 perfect scallops & 6 petals, multi flower heads (2 or 3 usually), solid yellow, and very fragrant. Hard to move because the roots/bulbs go to china. I've given up and leave the clump be, even though it would multiply better where there's more light up front. I would also appreciate if more up there since i'd see it a lot more and be able to sniff it.

  • alicia7b
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Tammy do you remember which issue of Carolina Gardener she was in?

  • MagickMare
    16 years ago

    I was up at my MIL's farm for Easter. The farm has been in her family for over 150 years & she LOVES taking me around & letting me "shop" the acreage. She has a lot of old flowers that I've been blown away with. Unfortunately she never knows the names of anything. None of her family is the least bit interested in gardening at all.

    Ais - My MIL has TONS of the daff you described - Just frills, no cup. The flower is mostly white/very light yellow with orange at the base of the petals. If this is the one you saw, let me know - I brought back a few.

  • tamelask
    16 years ago

    Magick & Ais- if that's what you have, it's called the poet's narcissus. It's the original form of narcissus. I love those. Also called pheasant's eye narcissus. I've moved a few from the homestead behind my folk's place, but they've never done great here. Survived, but not multiplied. They are blooming now for me. Magick, where is your MIL's place? It sounds really neat.

    The issue she was in was August 2007, pg 24. Originally, when LA Jackson was still in charge, they were going to do a much larger article. Not sure what happened. After he left, i wasn't sure it was ever going to happen, so i'm glad it did, even if it's a smaller piece and just ok photos. Pam Beck and LA are both friends of hers. The main drag the piece shows is only 1 part of the gardens, and i've seen it much, much fuller and more colorful than that shot. There are large gardens to either side, and together, they only comprise maybe 1/6 of the whole gardens. It is a nice shot of Betty, who hates to be photographed. There's SO much more to the gardens than what was written about and shown.

  • MagickMare
    16 years ago

    Tammy - My MIL has 170 acres near South Boston, VA in a town called Volens, VA. It is full of wild roses, Paw paw and other fruit trees, flowering shrubs and a large variety of bulbs - one is a single flowered purple bloom that she calls "an old Hyacinth" - but looks nothing like the Hyacinths I'm familiar with.

  • tamelask
    16 years ago

    Magick- google scilla non-scripta or hispanica and see if it looks like that. They are sometimes called bluebells, too, esp across the pond. Looks like the genus may have changed to hyacinthoides. They usually are a pretty lavendar blue but also come in pink and white and are an old fashioned passalong plant. They smell great. Your MIL's place sounds so neat!!

    Here is a link that might be useful: do they look like this?

  • aisgecko
    16 years ago

    Here's the daffodil I found. It's very yellow, not white. I'm not sure it's really that pretty, just unusual.
    {{gwi:560755}}

    In the same area I've found colonized snowflakes (luecojem sp?) that were taking over and spring beauty (claytonia), though the area I first saw them has been mown recently and I didn't see them last time, and tons of trout lilies.

  • alicia7b
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    I'm going to try to get a back issue. Why on earth didn't CG do a larger feature on her? is the cost of printing color photos that prohibitive?

  • alicia7b
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    There are several Narcissus species. One I'd really like to get my hands on is the jonquil species. This fall I'm really going to order more daff bulbs like I'm always planning to.

  • MagickMare
    16 years ago

    Tammy - They don't look like that photo(wishing I had brought some back, or at least taken a picture!) The daffs look like the one in the photo linked below. My MIL doesn't know names, but can tell you about her (MIL's) grandmother getting flowers from her (MIL's grandmother's) grandmother or the "old woman a few farms away". She loves Daffs and has a good selection - from simple 6 petal, small white ones, to the frilly ones like the photo. She has assured me that, with time, I will have a clump of each. She loves that her son married someone who cares about the land, plants, and the history that goes along with both.

    My MIL sent me home with (what I believe is) yellow bearded irises a year ago. They reproduce so fast that I always bring plenty to the swaps. My MIL loves the idea of the swaps and is happy to share her family's collection. I've been trying to get her down to a swap since I started going last spring!

    Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:560737}}

  • tamelask
    16 years ago

    Alicia, I wish i knew. She was the director of mordecai garden for 20+ years- that's where i met her, as a volunteer. She's given plants to and known most of the influential gardeners in this area. She's a spitfire and isn't one to hold her tongue, so maybe she made someone mad- i dunno. I really doubt it's the cost of printing color shots- though the one of her is b/w. I know another garden mag was going to do a big spread and come out right when the roses bloom, but that year (would have been in the mid/late 90's) the roses froze out. I don't think it was CG- seems like it was southern living or something. It was a big deal. Not sure why they didn't contact her the next year- perhaps in magazine life that's just too long. She was quite disappointed.

    Ais- that one is really intriguing. I'll have to go back and find the shots i know i have of the one i have. Didn't get any this year and it's done now. Magick yours is cool, too. They both look like the split corona type to me- but other than that i have no idea. Maybe you could send a photo to brent and becky's bulbs and see if they could i.d. them for you? I believe they carry old as well as new varieties. One bulb crazy friend swears by them.

    Your MIL is correct- it'll only take a few bulbs to multiply into good clumps in just a few years if they're happy. I bought one of those big mixed bags one year and planted 3 bulbs to a spot. now I get probably 20 blooms of the same type in each clump, and each clump has 3 types that bloom (they stagger nicely, too, with usually only 1 type blooming at a time, so i have a long season of daffs). Since i started with around 30- 50 bulbs, i have alotta daffs now! That was prolly 8 years ago or so. Where they aren't as happy nearer the woods they have come back and bloomed, but not multiplied nearly as well as in more sun and better soil.

    The one i don't have that i'd like is the petticoat hoop type. I love the minis- they are so cute. Been grabbing a few here & there through the years, and now have quite a few. I also really like the yellow with red/orange centered ones and would like to get more of them. one of the coolest i have is a reverse- the cup is white and the petals are a soft yellow. It flips to yellow on white as it ages, so in one cluster you can have both types- everyone comments on it.

    Oh, that makes me think, too- I do have 1 original daff that i assume started from seed. Has an extra long saffron yellow cup with white base. I'm sure there's varieties just like it out there- but this one just showed up, and i really like it. It's where i didn't plant any daffs, so I know it's 'mine'. Can't wait til it multiplies more.

    Magick- if your old hyacinths aren't squills or grape hyacinths, well, maybe chiondoxia? Can't think of anything else off the top that'd bloom this early and fit the description. Maybe look through some bulb catalogs and report what it looks most like.

  • alicia7b
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Brent and Becky's does carry a lot of species and historic daffs, and for a reasonable price. Their business used to be called The Daffodil Mart.

  • MagickMare
    16 years ago

    WoW Tammy - You amaze me!! They DO look like chiondoxia! Thanks for solving the mystery and restoring a little of my faith in my MIL's ability to remember names ;)

  • alicia7b
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Tammy, do you know this lady? I googled Mordecai Gardens because I don't know much about it and came across this link.

  • tamelask
    16 years ago

    ok- here's a few pix.
    my seedling daff:
    {{gwi:560756}}

    the 'wild' daff:
    {{gwi:560757}}

    when the reverse daff first comes out:
    {{gwi:560758}}

    and when it's aged some & a lot:
    {{gwi:560760}}

  • tamelask
    16 years ago

    argh! i'm sorry- i thought i resized those middle 2 right. it shows in photobucket correctly. so sorry. t

  • alicia7b
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Tammy the size looks fine to me.

    The seedling daff looks very unusual. I love the "wild" daff. It's very elegant-looking. Is it fragrant?

  • tamelask
    16 years ago

    Alicia, yes the wild one is very fragrant. I love them, but they haven't transplanted well for me in the past and the clump in the back just hasn't multiplied very fast. sigh. So i just leave them be and admire them back there. Glad the pic wasn't too big- it's huge on my 24" screen- maybe because it loaded it or something. They have an interesting form, in that they get 2 or 3 flowers from the same stem clustered at the end, but open enough to not tangle. The individual flowers are on the small side- maybe 1.5- 2" across, but the stems are tall at 18". I love the perfectness of the 6 flutes of the cup.

    So far that seedling daff has only given me the one flower each year. I think this is the 3rd year. I'll feed it and hope it multiplies sometime soon.... I really like that long flute. It always seems to hang its head as if it's sad. Never crawled down to see if that one is fragrant.

  • karen__w z7 NC
    16 years ago

    Ais, I've got some of that same daffodil -- mine came from an elderly next door neighbor but I don't know the name of it. 'Rip van Winkle' is similar but I like this one better.

    Tammy, I think your 'wild' daffodils might be campernelles (N. x odorus). I bought some from Brent and Becky's two years ago and they've done really well so far, better than some of the other historic varieties I've tried. I like the narrow foliage for planting in natural areas.

  • tamelask
    16 years ago

    Thanks Karen- I'll look that up! And it's great to know where i can get more. The bulbs go so stinking deep they are next to impossible to move - we're talking 18" or more. The leaves are much narrower than regular daffs- i should have mentioned that.

  • alicia7b
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Tammy did you delete the temp files after you loaded the pic?

    Karen you're right I'll bet those are campernelles! I am going to order those this fall.

  • tamelask
    16 years ago

    Ummm- what temp files? I feel like a dork but i have no idea to what you're referring. I did tell it to replace the file when i resized it down...

    They are definitely campernelles, and i hope to order some more too. Thanks so much karen for the ID and place to get them! I had fun looking at B&B bulb co's website anyhoo.

  • alicia7b
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    On Photobucket you have to delete all of your temporary internet files before you can see the resized photos, unless you only link to the photo after it has been resized.

  • tamelask
    16 years ago

    Ok, i ran a search on photobucket and can't figure out where the temp inet files are kept or how to delete them. Can you explain in more detail where to find them and how to get rid of them? Sorry i'm being so ditzy. Also, sorry to take over this thread, but i want to make sure i understand and correct it so it isn't gargantuan. Thanks, Alicia.

  • alicia7b
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    If you revised a picture in Photobucket, you won't see the revised version on your screen until you delete the temporary internet files on your computer and refresh the page. Does that make sense?

  • tamelask
    16 years ago

    No, not yet really. Sorry. I still don't understand exactly how you delete the temporary files. Is it just by refreshing photobucket? I did refresh the page after i worked on it and the pic was still big in GW (while i was still previewing it to ck), but nothing different happened. I also tried recopying the link in case it changed somehow, but that changed nothing. Is it showing big on your computer, too, then? I've had this happen before, but i post pix so infrequently i always forget to ck the size before i paste the links in. Sigh... maybe next time i'll do it in the right order. I really wish that GW allowed you to edit your own posts like some other forums do. It would make life easier.

  • alicia7b
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    The pics are not showing large on my computer.

    With the Google toolbar you go to Tools, then Internet Options, then delete temporary browsing history, then hit delete temporary internet files. Will that work with a Mac? Refreshing the page alone won't accomplish the task.

  • karen__w z7 NC
    16 years ago

    I don't have anything I created on purpose, but I do get an interesting seedling or sport every now and then.

    Salvia 'Elise':
    {{gwi:560762}}

    Daphne genkwa seedling (bigger flowers and foliage, later blooming):
    {{gwi:560764}}

    variegated sport on Cephalotaxus:
    {{gwi:560766}}

  • alicia7b
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    I saw a Daphne genkwa at the JC Raulston Arboretum and thought it was an early lilac, lol. D. genkwa is beautiful. What a plus to have gotten such a nice seedling.

  • alicia7b
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Karen I'm sure you are the only Carolina GardenWebber to have an original that is available commercially. When I started this thread I was hoping to hear from you and Dana because I knew the both of you had some really nice seedling plants.

    This is a Dianthus "Siberian Blues" seedling. It has nice color but unfortunately is not fragrant. Or at least, I cannot detect any.

    {{gwi:560768}}

  • tamelask
    16 years ago

    Karen- those are all lovely. Kudos on 'Elise'.

    Alicia, is the 'siberian blues' dianthus, d. amurensis? I love that one- started some from seed a few years ago and it's a favorite. I don't think i've noticed that particular one being fragrant- will have to check. As to the other- I don't have google toolbar- and i'm not sure if it's available for mac or not. Maybe next time i reboot it'll all look right (i don't believe i have since i posted that). So long as it shows ok for everyone else that's all i care about. Thanks for all the advice and being patient in explaining it to me.

  • alicia7b
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Tammy, yes, that's the Dianthus, D. amurensis.

  • alicia7b
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    A "Therese Bugnet" seedling.

    {{gwi:560770}}

    {{gwi:58169}}

Sponsored
Landscape Concepts of Fairfax, Inc.
Average rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars17 Reviews
Northern VA's Creative Team of Landscape Designers & Horticulturists