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Hydrangea Branch Sports

Posted by creech444 z7 Atl GA (My Page) on
Tue, Mar 14, 06 at 6:28

I was reading in my new Wilkerson Mill Catalogue that "Frillibet" is a "Branch Sport" of "Mme Emile Mouillere". So I'm assuming that means that occasionally a Hydrangea can have a branch that has some sort of variable flower style or color - and that it can then be propogated and stay true. I'd never heard that.

When I google it, it seems like there are many of these, like "Little Honey" is a Branch Sport of "Pee Wee" oakleaf, etc.

Does anyone have any experiences with "Branch Sports"?

So now I guess I have to be on the lookout for unique flowers on my hyrangeas.

Also, just in general, making cuttings. If I pick cuttings from the branches with the best (largest, fullest, best coloring) flowers, will the resulting bush have the same flowering characteristics?


Follow-Up Postings:

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RE: Hydrangea Branch Sports

Creech444,

Thanks for bringing this up. I always wondered what was meant by the term "branch sport". Am I understanding correctly? Are branch sports cultivated from a wayward branch of an existing cultivar? Hmmm...that might explain why some folks have written about having lacecaps and mopheads on the same plant and why some of my mopheads will have smooth sepals and others on the same plant will have serrated edges on the sepals. I also have some hydrangeas with very different leaf shapes on the same plant. Let me get this straight....if I cultivate a branch that has the more jagged edged leaves, or a branch that has the serrated sepals, the resulting plant will have all jagged edged leaves or have entirely serrated sepals?....Very interesting topic. Maybe one of the hortipros will weigh in......yg


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RE: Hydrangea Branch Sports

A sport is a mutation that happened in a bud that results in the new branch having different characteristics than the rest of the plant. If the differences you see are caused by a genetic change on that branch compared to the rest of the plant, then it could be vegetatively propagated. You would end up with a whole bush that looks like that one branch. You would have your very own cultivar.


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RE: Hydrangea Branch Sports

Learn something new everyday....thanks creech and ginkonut....yg


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