Hi Heather,

I have the same going on with my seedlings--of six varieties I have observed the dark plum-colored leaves on some, but not all, of the seedlings of: Vera Cruz Rose, Peterson's Gold, Mardi Gras and JL Tornado. Of those, only the Tornado parent has a dark colored flower so I think it's unlikely that the plum will predict the flower color. But who knows?! It'll be fun to see how these babies grow up.

Jen

Hi Jen,

Thanks for the reply :)
It is fun watching them grow... lets hope it's not too many years before they flower. Here in Australia we are in Autumn so I have to be patient for a few months till they wake up.

How old are your seedlings?

Heather

My seedlings are all between 5-7 months old and range anywhere from 9 inches tall down to barely 2 inches. The Mardi Gras look like they've hardly grown at all while the Vera Cruz Rose are growing into behemoths! There are some varieties, too, that seem to have wide variation amongst themselves. What cool Aussie varieties are you growing?

To be optimistic, I did see a couple of people here and there say they had inflos coming up on seedlings as young as 1 or 1-1/2 years old! We can dream, can't we?

My oldest seedlings have just turned 3 years old, one of them (fireworks) is about 2 foot tall and has the main trunk as well as 3 branches coming out from the trunk. It sprouted these branches low down on the trunk at an early age. I have another seedling (Red Ruby) that is only 5 months old and it is doing the same, quite exciting :)
Most of my seedlings are grown from seeds purchased overseas, they are:
Marmalade Dream, Kona, Ammerons Curly White, Dane, Waimea, Ngam Prompt, Scott Pratt, Calcutta Star, Jenny Pink, Morange 78, Red Morangne, Choko Delight, India Hybrid, Violet Star Shape, Donald Angus, Manini, Wildfire, and a few others.
I'm REALLY hoping some of the bigger ones will flower when the weather warms up again.

I have noticed that my darkest reds tend to have purple leaves.