That is so cool. Its almost the same.

I like it!!

Mike

Thanks Mike. Actually it is quite different. The unopen buds of the seed parent are pink and the flower is pinkish yellow. The unopen bud of the seedling is yellow and the flower color is butter yellow with no pink in it. Also, the petals are more substantial and they curve back.

tc,
George

George,

Your photography is spot on!!!
Details are so impressive.

Your example of the Aztec Gold seedling in bloom are the reason why it's so important to propagate new plants from seed.
To me cuttings are just a continuous propagation of the same plant and yet offer a beautiful bloom as we expect,
however by growing seeds into full and bountiful plants we are able to come up with variations especially if cross pollination is involved.
I feel everyone should take notice and learn this by example of your quality photos.
I have a huge amount of respect for someone who can bring growing plumeria to this level.
Your Japanese Latern 137-1 amazes me!
I could only image a whole tree in bloom of this one!

I applaud for efforts and appreciate you sharing these results.

I too have seedlings some will be 2 years since germination.
Although not ready to bloom, I look forward to variation in bloom results!

Thank you, Stuart

George, They are beautiful. How many seedling did you grow? and how many bloomed? Are the #'s the amount of seedlings? Three years isn't too long to wait for blooms. It's fun to see all your hard work come to fruition. Peg

George,

I agree with Stuart..

The clarity in your photos is just amazing.

Simply beautiful!!!

Laura

George, what is your assessment of these seedlings? What about plant compactness? Ease of flowering? Flower size? Etc. Many, many seedlings are grown, but few are chosen. LOL! Do you think these warrant keeping and naming?

and now you know why I like seedlings!
They are gorgeous.
Tally HO!

Stuart, Laura,
thank you for your kind words.
I try to post a long reply twice and it locked up and I lost it. So I am just going to make multiple posts for replies.

It is really fun growing seedlings because you get such unpredictable results. Most seedlings are not that good, but sometimes you get lucky and you hit some good ones. Good luck with yours. I saw you have some dark red seedlings. Those should produce some dark red flowers. It will be interesting when they start blooming.

With respect to photography I am old pro. I used to do weddings. I have a full darkroom and own two enlargers and used to develop my own film and print my own color pictures. I have a lot of old lenses. I use a Vivitar Series 1 macro lens to take these pictures. I adapted it to an Olympus digital camera. This lens is one of the top 5 sharpest lenses ever made (tested at the time by a photographic magazine it was No. 1).

tc and good luck with your seedlings,
George

Hi Peg,
I use the following numbering system to label my seedlings. The first number is the PSA# of the seed parent. The second number is the PSA# of the polent donor if known (blank if not known). The third number is the number of the seedling. If a variety does not have a PSA# I assign it an arbitrary high number. I use 1" round brass tags. I use a number set to stamp the number onto the brass tag. It can never be erased, the tags weathers into a nice not-intrusive color, and it lasts a lifetime (it does not corrode). Each tag costs about 13 cents.

I have about 28 3-year old seedlings of three seed parents that are starting to bloom. My best seedling is a seedling of Margaret's Pink (dark pink flower). The flower resembles Celadine in color and smells like Celadine. The flower is about the same size as Celadine. I think it has a better form than Celadine. Its leafs look like Margaret's Pink. I rooted the top of this seedling. We will see in the future how it does. I threw out several that were white with yellow center and had little fragance.

tc,
George

Hi Dave,
you cannot really make a full assessment of a seedling till you grow a cutting, which then blooms for a few seasons. Then you can evaluate size of inflos, flower size, fragance, compactness, disease resistance, ease of flowering, etc. Right now you look for things like flower form, size, and color, and fragance to make the first cut. Then you root the top of the seedling and evaluate others things for a few years before you can decide if it is a keeper or not. Most cuttings do not make the first cut. In my oppinion both seedlings make the first cut.

The Atzec Gold seedling has a nice flower, about the same size as the original with the same strong peaches fragance. I think the seedling has a better flower form with more substantial petals and a purer color. In addition, the seedling is so far a late bloomer (August). Atzec Gold blooms in late April in Houston. By July it is done and all you have is leafs on the plant. You can enhance the plant significantly by grafting this seedling on half the branches of an Atzec Gold plumeria. Then the seedling will bloom from August till October. So basically, you will have a yellow plumeria that blooms all season. Note that all yellow plumerais are ealy bloomers in Houston. So blooming late is an advantage for a yellow plumeria.

The Japanese Latern seedling is the first rainbow to bloom in Houston. It blooms first week in May, where only a few yellow plumerias are blooming (unless you have a greenhouse). I rooted the top of this seedling for further evaluation. Its trunk is 1.5" in diameter (it is like a baseball bat!).

tc,
George

George,

I am confused. When the seedlings get a certain size, you cut the top off of them and root the top?

Why not just let the seedling grow?

Mindy

Mindy,
seedlings grow for three years before they can bloom. So they are lanky. My seedlings are 5' tall right now. Now they bloom and split into three branches and they become top heavy.

The root system of a seedling is very different from the root system of a plant grown from a cutting. The seedling when it spouts, develops a long taproot (like a tree), which can circle around the bottom of a pot. Cuttings on the other hand do not ever develop a taproot. Since all new plants to be grown in the future from this seedling will be cuttings, then the best way to evaluate the performance is to root a cutting from the seedling. That is why, after the seedling flowers and splits into multiple branches, you cut of the top 18" and root a new plant for evaluation.
I hope this helps. tc,
George

Thank you George.

Mindy

George, that's quite a long time to wait for a seedling! But your season is longer so you can get results more quickly.

To me that Aztec Gold seedling bloom has petals that recurve back too far and I don't necessarily consider that a good quality, but I suppose the later bloom is a big plus!

Hi Dave,
every decision you make has pros and cons. You are not going to get all the features of the seedling perfect. The curvature of the petals is very pronounced due to the heat (picture taken at about noon). Most of the time it is less pronounced. Remember, this is just making the first cut for evaluation. I am not going to register this seedling now.

tc,
George

George,

My Aztec Gold have faint pink on the petals.
Thought you might like to see this?
Stuart

Thank you Stuart,
I know, the pink comes from the back of the flower (has a pink stripe that originates from the pink buds). The seedling buds are pure yellow with no pink at all.
Nice pictures by the way.
tc,
George