Just an opinion:
While breeders have done a great job when it comes to giving us plants having a wide variety of color combinations, I personally think they have done a miserable job when it comes to selecting plants that have higher quality flowers. The endless competition to rush onto the market the latest, newest colors, the latest doubles, triples, "novelty" plants having curled up and deformed leaves, dwarfs, weak-growing plants with variegated leaves.... forces us to grow plants with tissue paper thin flowers that hang, collapse, are not color stable, not vigorous, are prone to insect attacks....and the list goes on and on. Many plants that are on the market really belong in a compost pile, but because they have the latest, hyped up, flowers-du-jour, they are offered for sale.
I for one would love to see breeders selecting flowers for their longer, lasting abilities, for having thick, waxy petals and good substance, plants with thick, disease/virus resistant leaves, vigorous growth, longer flowering season.
Personally, I much prefer a simple, tailored, single flower, rather than the messy, bunched up, sloppy looking double and triples. Just too many petals...too many busy stripes, too many blotches, spots, dots and dashes to look at. The confused eye doesn't know what to look at.
But, to each his own. Grow what makes you happy. I'll stick with a good, single flower...
FDV
7b/NYC
