Happy New Year Everybody !! I hope you all had a great day and were somewhere warm we are stuck in the deep freeze here -20 lows and the high was -2
absolutely hate the cold will take heat anyway over this..
Jane.. Thank You !! The Just Witchery crosses have been everything I hoped for, it is a good parent for form and passes on the extreme Ruffles really looking forward to the next generation coming from those seedlings.
Tom.. The beards make it the jump out at you but the color of the flower is pretty common don't know if it would be popular or not lot's of purples in all shades out there already so maybe not unique enough to do anything with but the pedigree is good and I used it quite a bit this year.
Poly.. Your welcome I try to take pictures and show them in all sorts of different lighting they look different depending on if the picture is taken with cloud cover or in full sun.. This isn't always a option when visiting the west coast only have so many days there so I work with what I get for light
Scott.. Thank You !! and the same to you. I see your in Illinois so probably going through the same cold snap we are outside temp was -19 this morning when I got up
missing the warm weather from a couple weeks ago.
Bonnie.. That is an awesome story
I can picture it happening as you described it before this year did not have any experience around them but there smarter then they let on as soon as I came out hollering at them the whole herd bolted back towards the gate they knew they were not supposed to be there.. I have more problem with Deer then anything they are stubborn until I get the truck and start chasing them
they move very quickly then.
Les.. Thank You and I hope you have a Splendid bloom season also !! If those Cows escape again and end up in my plants we will go to war
and I will take Tom's advice and eat a lot of Steak next year
Daphne.. Thanks it may be quite a while at this pace but this summer was much more enjoyable though a lot less to weed and take care of and I actually got a little summer Vacation in that hasn't happened in a long time
I took advantage of our warm weather in December and got water trenched to the back of the property for future plans and all the underground work done for the greenhouse electric, water, and gas ran
hoping for a early spring and I can get it built before work picks up again.. I also got a spot cleared and tilled at the back of the property for future plants it sets up higher and drains better will slowly start to move some things out there next August
as will quickly out grow the berms and always needing more space.
Here is what's left and growing well of seedlings ..the 1st bunch 12-12 is from (Smoke and Thunder X Class Ring) had lot's of seedlings from this and still some that haven't bloomed these plants have survived the worst of it over the past 5 years and moved multiple times with us relocating so giving them a little extra time, the best growers are A and B starting to get a lot of them only a couple of them bloomed this year and they were in the field. I have yet to see a 2 year clump of any of them bloom so this spring will be decision making time on them. They all have pretty flowers but most so far have lacked buds hoping that changes in May.The fun part of working with Barry Blyth's plants is you can get almost anything out of them as shown here with this cross.
12-12A ..The most unique flower of them all it has a wide range of colors you will notice it beside anything , and every flower has a little bit different of a pattern the only knock on it is I prefer more ruffled modern form.. In 2015 it was crossed on to a lot of Joe's plants hoping I could get some Ghio Ruffles and still keep the colors and then onto kieth's plicata's because it has Plicata in it from Class Ring so thought
maybe something fun may come from it.
12-12B .. My Favorite of them all it has everything I want in a plant good growth, definitely hardy if it lived through our mess a unique flower, and a good strong stem the only knock is the buds so far only 6 buds hoping now that it is established for 2 years that will change. I did the same thing with it crossed it onto Plicata's and one of Joe's Reds (Iconic) should get to see some of them in the spring
12-12C.. Bloomed for the 1st time last year and it caught my eye because how dark it was the falls look almost black up close in the garden , it has wide falls and a good stem but so far only 6 buds would really like a couple more the longer the bloom season the better..
