chalyse said:Really awesome ruffles/teeth on Lillian's First Bite x Dr. Stump! They seem especially well formed and held. Is the 18M = 18 inches?
So, are scapes the big factor in culling 99% (too short, too bendy, etc.) when so many of the flowers are delightful?
I'll answer part of this for Fred
The 18M means it is an 18 month old seedling
Now for us here (Fred will have to answer for himself) Yes the scapes are the big factor in culling 99% of the seedlings. When a person does over a 1000 seedlings a year you cannot keep every pretty face just because it is pretty. Now keep in mind a lot of those will be lookalikes or just plain ugly or the bloom may open at the tip before the bud is ready to bloom and when it does bloom it will be splotchy or the blooms hang and don't open properly so even if it has a good scape it may have to go as well. The ugly or plain part won't necessarily keep it from being kept but the other issues will.
If the bloom doesn't fit the scape height, say a 6" bloom on an 18" scape or even a 24" scape it will go. We prefer 28" or taller for large flowers. Now if the bloom is a small or mini that is different and you want a shorter scape but it must have shorter foliage to match or the blooms will be down in the foliage. A too thin scape even if nicely branched will not hold a 10" spider/UF, it will flop. If it has just two branches and a few buds then it will not stay even if it is beautiful. That's just a few reason.
