[Sarracenia 'Wilkerson's Red' OP]
My momma always said, Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.
- Gump
You know, genetics is a pretty funny thing. Especially when it comes to breeding and Sarracenia seedlings. It’s always interesting to see what comes up. Some are good, some bad. Some just fugly. The genetic diversity is pretty interesting though. Check out this post on diversity from fellow blogger James at Lost in the Landscape. Now when I do crosses I do have a general idea in mind of what the progeny will kind of look like. I have ideas and hopes of what characteristics would pull through from the parents… but it’s always a surprise.
You also have the OP’s (Open Pollinated) plants that you have no idea really who the pollen parent is. In the above photo – this is one of those OP crosses. The pod parent is S. ‘Wilkerson’s Red’, and I have no idea who the pollen parent is. You can see 1) that it’s in dire need of repotting and 2) the diversity from this one OP cross from one Sarracenia seed pod. That red seedling is mos def’ one to watch out for.
Absolutely–that single red one is the major standout of that batch of seedlings. Makes you wonder if different insects came after visiting different pollen donors, but I’m sure that even a selfing of a hybrid can get you all sorts of cool variation. Year 2 onwards really gets exciting with seedlings, when they really start to strut their stuff.
Hey James! Yeah, pretty neat stuff isn’t it? So much diversity and variation when it comes to breeding and hybridizing. All of this though, requires discipline (something that I wish I had more of) or just lots and lots of space. Both of these, for my particular situation, is kind of hard to come by.
That’s a great shot. It’s quite a bit larger then the rest too…. genes genes.