A curious group of young S. catesbaeis are maturing and making their presence known in the seedling fray. I’m very excited to see these grow up, and I’m even more excited to work with them once they bloom. Not only do they look very promising, but they have something else going on under the surface.

The parentage is S. purpurea subsp. venosa var. montana – Transylvania Co., NC #1 x flava var. ornata – lidless. (Yep, lidless!) I did this cross in 2016, seeds were germinated in early 2017 and outdoor grown since. I hope that the future crosses using some of the lidless genetics lurking in these S. catesbaeis will lend itself to some interesting plants. It will be interesting to see how the (recessive?) lidless gene behaves. I’m curious to know what would happen if plants like this are crossed with other lidless/lidless recessive plants.

In the mean time, I’m really pleased by how the heavy vein-ey influence from both parents are showing up. And they’re also shaping up with a great form too. Check out a few photos of some of the different seedlings popping up from this batch. (Click photo to enlarge.)