Saturday, April 24, 2010

Bridge crosses

In the last "comments" section, I was asked the parentage of 13107. After reading the next few sentences, folks will understand why I sometimes omit the detail. The unpleasant reality in hindsight is that 13107 is made up of 39 seedlings (some of which go back 7 generations, and all turned out to be "bridge" crosses rather than intros) that go back to 21 named varieties - including 5 of my own intros (Heartbeat of Heaven, Born to Reign, Eyes on the Prize, Way of Life, Light of the World) and 16 from other folks (Tet LBB, Fortune's Dearest, Doyle Pierce, Wolf Eyes, Uppermost Edge, Only Believe, Lifting Me Higher, Clothed in Glory, Lake Effect, Pirate Lady, Regal Majesty, Reason for Treason, Dixie Rhythm, Blackthorne, Tet Dragon's Eye, and Shimmering Elegance). So 13107, like many of my seedlings, includes a bizarrely diverse group of parents, so anything can happen:-) I never intentionally set out to make a "bridge" cross (which is when you put 2 things together hoping to get a trait you want but knowing that the resulting plant most likely will not be introduction quality but will hopefully get you there the next generation), preferring instead to make crosses so good they'll be intros right away. I suppose if I'd known how long my quest to get "neon" lavender eyes would be, I might never have started, but I guess that's true of a lot of things in life - better that we not know and just put one foot in front of the other.

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