Last year I grew both black petunias and black and yellow petunias. At the end of the summer, inspired by Monty Don of Gardner's World, I harvested lots of seed with the intention of saving myself hundreds of dollars by propagating my own plants.
This is what they looked like last year.
Fast forward to this year were nothing turned out as planned. Genetics had its way with me and low and behold, the array of colors and patterns that these two produced is astonishing.I got stripes and splotches in pink and white.
Here are some solid colors in a pallet of pinks and purples.
The one above looks like it has been splattered with bleach.
Some got edges with ruffles.
This is my favorite with those delicate pink streaks. I call this cultivar "Lady M" - hee hee.
Love the colors on those flowers. So varied.
ReplyDeleteYes they continue to surprise me every day.
DeleteWith a title like that I was expecting a two headed snake.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't that be cool!
DeleteWell, they were unexpected but still beautiful! Isn't Nature amazing!
ReplyDeleteI don't know how the plant breeders do it - about 50% are black and the rest all over the place. I guess it is all trial and error.
DeleteThey are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteAnd they just keep coming
DeleteCan you imagine how confused ol' Gregor Mendel would have been had he worked with petunias instead of peas? His inheritance diagrams would have looked more like fractals...
ReplyDeleteYes - I even have all kinds of color variations on a single plant. But this extensive variation is what keeps plant nurseries in business I guess.
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