my little pink dropper project

[illustrator]

Dear all,

I haven't got anything to show yet, but something to tell. As you probably know I have (had) a lot of problems with my violets. I have thought about all kind of diseases and growing condition mistakes and am still not completely sure, besides that there were soil mealybugs involved. However, in the midst of these problems I am also trying something new:

I really love the wild violets with their "simple" functional flower shape: single pansy droppers. Double flowers seem always deformed to me, regardless that I can appreciate their beauty as well. Stick-tight means that a corolla is always in the way of the growing seedpod, and even though stick-tight flowers stay much longer, it is less functional. Beauty in a flower doesn't have to mean that it can be admired a long time for me. I also really admire (vintage) daylily flowers, which are open for less than a day.

So it is not strange that I really love Pixie Pink, which is a cultivar with single pansy droppers with "only" a different colour: pink. I would like to see more plants like this! At the same time I love those wild plants with a red underside of leaves, especially when they have contrasting green veins like intermedia, diplotricha and velutina. So I thought about trying to combine these characteristics. I crossed intermedia (pollen parent) with Pixie Pink and got a whole bunch of seedlings. I kept only the 3 darkest ones which show the leaf-underside of intermedia or are even darker. In this first generation I didn't wait untill flowers appeared with selecting: I expect that all flowers are violet/blue and single pansy droppers. I also expect that the plants with the darker leaves have likely also darker flowers. These 3 are all seminiature rosette-like plants, so intermediate in size between the parents but in shape more like intermedia. The first one has flowered and has indeed dark-violet single pansy droppers. I forgot to photograph it: next flowering, I promise!

I self-pollinated the first 2 flowers of the first flowering plant and it looks like 2 seedpods are starting to form.

So that's where I am now.

What I expect:
- a lot of "waiting time" in which all kind of things can go wrong, perhaps I will lose all plants in the meantime.

- if I get to a second generation I expect that all likely have single dropping pansies.

- they will differ in size (anything from miniature to standard), growth habit (anything from rosette to a trailer like a grotei), leaf colour (from green to dark) and hopefully flower colour (dark to light and violet/blue to pink).

So perhaps in one or two years I can show something of a result ...

Best regards to all and good growing!
Paul

[olivia]

Good luck!

[Gabi_Munich]

yes, good luck and patience, please keep us posted on the developments

[illustrator]

yes, patience. I have just/only now sown the first seeds from one of the seedpods which I mentioned before. Actually I left this seedpod dry for a couple of months because I had so many problems growing violets that I didn't feel like sowing these seeds. I still have a second seedpod if this try fails, and of course I have the plant as well. We'll see.

[Gabi_Munich]

Can't wait to see what will grow from your seeds .... I definitely need more patience Good luck!

[illustrator]

The first few have germinated, many more will follow I think. Nothing much to show, just tiny green spects at this moment. On my window it takes more than a month for violet seeds to germinate. Patience ... again.

In the meantime I have also sown the seeds from the second seedpod, on a bit warmer and darker place. If all goes well I will soon have many more seedlings than I can handle. I aim to grow out 20-30 of them, which is already more than for which I have space, but which should do for selecting the best ones. Like this I will likely also get plants which do well in my relatively cold home.

[illustrator]

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