SHORTER VARIETIES

FOR THE GARDEN ALL UNDER TWO FOOT

	Maika Girl.		Master Kipling		Spanish Amber.

Most of these varieties have been created by God's helper the bee,  judging from the form and colour they are from various shorter varieties grown in the front garden. I know for certain the ones with distinct fading on the ends of the petals were bought about by my earlier crossing of Moonfire with a short bedding variety. I can hear you saying, "Why on earth would you want to do that" once again because I had a abundance of polled from Moonfire. I wanted to create a dark leaved bedding variety so I tried by using a short double variety for a seed bearer, in these circumstances you use what you have. The short variety in this case was Art Nouveau one of the Gallery types bred by that grand Dutch firm Verwer's, and I believe it to be the finest bedding variety in the world. It's true I was asking a lot using Moonfire because as you know it is a single, but it had the dark leaf element  in its make up. Strangely enough the ratio of single flowered seedlings in the batch was very small, is it because this dark leaf factor has a recessive trait?

	Irish Rock Star.		Hey Pedro.		Spanish Rose.

I didn't get any dark leaved variety until two years later in 2008, and none were double. Oh I got some great double seedlings with that Verwer characteristic which was a darker colour on the reverse of the petal, and when these were crossed the varieties you see in this write up are what I ended up with. The variegated variety must have come out of Al A Mode because it was the only variegated variety in the garden, apart from Kenora Sunset, and there wasn't any trace of cactus in its make up. Of course another angle would be it was hidden in my first seed bearer Art Nouveau. Since I've mentioned Verwer's magnificent bedder I can't help but speak up for the professional way they run their establishment. The one thing they are continually slammed for is, their use of plant protecting certain super varieties in their catalogue, but who can blame them, once the cat's out of the bag any one can profit on their hard earned creations. These super varieties, and I don't call them super lightly, because every last one is scrutinised before it can join their illustrious cousins already in the catalogue. I know for a fact the Verwer varieties are tested through out their life, and should they pick up any ailment they are whisked off to a laboratory and cleansed. This alone doesn't come cheap, but add to that the cost of keeping these super varieties protected each year with what is virtually an insurance that stops others making money from them without a little going back to Verwer's to maintain their very existence. The one thing we as breeders can do, is use these superior varieties to bred with, and of course as long as we don't profit from them directly this is our bonus, thank you Verwer's.

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