Volunteers

Central Floridave

Active Member
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16/07/09
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I have a couple volunteers under a croton that are growing and look different from the parent plant.

First photo is of parent and the last two are the offspring.
 

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Nice seedlings. Dr. Brown mentions that crotons rarely if ever bred true from seed. Supposedly, four of the great Coppinger hybrids came from one seed pod (FDR, Eleanor Roosevelt, Golden Glow, and Joanna Coppinger). Remember that this is a genetically unstable plant. I get a few every year but none look as healthy as yours and never make it though a winter.
Keep a close watch on them and let us know how they progress.
 
Only the rarest seedlings will have any color other than green with the occasional yellow splotches and/or veins. If you're lucky, you'll get a seedling that colors out, but very slowly. I have a bunch of what appear to be "Fred Sanders" seedlings - same leaf shape, but all green with a few yellow dots here and there. I've gotten "Gold Dust" and "Banana" from seedlings, as well, but who cares?

I do have these two seedlings, in a pot (but rooted through the bottom) that have finally developed color. The solid green one, on the right, has leaves over a foot and half long. The leaf shape is identical to the "Kentucky", 8' feet away, that bloomed several years ago.
 

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Thanks for the info. That is interesting about the one seed pod.

How hard is it to isolate the flowers and cross pollinate them. Seems like a lot of work/time. Its nice when they volunteer like this. I'm going to dig the bigger one up and plant it so it has more space. Its confined within my front porch area and is under the parent plant.
 
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