In 2011 I bought a package of seeds for dark red hollyhocks, a variety called "Cassis". I planted these in a flat and, in the fall, transplanted them where they were to grow. I had quite a few plants from this single package, so I decided to put them in two different spots. Last year they produced a few blooms, and this year they are well-established.
Looking at them more carefully just now, I realized that the ones on the east side of the garden are not quite the same colour as the ones on the west side. I am at a loss to account for the difference.
If the two colours were present in the two spots where I grow them, I would say that there were two different kinds of seeds in the package. But on the west side of the garden, all the plants produce darker flowers, and on the east side all the plants produce lighter flowers.Yet they all came from the same package of seeds.
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| The darker ones (west side) |
The two clumps are about 60 feet from each other, and both get the same amount of light, full sun all day.
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| The lighter ones (East side) |
Could there be something in the soil that would explain the difference in colour? That is the only explanation that seems plausible. The soil seems the same in both places, and before the garden was made, all this was the middle of a field.
It is a complete mystery. Any theories as why the flowers growing in one clump are paler than in the other?
They're messing with you. It's a plot.
ReplyDelete...may be alien!
DeleteI have absolutely no idea. But as a wild guess, maybe it has something to do with the amount of sun, water, shade, heat etc if the east side is different from the west side. Or you just may have had 2 types of seeds.
ReplyDeleteHey Alain! Just discovered your blog. Your garden sounds so fascinating. Wonderful to find someone I know who's also writing a blog!
ReplyDeleteHi Alain... how strange. Is the soil any different in the other part of the garden? Perhaps you've invented a new hybrid and you can be put on record as the gardener who came up with it!
ReplyDeleteNothing surprises me with plants anymore. I'm going with sun and soil conditions.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, here's one theory:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.garden.org/searchqa/index.php?q=show&id=27377&ps=182&keyword=soil&adv=0
Blossom color change as a response to stress might be the answer. Thank you for looking that up. I am sure the explanation is not new plants from seed as the plants are quite mature. As I say below, the soil is thinner in one spot, perhaps the plants growing there (the lighter ones) had more stress.
DeleteI would not be surprised to find seedling variability in a packet of seeds- despite the label. However you seem to have a number of plants at each site so we can discount that! I go for the subtle differences between the sites like soil, drainage and light.
ReplyDeleteHere in the UK I hold the national dicentra collection and I find many varieties vary in colour with the conditions in which they grow. Actually the biggest differences are caused by temperature and light levels
Thank you for the information on how different plants of the same variety grown in different conditions can be. Here the only slight possible differences would have to be drainage and soil. Actually the soil where the lighter ones grow is not at deep as where the dark ones are. Perhaps the soil is also slightly different even if the two sites are very close to each other.
DeleteI think it must be the champagne. No doubt the lighter one is a Kir Royal rather than pure Cassis. The joys of growing plants from seed. Never completely and exactly alike - we've become so accustomed to clones these days. I think they're both lovely and deserving a place in your garden.
ReplyDeleteBarbarapc
Your right, it has to be the difference between Kir and Kir royal!
DeleteIt is indeed a mystery.
ReplyDeleteVive la difference, whatever the cause. I'm with Barbarapc. It's the champagne.
ReplyDeleteAnother possibility is that most seeds do not come true from the parent. So even if all the seeds in the packet are from the same plant there will be variation amongst the seedlings, in this case colour.
ReplyDeleteHi Patty, you are quite right, but what still remains to be explained is why the two varieties are not mixed in the two spots where they grow but all of one are growing on one side and all of the other on the other side.
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