20/09/2018 - Newcomers

We were lucky to get some nice weather the last two weeks. Nights tend to get chilly but the days are sunny and warm. Unfortunately my camera was out of order for a week but I still managed to get a few nice pics.

Split-Petaled Kikyo Quasar

As usual we are having a lot of "latecomers" which have just started flowering. Much too late of course to get any more ripe seeds. But we can still enjoy a few their flowers before winter. Lots of these are varieties I hadn't grown before so this blog post will feature mostly new varieties.

Split-Petaled Kikyo Quasar

For example, this amazing split-petaled Kikyo Quasar showed up for the first time about a week ago. Even though I spotted a single flower bud on the plant as early as june. But it never developed. It's is probably my favourite kikyo cultivar I have grown so far. Split-petaled kikyo flowers are often somewhat of a mess but this one manages to look a lot more elegant than most.

In comparison here's a lovely Blue Speckled Kikyo. You can see the flower shapes tend to be very random and a little more "jagged". Still a very fun variety to grow as every flower tends to have a very unique shape. Along with the blue speckled pattern it's like looking at inverted fireworks

Kikyo Snowflakes

While we're comparing kikyos we can't forget this beauty: Kikyo Snowflakes. I took two years to find some seeds and another year to grow them so it's really nice to finally see this one bloom in person.

Kikyo Snowflakes

We have two slightly different phenotypes growing. This one is slight more solid purple and has a thinner picotee edge. I doubt the seeds will have time to develop before winter though.

Another newcomer is this Gesshoku variety. I really like the subtle color gradient on this one. The flowers aren't a large as some of the other varieties but are still a respectable 7,5cm (3inches) wide. Around the size of the average Ipomoea purpurea flower.

Another unexpected one is this very light blue solid variety. It came from a seed labeled as Blue Mutant from the Jacksonville Morning Glory Vineyard. The leaves do share the same curled-edge mutation as Blue Mutant but the flowers are different. So I'm thinking this is yet another mutation/variation as the original does feature phenotypes with solid sky-blue flowers with a light-pink center. These are just a lot lighter in color.

No lack of newcomers this month. This one was simply labeled Blue Shibori.

The first flowers on Seiryu have been spotted as well.

Ipomoea lobata is blooming well. The fact you can appreciate their blooms for several days is a nice change compared to the short lives of most species.

Another Purple Flaked phenotype has appeared between a tangle of different plants. This one is much darker than the other ones. I've been looking for a phenotype like this but unfortunately I forgot to tag the flowers. So it looks like I'll have to hunt for another one next year. I still have more seeds but only two have turned out like this so far. I'll probably be splitting up the dark and light phenotypes into their own separate photo galleries.