I’d like to pick up some good sources of bracteata and banksia genes this spring. I’ve been working primarily with chinas this year, and I want to add some bracteata and banksia goodness to the mix. I remember years ago, Out of Yesteryear was recommended as a good brac to work with. Is it still the preferred brac breeder, has something newer replaced it, or perhaps taking a step back to it’s parent, Muriel, may be best? Using Out of Yesteryear does concern me a bit, maybe unjustifiably, because Mr. Moore used his Sequoia Gold as it’s seed parent, and Mr. Moore’s creations tend to struggle with blackspot on the east coast. I’m leaning towards using Muriel for that reason. I tried working with Mermaid years ago, but I couldn’t get anything out of it either way, I may try it again though.
For banksia, I was thinking Purezza would be a good pick up. It already has china genes which is the direction I would take it anyway. Fortuniana is a banksia hybrid I’ve meant to try to cross with, but haven’t yet. Perhaps Purezza or one of my chinas can click with it. Are there any others that should be considered?
Do you have Muriel, Charles? I saved it simply because I figured someone might be interested in it one day. It is not pleased growing in my arid soil and too high sun and heat. Perhaps in more suitable soil which holds water better (with fewer moles and gophers) it might be as happy as it was at Sequoia. It flowers here, but struggles due to being cooked. Cuttings are available.
I think it is a wise decision to use something other than ‘Out of Yesteryear’. It will not survive in our environment unless sprayed for black spot on a regular basis. That being said…you may not have the same strain of black spot that we deal with here.
We’re also not entirely convinced of the parentage of ‘Out of Yesteryear’.
Like Kim, we have at least one healthy plant. I can’t say that I’ve ever seen it bloom…
If you’d like to try and germinate some R. bracteata seeds, I can send some you way.
I don’t have Muriel, Kim. That’s very nice of you, thank you. Hopefully, she will like Florida’s subtropical, humid conditions. There aren’t many gophers here, but there are plenty of nematodes, which hopefully she can handle. Hi Nat, I’d love some bracteata seeds, thank you. I have several acres for them to grow on. Going back to species could turn out to be the best option to mold something to Fl. conditions.
Has anyone tried bracteata/china crosses, and how did it go?
How did Purpurea root for you, Charles? I’d think that might make an interesting combination. I’ll collect and mail cuttings of Muriel next Sunday/Monday so they’ll be as fresh as possible when you receive them if that works OK for you. I fear if I get them out now, they’ll sit in some postal facility over Sunday and be the worse for it.
Purpurea rooted easily. I still have two of them. Very healthy, with no nematode damage, but the plants are a bit slow to establish. They drop a lot of leaves in summer and the flowers wilt quickly in the heat, but no nematode damage, so I think Purp. just takes awhile to get a large enough root system to handle my sandy soil. That’s a good suggestion, Purpurea and Muriel might be a good combo, with bracteata’s vigorous roots. At your convenience, thanks again.
I have two mature plants of bracteata and a number of chinas. Didn’t have any luck crossing them until last year. I put bracteata pollen onto a found pink china from Savannah and got four seedlings. Two weren’t vigorous and eventually died. The third is fairly vigorous but doesn’t seem very healthy. The fourth (the first to germinate) is very vigorous and seems to be healthy so far. No blooms year one. I grew Out of Yesteryear for several years. It was never happy here (MS coast). It grew in reverse until I finally put it out of it’s misery. Never got anything healthy out of it. I also grew Purezza for several years. Never set a hip and never got anything from its pollen. Finally removed it last winter. Was healthy here, though. I have lots of bracteata hips if you cant’t get them elsewhere.
Kim, did you ever get anything decent from Muriel? HMF mentions Muriel being both pollen fertile, and also making decorative hips. Does it really work both ways, and what kinds of things did you try it with?
Mark, good luck with your seedlings. Natalie was kind enough to offer seeds from different sources, so hopefully, one of them will want to dance. I’m sorry to hear Purezza is difficult, I had/have hopes of it working with chinas.
I made a number of crosses with Muriel’s pollen, but had far too many seeds to plant and didn’t plant them. I figured all I needed was one more monstrous, thorny thing. When you’re pushed against the wall and MUST cull somethings, you’ll be surprised at the logic you come up with. Purezza CAN work, it’s just stubborn like plain old Banksiae is. Look on HMF at Robert Rippetoe’s results from it. I have several baggies of seed to plant this year from its pollen. Should be interesting…
Lutescens and normalis single flowered banksiae are the way to go as one get a fair amount of recurrent F1s. Only problem is that they are so early flowering.
Original seed germinates better after a year stored dry. F1s with diploids are usually fertile and seeds very easy to germinate.
Bracteata species is fully fertile and self fertile. Emasculated flowers set many hybrid seeds with mixed pollens. Only problem is getting the seeds to germinate.
Here again one get recurrent F1s. That many hybrid seedlings but not all are female sterile is to overcome using pollen.
Hi David, you can either enter Robert’s name at the Breeder tab on HMF to see all of his listed seedlings. I just checked the Purezza page to see if he’s listed them. Unfortunately, he hasn’t. I know he’s produced some Purezza offspring as I’ve seen them. I just can’t direct you to them on line. I’m sorry!