Monday, August 07, 2006

Summer Sports, partie 2

This is just a teaser for another post coming soon ... P4 asked about my Celosia sports over at Olivia's place the other day, and I finally got some decent pics yesterday of a few of them. So here's one to tide my friends over until I can do a decent write up of what's going on with these plants... Suffice to say, they self seed generously every year and surprise us with interesting variations each year, some more interesting than others, but this one seems to capture the essence of how freely they cross pollinate and re-emerge as something familiar, yet oddly different. Best estimation I can give for this one is that it's a sport between Celosia plumosa Yellow Spires and a Celosia cristata ("cockscomb" variety)... but who knows? We just let them do their thing and wonder what the next season will bring.... I'll have more (pics and commentary) on these later...

7 comments:

Family Man said...

That's a great picture IVG. The clarity is so good I can see the little hair thingies. Hah, I love scientific jargon. :~)

olivia said...

These are so neat! Especially considering they're different every year so you never know what you'll get!

I agree w/ FM ... great photo -- captures the hair thingies so well!! LOL

Puget4 said...

Beautiful! Is this a sport? What's the variety originally look like? Any chance they cross polinate?

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Oh, this is definitely a sport! I'm working on another sport posting I plan on having up soon, so check back. The original variety we planted was a "plumosa" variety, but has cross-pollinated with one of the smaller "Cockscomb" varieties to produce this one ... we've been jokingly referring to this one as "The Pineapple Celosia." We've seen this sort before in previous years, but this particular one has really evolved into something odd this year!

olivia said...

It does resemble a pineapple!!! :)

Puget4 said...

How Cool!!! Try getting seeds from this and see if they reproduce true.

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Nice to see you back, P4! I may just do that this year, but it's a crap shoot as to whether they will be true, since many annuals that sport aren't (zinnias, for example). I'd be happy to collect some seeds for you if you'd like to try them next year, and even though I know you don't have a garden per se, these are small enough you could grow them successfully in larger pots if you'd like to give them a try. Just let me know!

See what you think about the one I just posted earlier tonight ... I'm saving one of the weirdest ones for later, lol. But the one I put up tonight is certainly an oddball!