Creating Hybrids

Plant seeds of open-pollinated plants. Progeny (kinds of seed produced) varies wildly in plants that are open-pollinated. Bees go from flower to flower, pollinating at random. That means that each seed germinates into a slightly different plant. The stock plants shown below (figure A) grew from the seeds of the same parent. Yet the plant on the left has a double, dark pink flower, while the plant on the right has single blooms of a lighter pink. If you notice a new plant that appeals to you, collect its seed and take cuttings.

Look for the unusual in your garden. Select and save a plant if it offers something different and attractive in color, fragrance, foliage, or other characteristic. Dan Lehrer, a nurseryman in Sebastopol, California, grows a variety of ornamental corn for its striped foliage, and in one crop he noticed that the seed came not only in the usual red but also in yellow and bronze (figure B). "If I were to plant the [variants], I would get something totally new and different," Lehrer explains. "And if it's cool, I can name it after myself, propagate it, spread it around, sell it to nurseries or whatever."

The California native grape produces yellow leaves in the fall, but a nursery grower found one whose leaves had turned red. He propagated it and called it 'Roger's Red.' Says Lehrer: "I bought a 'Roger's Red', planted it in the garden, ate the grapes, spit the seeds out all over the garden and watched the seedlings come up. One of the seedlings had darker red leaves than 'Roger's Red'. So I waited till it was dormant and put it in a pot. Now I can propagate it and name it after myself--'Dan's Darker'. Why? Because that's the point. You can be immortal by hybrdizing your own plants. Luther Burbank did it. You can do it too."