Pansies; Seed to Flower

[Pulsegleaner]

Hi all

Well, I got a little surprise yesterday. Finally one of the pansy plants that came from last years seed I planted (as opposed to those I bought as plants earlier in the year) has flowered (and the one next to it looks like it is about to)

There is good news and bad news about this.

Besides the obvious pleasure of getting one or two to go whole cycle (with the hope of getting second gen seed and keeping this going). There is the fact that the ones that have come up seem to be matches for one of the colors of the Penny Lane mix I got last year (and again this one). This means those pansies colors are seed stable. Therefore, if I can get seed from the scarce black centered red ones I have gotten (which seem to be unique to this particular mix, and are always in too short supply for my planting needs) there is every reason to assume they would grow true to type, and building the population up is actually feasible.

The bad thing things (and it is a minor one) is the fact that these ones are a perfect match means I am even MORE sorry I got no seed from the LAST time I got a sowed seed to flower, last year (or maybe the year before, don't remember) at the time, I thought it was NORMAL for second gen plants to produce flowers that looked wildly different from their parents, and to have tiny flowers in accordance with their tiny size. Now it looks like that one was a unique cross or mutation (what I got was really small, on a scale only slightly larger than a wild field pansy but with a domestics color scheme (yellow with a black interior eye.) I really would have like to keep that in the repertoire, and it looks like I won't have another chance probably.

 

[Nyboy]

WE need photos

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Here you go

Incidentally, I poked the close one a bit to check it's color. It's basically the same as the open one (though the ring is a bit whiter)

 

[Nyboy]

Nice deep color.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

It's clearly one of the Penny Lane series (I have several from this years six packs that are perfect twins). As of this season, they were selling them at both the Farmers Market stand in Scarsdale/Hartsdale and Michael's Nursery in Mt. Kisco. I would imagine they will have them again there next season (just remember, if I get there first, all red and red/black ones are pretty much guaranteed to be GONE* (with an average of one or two packages with them showing up each year, this is not all that much of a stunt)

*Tough since, as I mentioned the solid red ones are now available as flats of just themselves I suppose this is not so much of a hindrance to one who wants that color. Especially since it means I am likely to LEAVE any packages whose reds have no black component from now on.

 

[Nyboy]

My large pansies are starting to look worn, the little ones still look good

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Well, that's how it always is. The smaller pansies are simply tougher than the large ones. I think it has to do with being closer in genetics to the wild johnny-jump-up (which is somewhere between a wildflower and an actual weed if the conditions are good). The smaller you go the more they can take. (unfortunately, the smaller you go, the less color and pattern options you tend to have)

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Few more pictures

A second one of the pot (now that the second flower is open all the way)

And a few likely candidates for saving for this year (actually everything I can gets saved, but these get saved IN THEIR OWN PACKETS.

I call this one "Purple Eclipse" (it's a little hard to see with the angle and the fact the flower is still a little cupped from not being fully open, but there is actually a golden brown corona between the black center and the purple margins)

Purple Whiskers. I always love pansies with this particular pattern (they remind me of the C.amazonicum orchid I used to have in my room). I lucked out this year; there are actually TWO plants in this pot.

I took a pic of the red Penny Lanes as well, but that will have to wait for this afternoon (my wifi signal is getting weak again, so I can't seem to send the pic from my phone to the computer)

 

[Pulsegleaner]

It finally came through. Here are the Red Penny Lanes, Well, two of them (there are seven in the line, too many to fit into a good closeup pic)

 

[Nyboy]

Pansies are one of my favorite flowers. By winters end I need a sign spring is coming