Past, Present and Future of Seedling Geraniums
Subject:
Pennsylvania Flower Growers #204
Abstract:
It indeed seems odd to he here at this meeting talking about the past, the present and the future. I have always felt, at least up to this time, that geraniums from seed was a topic better placed in current events than in history. Research on seedling geraniums was started at Penn State in January, 1958. I remember begging my first nine cultivars from the Penn State greenhouses. After looking through several catalogs and finding just one seed produced type hastily ordered it. In 1958,we at Penn State felt that someday flower growers would grow geraniums from seed. After 100 years of cuttings — that thought seemed senseless to many people. But we produced seed on the cultivars and grew out the seed that we had purchased. Of the original nine cultivars two are still mainstays in our breeding program. These are 'Madame Buchner' and 'Madame Landry'. Two such unlikely women have rarely excited a man's imagination. The geranium seed that we purchased — designated 'Florist Mixture' — produced so many problems that even ten years — and I am sure 20 will not be long enough to solve them.
Keywords: Seedling Germination evaluating these cultivars flower uniformly Dark green foliage
Libraries: Floriculture