Variegation. It can be a divisive subject among gardeners. Some gardeners love any form of variegation, others can be extremely selective in introducing any variegation to their personal paradise. I'm not going to discuss the aesthetic merits of either mindset in this post. I was just fishing for a dramatic hook.
I have one potentially interesting seed experiment, though I've nothing yet to show for it. One of the Iris tenax that volunteered in a small bed after we built it years ago turned out to have wonderful icy blue-white flowers. The colors broke up a bit over the years and now it blooms with white flowers streaked with pale blue. I finally put in the effort to collect seed and sow it in a pot, where I can keep track of any resulting seedlings, instead of simply scattering them in another garden bed. The colors suggest a potential variegated mutation in the second meristem layer, hidden by an all green epidermis produced by the first meristem layer. These seeds could produce interesting results, too! I didn't arrive at this theory until I noticed one shoot on this iris this summer that had variegation on the leaves, as if the mutation had migrated into the first layer and thus was produced in the epidermis. That theory may be a load of garden fertilizer, as the variegated shoot could have arisen as a new mutation completely unrelated to the flower color. Unfortunately, that shoot didn't bloom this year, but I hope it blooms next year so I can collect seed from that flower. Below are photos of the flowers produced by the non-variegated shoots and of the variegated shoot itself.
 |
| Blue/purple streaks visible on a single flower. |
 |
| On a bright, sunny day, the flowers read as almost pure white. |
 |
| The variegated shoot I hope blooms next spring. |
Surprisingly, I've never tried growing variegated plants from seed. The results can be a pretty mixed bag, but that variation is the best part of growing plants from seed!
Will be watching your scientific experiments with great interest.
ReplyDeleteHa! So will I! "Scientific" might be a bit of a stretch, unless you put "mad" in front of it.
Delete"...the mutation causing the variegation occurs in the second layer of the meristem, from which gametes ultimately arise, seeds can be collected..." I did not know this -- thanks for the insight! In the bamboo world when a variegated form goes to seed (and the parent plant potentially dies and disappears from cultivation) we typically just sow as many seeds as possible and hope for a variegated seedling for the next generation. Maybe there could be more thought involved...
ReplyDeleteWell, you'd have to dissect a meristem and view it under a microscope to determine which layers are mutated. Layer 2 does also contribute a lot of cells to the leaf blade, though, so perhaps simply looking at the leaves is enough. Really, I'm doing exactly what you would do with bamboo, sowing as many seeds as possible and hoping.
DeleteI've never attempted this kind of calculated selection - heck, I'm happy if I can just propagate duplicates of ordinary specimens - but I find this effort fascinating. I look forward to updates.
ReplyDeleteCalculated, like scientific, seems like a strong word. I just collected the seeds and sowed them all. Now I'll wait and see what comes out of it. I'll post updates as they grow!
DeleteInteresting. Your post makes me wonder if variegated Agaves would produce variegated seedlings.
ReplyDeleteWhen I got a bumper crop of bulbils I save all the most-variegated individuals--about 25 out of several thousand. All but 3 of them reverted--the last three have stayed very variegated, but they are slow, slow, slow.
It all depends on how the variegation is distributed through the meristem. It's always worth trying growing seeds from a variegated plant.
Delete