Mr. Ko himself puts the odds at somewhere between 20 and 30 percent--wide enough to land a Boeing, really. Of course there will be outliers. For instance, my sister bought seeds from him three or so years ago and of the plants that survived and bloomed, she has so far only seen the combination traits of both parent plants.

From this I can kind of glean that 1.) Mr. Ko most probably isolates his parent stocks during hand-pollination so that they can not cross with his other plants and 2.) he keeps accurate records of his crosses. Short of gene mapping, we really can't say and these stats are still largely anecdotal.

As for colors, I know that most adenium flowers start out rather pale, then mature over a period of days to become more saturated before fading again before finally wilting. Also, flowers last longer when shaded after noon. If they get rained on, the petals look icky and do not recover.

None of my plants from Adenium_Ko seeds have ever bloomed. But that's a different story unrelated to the quality of his seeds.

Pagan

Pagan-

I could have almost guessed what the answers to my questions would be, but I am glad you took an interest and the time to give me some observations. I did not know flowers would go through different color phases as they age.

The "APOLLO" seeds just arrived a few minutes ago. So...I got some sowing to do. Just as a backup, "Plan-B", I'll continue to keep my eyes open for a variety that has the kind of flowers that I fancy, and I'll use it for my grafting scions.

Thanks,

Frank

There are true Dark Purples, appearing so dark that they look blackish. There are deep reds or burgundy colors that are very deep in shade. The site in which they are grown and humidity can play a big factor in just how deep a color they are.

Of course buying seed and growing will give a possibility of something similar. These percentages are definitely greater with all the hybridizing that is taking place.

You can tell if a dark color bloom is what you get, as the bud and the calyx will be the same as the bloom. This grafted plant from Rinoa, when it comes into bud has the deepest and almost black buds and calyx as the bloom when open. This has also be mentioned by David Clulow as world known hybrider.

Bottom Left

Rick