Hahaha! It is wild. I generally don't like double flowers as much as I like singles, but this one is kind of funky. I think I have a total of 4 double flowers among my streps and out of about 120 hybrids, all the rest are singles. I simply like the more classic form. Even ones that are really frilly that don't open up very well get moved along. This one is kind of cheerful though and like DS Little Plushy Artic Fox, so far is a very small strep for a DS Hybrid, but my plant is still young and I'll have a better idea by next spring of it's full mature size. Good bloomer so far!

Aha - in very good hands!

I have a similar philosophy about double flowers, I even prefer single peonies and roses over dbl usually. Once in a great while I like a double.

I think this is definitely very likable.

Love this! It's beautiful!

Very busy and wild, but in a goood way, I like it !

I've been working hard to cut back from 75 flats of indoor plants to just 20 flats. It would be good if I can get them all onto one big shelving unit under lights so that I have room to bring in my adeniums. Needless to say, while I am getting rid of a LOT of my gesneriads, I did keep one of my DS Hawaiian Party to continue enjoying. Now it's matured, it is throwing a LOT of blooms at once.

Sorry to hear, hope you will hold to the best and the rarest...

It'll be all right. Easier to handle just my favorites. At least until we get through this pinch with being between houses. It's not like I can't rebuild my collection again later if I want to, but it's also nice to be able to relax and have a lot less to take care of. Despite hot sales, it wasn't bringing in nearly enough income versus the huge amount of work but it was hard to tell how viable that was until I worked on it.

So true about a financial part. A busy way to earn way less than a minimum wage.

But you cannot hide your green thumbs. May be you will do more hybridizing if you won't be concentrating on growing plants for sale?

I.

Goodness, Irina, you are so right! I earned more a month working /part time/ at Michaels for a while than doing plant sales full time over a year. That's pathetic and people have no idea how much work it is, or the costs to do the packing right.

I may continue hybridizing. I do enjoy it. But if I do I may have to spread seed around to let others grow my hybrid crosses in some kind of joint effort because that takes up a huge amount of space and time. You get mostly duds and very few keepers if you are picky. And I admit I'm hard to please - I don't want my hybrids to be too much like others already out there.

Tell it to ebay haters... some people just do not get the amount of work and expense involved.

Dale Martens only puts 10-15% of the seeds down. Says it is enough to cover the cross diversity.

I understand that people love their first hybrid to pieces. But with time - only best of the best continues to be grown. Plus you are not under pressure to dish out so many new streps and so many new AVs every January.

You can be very selective. Just do not be too selective. I know a hybridizer who didn't release anything in years. They say his compost pile really looks good... it is all in bloom.

*laughs!* Yeah, understood about the compost pile. I only do about 20 or so seeds from a cross at a time as per Dale's advice. I just don't have room to grow out even that much right now.

By the way my episcia seedlings, which are far from being mature enough to settle down into their adult coloring, are so far very interesting. They have dark almost black leaves with bright spreading deep red-pink veins up the middle of the leaves. If they stayed like that, I have at least one stunning winner from my cross. But alas they need 18 months and so far they are only a couple of months growing yet. I'm keeping a hold on them and waiting to see how they turn out. It's a cross between episcia 'Looking Glass' and 'Red Gator'.

Thad Scaggs was showing me his baby Episcias seedlings 10 years ago - they were amazing... he said - when the plants mature - most of them become very ordinary. But not all, luckily.