Hybridising Pelargoniums and growing from Seed
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Notes from a talk by Kate Spencer
“Okay, I’m going to speak to you all about how to breed new varieties of flowers." There are two different ways of creating new geraniums and pelargoniums. The first way is through a “sport”. A sport is a genetic mutation that the plant creates. See example (photo 1),white and green leaves growing on Green and Gold Klein Liebling. 
photo one
In this photo the pale green plant is Green and Gold Klein Liebling (the sport are the white and green leaves) Flowers in vases are both sports. The regal is Sport of Rimfire and zonal is Mann’s Rosette from Double Newlife. The white leaves on the branch of this miniature geranium are the sport. If you cut off the sport you can then regrow it as a new plant and often it will stay a completely new variety. One of the most famous sports I can think of, that is growing in my garden, is Sport of Rimfire (photo 1 dark red flower). This is a regal and it was found on a plant named Rimfire, which is a plain red. It has then thrown up these flowers which have a paler edge and they named it Sport of Rimfire. Another sport is named Mann’s Rosette, which is actually a sport that Nancy Mann found (in Australia) on Double New Life.(photo 1) Hybridising through growing seedlings is more successful and reliable and that’s because, if I cut that sport off and grew it, there is a 30% chance that it could revert back to the original state. So even though those leaves have white on them, sometimes it will stabilise and then sometimes it will revert. That’s the biggest problem with sports. So that’s why growing from seed is a more reliable way of creating new varieties. In Australia we actually had some of the best pelargonium and geranium hybridisers in the world. We had Ted Both. Now, Ted Both actually bred the staph (stellar) so these didn’t exist anywhere in the world, these five fingered staph, until Ted Both came along. |
She has created all the Edwards varieties. (Look at Kate’s flowers -photo five) These are some that I have bred myself and two of these are from Edwards varieties. These are Spencer's Kimberley and Spencer's Ella, they are two different colours.
The Edwards varieties are known for their double, big showy flowers. Marj Edwards imported ten different varieties from England, and then she has bred all of her Edwards varieties from those ten original imports. Ken Attfield produced some wonderful miniature varieties and his prefix is Charmay. Another wonderful hybridiser who has specialised in regal pelargoniums in Western Australia is Colin Baker. Colin produced the winning regal flower at the prestigious Chelsea flower show named Palmyra Pearl. Colin uses the prefix Palmyra but only on his very best plants. 
The two important things you need to know with hybridising are the anther and the stigma.
The anther is where the pollen forms on the flower as it opens and the pollen is best to be harvested in the mornings. Marj Edwards told me she always fertilises her stigmas with pollen collected at 10am. She says that’s when the pollen is the freshest. As the flower first opens, you will see there are about four anthers and they all have a really bright orange pollen on them. That’s the fertile pollen. Once it turns to a plainer colour, you will notice it in the morning when you see them it’s no longer fertile. To create your own variety, you take the pollen from one flower and you put it on the stigma of the different flower you want to cross with. Some people use a paint brush, however, paint brushes will absorb lots of pollen. If you are trying to pollenate a specific flower you don’t want to mix the pollen. You want to know what you are breeding. I basically breed for coloured leaves, which are my favourite variety. My method is to use my fingers. I dab the pollen on my finger, then I find a ripe stigma, (a ripe stigma has the perfect five star shape) and then simply press it onto that. Just days later you will see little pointed beak bill shaped stems that come out. This is actually the stigma shooting up from the flower and the seeds are formed right down at the base of the flower. Once they turn brown, they break away from the stigma and they shoot off and you can see these little feather type attachments to the seeds. They are easy to lose in to the wind. The seeds must be brown before you harvest them. Inside these shells is a tiny little seed. After taking the seed out of the shell with the feather attachment, it is ready to plant. All you need to do is put it in damp soil. The best time to plant seed is around spring. I put multiple seeds in the same little pot because it is hit and miss. They won’t all grow. Some will germinate a lot later than the others and also they love to be crowded. Then you need to protect them from snails and caterpillars. I spray mine regularly every three weeks with pyrethrum. When raising seeds, you don’t let them fully dry out as you would with a normal adult plant. They like to stay slightly moist. I never let them fully dry out. They also like to grow in part shade. I wouldn’t grow them in full sun because of the drying effect on the soil from the sun. It’s good to grow a large amount. Spring time is the best time to plant them, however, I have planted them in winter and they have still germinated, just grow a lot slower. |
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It will take around six months to go from seed to flower. I also drop seeds into flowerpots. It’s a great way of having a great display and they love to be planted with other plants.
You can basically breed any variety except for one. The one variety you can’t breed from is a rosebud zonal and that is because, if you stripped all the petals off the rosebud zonal there are no breeding parts of the flower. Rosebud zonals are sterile. I have found that Fibrex in the UK supply good quality seed. |
These seedlings are six weeks old.
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When I plant the seed I very lightly cover it with only a few millimetres of soil. Place it just under the top layer of the soil.
The mix I use is exactly the same as I use for growing my normal plants and that is Premium Potting Mix and perlite (20%). Seedlings like a light liquid fertiliser. I use Seasol to just make them grow a bit faster. I have an area that is fully enclosed with shade cloth and it has a door on it and that means that the bees can’t enter the area. But I also have an open garden area and some of my best flowering results have been from those random bee fertilised ones. Some people use little tomato type bags however you don’t want moisture around the seed when it’s forming as grey mould can occur and the seeds don’t ripen. The plants will have attributes from the seed parent but not the pollen parent. They will be similar, but they will never be identical. The genetic makeup of your plant will be unique and you can then name your new plant. At about six months of age, you can start taking cuttings and spreading it around. You can register your plant but most people don’t register their plants |
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My plants carry the prefix Spencer. It’s good to have a prefix, because if you breed a few then everyone can recognise straight away that it’s one of yours. It’s a good idea to grow the plant through two flowering seasons, eg two Springs. I discard probably 80% of my plants. By discard I mean that I just plant them in the garden and forget about them. Sometimes I throw them in the bin if they are ugly or boring or exactly like the seed parent. You would only name something that you are proud of, that’s really different, that adds value to the current pool of pelargoniums. |
These are flowers that were all hybridised by myself. (prefix Spencer)
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The plants always develop towards the seed parent (mother)plant. Probably 30/70.
For example, if you wanted to breed doubles, you’d be better off breeding with the double flower as the seed parent. The father is the pollen parent. When you are fertilising a tulip variety you need to remove those petals to fertilise the stigma. When you are crossing the two it’s a really good idea to think what you want to improve upon with your seed parent. For example I often breed for a coloured leaf (these are my favourite variety). But lots of coloured leaved plants are very leggy. So, a good cross would be a miniature or dwarf to develop that compact shape.” |
