This year we’re offering two heucheras, Cajun Fire and Delta Dawn, which are new introductions for 2012!
As a home gardener, of course it’s fun to get a new plant, but the commercial breeding process begins years beforehand and is a path of patience and persistence.
Plant Breeding, boiled down:
The first step of a breeding program is to focus on a specific trait, such as a new color or improved tolerance to heat/cold…if you’re thinking the black petunia craze, that’s correct.
But because there are endless shades of green, breeders allegedly follow the 10 foot rule – the idea is that in order to prevent a glut of similar plants, new cultivars should be easily distinguished from ten feet away. It’s up to you to decide if this is nurseryman’s folklore or actually practiced.
Breeders select parent plants, and continue to cross and backcross, keeping excellent records throughout the process.
First generation plants (F1) rarely show the desirable traits that their parents were chosen for. But by the second generation (F2), these traits are more easily recognized and are selected for more crosses. Eventually, prime candidates are multiplied for continued trials, and only a clear winner will be released to the public.
For example, the general process at Terra Nova Nurseries (a large heuchera breeder), starts with 1200 plants in the trialing area per year. Only 12 move on to a secondary trialing for comparison to plants already on the market. Of those, 3-4 are chosen to be grown and multiplied in tissue culture.
About 100 duplicates of each plant are grown and given to wholesalers for trialing in their own gardens for at least one year. If the plant gets a thumbs-up, it now gets a name, a process with few restrictions other than a 3-4 word length limit.
Plant patents or Plant Variety Rights need to be filed within one year of commercial release, and can have hefty fees (up to $15,000) and paperwork. Beautiful photographs are one of the last, but perhaps most important, steps to a successful public release.
To read an interview with Dan Heims, the famed breeder and horticulturist behind Terra Nova nurseries, click here.
To learn more about breeding and its commercial effect, read the story of Minnesota’s horticultural darling, the Honeycrisp apple.