PROGRESS
By Mary Cook
Santa Clara Valley Branch
By Mary Cook
Santa Clara Valley Branch
At the close of the San Jose Show in June, I was approached by a visitor who had fallen in love with a display plant of ‘Ruddy Rodney’. She loved it so much I was tempted to give it to her, but I could not because it was planted in my favorite wicker basket. Nevertheless, we had a great discussion
‘Ruddy Rodney’ is a little charmer with glossy foliage. It is short jointed lax, and blooms continuously in profusion with small red and white single flowers. ‘Jan Jolie’ is a similar plant with pink and white flowers. These are great for small pots and baskets and are mite resistant. They are a good replacement for the many small cultivars I have abandoned because of mites.
We have Dr. Peter Baye to thank for these cultivars and many other mite resistant plants in the past ten-plus years. Many of his cultivars, such as ‘Galfrey Lye’, are suitable for planting in large pots or the ground. A newer one, ‘Mendonoma Belle’ is a real beauty. It has very pretty foliage, graceful upright growth, and pretty red and purple flowers. Some of his introductions are very suitable for hanging baskets including ‘Trailing Starcross’. A recent one is ‘De Piesse’ (cover photo) with intense color, and slightly shaped tube and petals. Like all hanging plants, these need early pinching. The flowers show well and appear graceful because of their long pedicels.
Dr. Baye has a very strong academic background, but he encourages amateurs as well to develop new cultivars. One approach is to use the Baye cultivars as hybridizing material to pass on mite resistant traits. This has already been done in some instances. His cultivars are generally useful as either pollen parents or seed parents. However, an occasional plant will not be suitable as a seed parent because it is self-cleaning. This can be a very useful trait in a fuchsia because the plant will drop spent flowers and berries and tend to bloom continuously. A good example is ‘Galfrey Lye’ which just keeps blooming and blooming. Plants should be studied. If this trait is seen, the plant should be used as a pollen parent.
For further information on Dr. Baye’s research and hybrids read articles in ‘The American Fuchsia Society Bulletin’. Among these are: May/June 1999, May/June 2001 and September/ October 2005. Pamela Pierce has also written a very informative article, ‘Fuchsias Rise Again in the Bay Area’ in Pacific Horticulture July/August/ September 2006. This includes some excellent color photos of mite resistant fuchsias including some of the Peter Baye hybrids.
Many of these hybrids have been propagated and distributed without charge by Rodney and Janis Bergquist. They are also available at Michael’s Fuchsias Galore (831) 535-2250 and Monnier’s Country Gardens, www.MonniersCountryGardens. com.
There have been concerns about the effect of certain insecticides on bees as well as birds, therefore I will not use them, and am grateful for his efforts to produce mite resistant plants. Therefore, Dr. Peter Baye; my bees thank you, my hummingbirds thank you, the ground water that flows into San Francisco Bay thanks you, and I thank you!