Some notes from the eye and the hand behind VHplants

It is only a matter of growing enough seedlings and you will find what you want, and along the way you will find something even more interesting as well.
Fifteen years at Duncan and Davies Nurseries gave me a broad base of experience in a wide range of plants.

In January 1981 discovered Gleditsia 'Emerald Kaskade'. This was one of two weeping seedlings propagated, but 'Emerald Kaskade' was finer foliaged, and is a male clone. The other clone may be lost now.

In 1981-82 helped Graham Roberts develop Acer palamatum dissectum 'Red Dragon'.

In 1986 discovered Acer palmatum dissectum 'Lionheart' as a seedling while budding. This was named because it has the strongest habit and least tendency to weep of any red dissectum maple.

About 1981 I first developed a passion for magnolias while visiting some of the old layering beds in the back valley at Westown, where Duncan & Davies were before they moved to Brixton. There I found a remnant tree of the clone of M. campbelli ssp. mollicomata, later given the cultivar name of 'Bernie Hollard'.

Magnolias have the refreshing characteristic of breaking the spell of winter with their fresh clean flowers held on bare branches.

When people start to breed magnolias there are different aspects of the species that fascinate each breeder, and they tend to follow down different avenues and breeding lines. As with any breeding program it helps to start with the best parents available. Todd Gresham who worked in California must have seen the clone of M. soulangeana 'San Jose' which we have in NZ. This is definitely a M. x veitchii hybrid as can be seen by the M. denudata type leaves and M. campbelli pink in the mottling at the base of the flowers. He went on to use M. x veitchii in many of his earlier crosses.

I have always been attracted to the clean, sculptured form of different species such as the campbelli types, as well as the well-formed soulangeana types. Initially the hybridizing I did was somewhat of a"shotgun" approach, covering the field quite widely.

This is what Keith Hammett recommended to me when he said "plant breeding is essentially a process of diversity and sieves: Create as much diversity as you can, then develop your criteria for "sieving out" what you want as desired characteristics."

M. x 'San Jose' has a clean sculpted  form, and has yielded some good results, (M x 'Touch of Class') and I plan to use it more in future too. Some parents I would not use again but it proves you can learn something from every cross you do - even if it is not to do it again.

One of my favourite breeder plants is 'Sweet Simplicity' which is so named because of its simple, yet crisp form. It has no sepals, which makes it look sharp in outline. In many hybrids, the sepals can be quite variable in colour and shape, making some blooms look untidy. Originally it was purchased from a garden centre under the name of Magnolia sieboldii, but was clearly a soulangeana type. It was root bound in a bag, and had still managed to set flower buds, so it had to be good. As I saw the results possible with M x 'Sweet Simplicity', I set about developing a line of smaller growing, free flowering garden plants, which is still improving with each successive generation.

Magnolia x 'Old Port' is one of the first generation seedlings of 'Sweet Simplicity'. When this seedling (and her sisters) flowered it reflected the strong crisp form of its mother, and this encouraged me to do more with this line. When I first saw 'Sweet Simplicity', I though it would be great to have this sharp form in red. It has taken a few years but there are several seedlings under evaluation that fit these criteria. 'Old Port' has been trialed for ten years now and certainly has shown its worth as a garden plant. It will be used in hybridizing with later seedlings too.

 Summary of crosses done at Duncan and Davies(Not all crosses attempted were successful):

 1987:

Woodsman x Serene

Serene x liliiflora Nigra

Lennei x mollicomata

Starwars x Rustica ( one or two flowered 1990, nothing startling)

Liliiflora Nigra x mollicomata 'Bernie Hollard' (first flowers in 1993 @ 5 yrs from seed. 'Margaret Helen' named after my mother in 1996)

1988:

Sweet Simplicity  selected

 1989: (biggest hybridizing year until 2003)

Galaxy x Todd Gresham (just a fertility test of Galaxy, but produced an interesting free flowering seedling that is probably lost)

Burgundy x Vulcan (produced 'Advance')

Denudata x Vulcan ('Shirazz')

Liliiflora x Vulcan seedling ('Amethyst Flame')

Liliiflora nigra x San Jose ('Touch of Class') First flowers in 1992.

Manchu Fan x Strybing White. This has produced one surviving seedling. I will begin propagation trials this year.

Soulangeana Alba x San Jose

Sweet Simplicity x liliiflora Nigra ('Old Port', 'Lilac Chalice') First flowers in 1992

 Planted out some open pollinated M.x 'Leonard Messel' seedlings that had crossed with M. lilliflora 'Nigra'.

Noted M. 'Charles Raffill' seedlings coming up wild in the nursery. This suggests magnolias could be raised easily in an open ground seedbed.

Observed different sizes of the stigmatic columns in various magnolia hybrids can be a clue to parentage of different forms.

 1990: no magnolia hybrids.

1991: M. liliiflora Nigra x M. x Iolanthe flowers for first time, as does first of the M. x 'Leonard Messel' seedlings.

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During the mid 1990's I worked for Mark Jury Nursery for a while where I had the privilege of getting to know Felix Jury as well as becoming familiar with a wide range of plant material.

In the late 90's after leaving Jury's I crossed M x 'Sweet Simplicity' with M. x 'Black Tulip' to continue the breeding line I had started while working at Duncan and Davies. This cross has produced a range of growth habits from medium sized bushes to timber trees. The first seedling flowered at at 2 years from seed and showed a great deal of promise, being propagated and hybridised immediately. This variety was named M x 'Sweet Valentine' due to its interesting glowing red colour, the sort of red associated with Valentines Day.

  This is the first of my hybrids of 'Sweet Simplicity' x 'Black Tulip' to be released. It had a "false start" with a few plants propagated and circulated. The original is in a somewhat difficult spot under big poplar trees and is not flowering that well but all grafted plants are performing well. I have used it in the next series of crosses, and back crossed to itself from there too. It is a fairly sturdy grower with weather resistant flowers. It flowered about 2 years from seed and I crossed it with Sweet Simplicity x liliiflora 'Nigra'. This cross has produced some good reds which subsequently flowered 2 years from seed and are under evaluation for development now.

 I moved away from Taranaki and ornamental horticulture for about 3 years and returned in the summer of 2003. In the spring of 2002 I saw the results of the 'Sweet Simplicity' seedlings, and combined with the initial results of a few seedlings I raised in Tauranga, I couldn't resist getting back in magnolia hybridizing with more enthusiasm than ever.

Magnolia x 'Genie' is the first result from one of the latest batches of hybrids. A subsequent batch of hybrids crossed in 2003, including 'Genie' as seed parent and pollen parent are beginning to show promise, but it is too soon to publish any of these results. A good percentage of these seedlings are setting flowers at 2 years from seed.

For the last 20 years or so I have been dabbling with Agapanthus hybrids and have had several varieties commercialised. I have a range of variegated clones under trial.

Vance Hooper
VHplants 2006

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