glacey
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Joined: Sat Sep 17, 2011 6:34 am
Location: uk

Different plant colours when growing from seeds

Hi I am fairly new to growing plants from seeds and just wondered if any can help with a question. Last year we collected red, yellow and white snapdragon seeds from existing plants. This year when we grew them we ended up with red,yellow and white plants but also salmon pink, burgundy and purple. We also had a similar thing happen with the Dianthus seeds, any answers would be appreciated.

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rainbowgardener
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Location: TN/GA 7b

The plants you collected from would have been hybrids - crosses between different varieties. So the offspring of them are as various as the different children of two parents. Hybrids do not breed true from seed. But it sounds lovely, enjoy! I collect seeds from my petunias, which started as hybrids and now several generations later have all kinds of colors and markings. I think it is fun to see what shows up. They will always be petunias, or in your case snapdragons.

CharlieBear
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Could also be that the existing plants partially crossed with each other creating different colors, either is possible. I assume the plants were relatively close together while they were blooming and setting seed.

glacey
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Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Sep 17, 2011 6:34 am
Location: uk

Thank you both for taking the time with the explanations. I am now really looking forward to seeing what colour variations we get next year from this years seeds. We did have them very close to each other in a long shaded border to see how well they would grow.



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