Hallson Gardens

I was pollinating flowers a couple days ago, and when I went to strip the petals off one of my seedlings, I noted the flowers are really thick. It was tough to peel them back , relative to the usual flower.
It is Montana Areomarginata x Blue Jay.
Not very blue but great substance.
The flower is narrow funnel shaped, near white but lavender as it fades. The petals don't flare like most. They last a day like the others.
I didn't try to post a pic because you have to feel it to appreciate the difference.
So this is not something I really want in a hosta flower... or is it?
It might be useful someday like if we get a wimpy flower with great new color.
I invite your comments as to how this might be useful in the future.
I have nicknamed it "Lederblumen" (German for Leather Flower)

I think you're exactly right, this plant might be useful for future hybridizing, a bridge plant... I'd be interested to see the shape of the flower...

I just took pics but will need to get the cable, hopefully tomorrow. It is very fertile based on the first few flowers that were o.p., and I have various pollen donors crossed... Plantaginea looks like 2 out of 4 attempts may have taken, a little early to tell. I crossed some purple types onto it today.

DBoweMD wrote:Plantaginea looks like 2 out of 4 attempts may have taken, a little early to tell.

If that is the case, this could be an exciting plant. Good luck!

The flower is narrow funnel shaped, near white but lavender as it fades. The petals don't flare like most. They last a day like the others.

Sounds somewhat like the flowers on Blue Mouse Ears. While I didn't 'feel' the flowers on them this year, they sure struck as being as heavily substanced as the leaves.

Dave, I really like the name for one!

Since I am new at hybridizing, I'm not sure if everyone has this problem...but when moving potted hostas around, I noticed that some of the blooms can get knocked off quite easily. That was a major problem as I only had one more bloom to try on Marbled Cream Seedling...and it got knocked off moving it!

Do the stems of the flowers you have feel sturdier, also?

Don't know a thing about hybridizing but I've wondered if tretaploid plants have different flowers?

Regarding flowers getting knocked off...
My impression is that if they are getting knocked off that easily, by just hitting something, they were too weak to make it anyway.
I used to worry that seed pods were getting knocked off, getting upset about it when I was first hybridizing. I now am convinced that they want to come off when that happens. Like the leaves on trees in the fall, they are separating naturally.
Sometimes a scape is not healthy or a plant is going into early dormancy or has aphids and buds get knocked off because they have weak attachments. I think there are a few that are 'brittle', and this can happen, but it is pretty unusual.
When I am trying to get seed pods off for drying in the fall, they are nearly impossible to pull off.
When I am pollinating, I usually hold the flower petals in my hand to stabilize it and it almost never pulls off the plant.
On the plants with long gangly scapes, I am usually putting a pretty good strain on it, lifting the scape by the flower.

Blue Mouse Ears is super thick, almost infertile, and I have not noticed the flowers being this thick. I would think it is tetraploid based on the cardboard like stiffness of the leaves.
This plant is not as stiff as BME, it's more like a Tardiana substance.

Here is the plant and the flowers. The red wires are Plantaginea crosses.