Sunbelievable or unbelievable? 30 May 2018 at 12:11PM in Greenfingered MoneySaving 13 replies 3.6K views

madjackslam

How does this work then?

This sunflower from Thompson & Morgan is, apparently, a sterile annual. It won third prize at Chelsea. And you can get one plant for £15, which will presumably look great all summer, die, and then, well, that's it. Fair play, it's a great-looking plant, but this is Greenfingered MoneySaving, and I want more for my money. What do they grow them from, and so, by implication, how might a home gardener propagate them? I'm talking hypothetically, of course, because it's protected by trademark/plant breeders rights, etc, so none of us would ever do this, and also I'm not paying £15 for one in the first place. I simply don't understand how you can have a sterile annual.

Farway

Looks nice, my guess would be they are micro propagated from cells, a technology not available to average gardener

If a similar non trademarked sunflower was nearby I wonder if it's seeds would be cross pollinated by BEG? Or is BEG completely sterile?

madjackslam

Thanks. Yes, by sterile, does it mean that it produces no pollen/eggs, etc. or just that it can't fertilise itself (in which case pollen could go to nearby sunflowers and maybe pollinate them, as you say). Reading up, sunflowers look to have fiendishly complicated DNA, so maybe it's possible to modify it such that it can't reproduce. Although the blurb states that it was all done just be crossing "the very best with the very best" it's not clear what that means.

Davesnave

Farway wrote: »

Looks nice, my guess would be they are micro propagated from cells, a technology not available to average gardener

The RHS says it's cuttings raised:


https://www.rhs.org.uk/shows-events/rhs-chelsea-flower-show/news/2018/chelsea-plant-of-the-year-2018


But, of course, we couldn't do that.....

Farway

I see it is also "pollen free" which would explain the sterile label

Unlikely to therefore pollinate another variety, but wonder if another variety could pollinate it?

Parkerlings

This is a gorgeous plant, had 3 in Spring and even now in December they have flowers and each at least 10 - 15 buds at first glance. No seeds as sterile but apparently you can grow on by taking cuttings. I've never tried but will certainly give it a shot. As for being £15 you get a massive deal there! How many plants have you bought that flower at least 6 months straight?

unrecordings

I can't see why RHS would be promoting pollen free anything, unless I'm missing something here. As for trademark, making your own cuttings wouldn't infringe trademark (which is different to patent) so long as they were for private enjoyment (not commercial use)

unrecordings

madjackslam wrote: »

Thanks. Yes, by sterile, does it mean that it produces no pollen/eggs, etc. or just that it can't fertilise itself (in which case pollen could go to nearby sunflowers and maybe pollinate them, as you say). Reading up, sunflowers look to have fiendishly complicated DNA, so maybe it's possible to modify it such that it can't reproduce. Although the blurb states that it was all done just be crossing "the very best with the very best" it's not clear what that means.

Marketing blurb, and I was going to have issue with the crossing 'the very best with the very best' as there can only be one 'very best' but technically if it's reproduced from cuttings, then the blurb is true - either very clever, or very lazy. Yep it's pedantry Friday for me

Davesnave

Parkerlings wrote: »

As for being £15 you get a massive deal there! How many plants have you bought that flower at least 6 months straight?

You can grow a lot of other annuals or tender perennials that give equal value £ for £.

I've a few favoured tender perennials that literally go back decades. Plants like dahlias also give ample colour in a very wide range and obligingly produce both seeds and tubers. Buy a few good ones and you'll never need to buy them again.

Personally, I'd rather have 3 months of flower or other interest, year, after year, after year, which is why I prefer perennials and shrubs, but each to their own.

Davesnave

unrecordings wrote: »

I can't see why RHS would be promoting pollen free anything, unless I'm missing something here. As for trademark, making your own cuttings wouldn't infringe trademark (which is different to patent) so long as they were for private enjoyment (not commercial use)

That was last year. This thread is so old the link no longer goes where it should.

The RHS is in a cleft stick here, but it doesn't matter what novelty plants people grow, so long as they focus mainly on the ones that help pollinators.

What was it John Lemon, that famous long-haired gardener from the 60s said? Oh yeah, "Give bees a Chance."

unrecordings

Davesnave wrote: »

That was last year. This thread is so old the link no longer goes where it should.

Yep that confused the crap out of me

Davesnave wrote: »

The RHS is in a cleft stick here, but it doesn't matter what novelty plants people grow, so long as they focus mainly on the ones that help pollinators.

When I looked at the T&M link my hackles got raised further by one of the photos including a bee, clearly pollinating, then I realised it just doesn't set seed pollinators can pollinate, but nothing further will happen (I think)

Davesnave wrote: »

What was it John Lemon, that famous long-haired gardener from the 60s said? Oh yeah, "Give bees a Chance."

You mean The Shamen "Bees Are Good"