Koen,

I don’t get too much botrytis at my home garden – our volcanic sandy soils drain all too well, and our desert climate is naturally dry.  But I do get some of it sometimes, and I see it on certain seedlings at the nursery sometimes as well.

Really, the only conclusion I’ve been able to draw is that plants which grow in a particularly…[Read more]

Being a layman, I prefer beautiful flower form, pristine white flowers, no need for support. All these three fill those qualifications: ‘White Grace’, ‘Mother’s Choice’ and ‘Steve’s Choice’.

The peony images in the word document are not particularly appealing to my eyes. If they would be growing in my seedling field, I’m pretty sure they would be discarded. I’m not opposed against single flowered peonies, although the market for them is far smaller, but I do prefer well formed petals. The red one is more or less interesting for…[Read more]

There were a few tags with numbers on them but since I don’t know his numbering system, the numbers aren’t much help.  For example, the tag on the second picture was H21.  I assume it was some type of hybrid, but not much more than that.

I’m also not sure how much faith to put in the labels.  I found a marker which said ‘CONNIE’ which I as…[Read more]

Paul,

I’m not sure there is anything special about these flowers per say , but as they are seedlings, given some of the things that Steve was using as parents in his breeding program, if we knew what the parents were they might be of interest to hybridizers.

I know that Steve formally registered several varieties with interesting parentages, but…[Read more]