Do only fruits, veggies and herbs get called heirloom or hybrid? As in, if I've bought flower seeds (everlastings, poppies, sunflowers etc) do they come in heirloom or hybrid?
Good question! I’ve never heard of a flower being called heirloom come to think of it, but then again ‘heirloom’ is a kinda vague term that doesn’t truly mean a lot. There are new hybrid crosses of flowers, for example a recent one is called digiplexis and it’s a cross between a foxglove and something else… (it’s pretty but never lasts longer than a season in my garden!).
And sweet peas have many crosses and new varieties coming out all the time because people intentionally cross them to make new species (they have to use a paint brush to take the pollen from one plant and deposit inside the flower of another plant, because sweet peas typically self fertilise as the male and female parts are within the same flower).
So whenever you see new varieties or breeds of flowers popping up, they’re likely a novel cross. I mean, it’s happening all the time even just in our gardens plants are cross breeding and creating new variants - I think mustard greens do this a lot, so if you keep saving seeds from your garden you’ll get new species that are specific to your garden (and are likely better adapted to your garden too!). I’m rambling because I think all this stuff is so cool, but I hope that answers your question! ☺️
Do only fruits, veggies and herbs get called heirloom or hybrid? As in, if I've bought flower seeds (everlastings, poppies, sunflowers etc) do they come in heirloom or hybrid?
Good question! I’ve never heard of a flower being called heirloom come to think of it, but then again ‘heirloom’ is a kinda vague term that doesn’t truly mean a lot. There are new hybrid crosses of flowers, for example a recent one is called digiplexis and it’s a cross between a foxglove and something else… (it’s pretty but never lasts longer than a season in my garden!).
And sweet peas have many crosses and new varieties coming out all the time because people intentionally cross them to make new species (they have to use a paint brush to take the pollen from one plant and deposit inside the flower of another plant, because sweet peas typically self fertilise as the male and female parts are within the same flower).
So whenever you see new varieties or breeds of flowers popping up, they’re likely a novel cross. I mean, it’s happening all the time even just in our gardens plants are cross breeding and creating new variants - I think mustard greens do this a lot, so if you keep saving seeds from your garden you’ll get new species that are specific to your garden (and are likely better adapted to your garden too!). I’m rambling because I think all this stuff is so cool, but I hope that answers your question! ☺️
Ahhh this is so helpful! I never knew what heirloom seeds actually were and why they were often better. This explains a lot!
Oh yay I’m so glad!! 🥰🥰