There were many private discussions amongst the hybridizers at the Murphys convention concerning 1W-R breeding and results. An observation from here is that there is some as yet undefined linkage between corona length and color expression. It seems to me that the highest saturation and/or deepest color values have always been in coronas that measure just under trumpet length. As soon as the corona length is equal to or greater than the perianth length (ie trumpet), the color value drops or pales significantly. My best estimate is that the color value is not half but more like 20% when true trumpet length is achieved. Have observed this in multiple crosses using pink, W-W, bicolor, Y-R and Y-P trumpets crossed with ‘Lutana’ as one example.
It is interesting to see a row of siblings from this type of cross in flower. The Div. 2 corona siblings would be a dark, glowing orange while those that measure trumpet may open with a tinge of a (at best) medium orange color but rapidly pale to yellow or a sort of biscuit colored pink. It has been reported to me by David Jackson and Jamie Radcliff that their experience is similar.
There are far more 1W-P’s and 1Y-O/R’s to use as building blocks towards a true 1W-R. It may be that inter crossing the best examples available of the 1W-R’s bred from the O/R side with those from the P/R side will ultimately yield the ideal result(s).
Steve Vinisky