An apparent sport!

[Horsea]

I have a bed with hundreds of catchfly (silene). Every year they reseed. Guess what I just saw among all those countless hot pink flowers: a white one. Does anybody here know anything about mutants, esp. as regards catchfly? Tks. - Horsea.

[winter_unfazed]

Have you bred it true yet?

[Betz]

SAVE THE SEEDS! You could have a new variety!

[TennOC]

You might investigate whether it is self-pollinating, and if so cover the blooms to keep them from crossing. Even if it is crossed the gene(s) for white color will still be in there somewhere, so white-flowering seedlings should be present among the mixed ones next year. Good luck!

[Longtail]

Not sure but I think there is a white Silene??/ Asexuall reproduction might be the way to go. We just discovered a sport in 1 of our sempervivums weendy, it doesnt send out runnetrs for the chicks but grows baby ies directly from the mopther and makes a very tight cluster. Sports are fun to search for, its one of things to do when visiting other nurseries, never know what out there.

[Horsea]

Hi. Thanks all for replying to my question, even tho it took a few years! I haven't tried to plant the few seeds yet. I have to find them first. You know what enthusiastic home gardeners' seed collections look like, sometimes!

[texman]

Thats the fun of growing things. My bluebonnets which I ve had for many years and which reseed themselves last year came out with half of them being "white" bonnets--not a clue how that happened but this year they went back to being blue again.