VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF LIFE

Design and InstallationGarden Caregarden TriviaPlant Health Care
Written By Peter Morris

This is true of people – but also Corn ! - oh and potatoes and apples too! - Oh and everyone at Plant Specialists as well!

Genetic Variation is why people (and apples!) are so individual – offspring aren't always duplicates of  their parents.  The differences enables a broader gene expression available to use in any new or different environment they may encounter.

It is an evolutionary adaptation to improve survival of the species.

Talk about survival ! Plant Specialists has been around for more than 50 years – thanks in part to all the amazing employee variation (and knowledge) throughout all these years.

Variation in gene expression is Great ! - until you want to grow an apple tree (or many other plants too) from seed.

True seeds are those which produce offspring identical or very close to the parental stock. It is very common and the expected.  Especially if the plant is a self pollinating type (tomatoes, eggplant pepper, beans). You plant a seed and you are hoping to get a new plant to be just like the one you got the seed from!  Ask any Garden Care horticulturist !

This pepper is a great example of a true self pollinating seeder.

This however doesn't apply if the plant you are taking the seed from is a hybrid.  Hybrids already are the result of crossing different parents and would also produce a lot of variation. 

But some plants just cant handle the truth! - Ha ha.   Apples in their reproduction cycle recombine so much DNA in their chromosomes that the offspring are VERY unlikely to be anything similar to the parent.

All this variation is helpful if you want to survive in an endless changing environment – hence why there are so many types of apples and crab apples - but its not very useful for a farmer if you found your dream apple and want to grow more of it.

Growers have been left with the only choice available – make clones.  They graft buds and branches of their preferred apples on to other root stock and the branch produces those same apples. Genetically it is a clone – an exact genetic copy of the apple tree the branch came from.

Apples !!!!

John Cripps is the plant-breeder who naturally cross bred the first ever Pink apple in Australia in 1973. He had the ingenious idea to cross a Golden Delicious and a Lady Williams - creating this delicious new variety. Pink Lady®.

         

Call Plant Specialists TODAY !

Our Garden Care team can install some annuals in a multitude of variations - just for you!

Don't delay – the sooner the better !

GREENING NEW YORK FOR OVER 53 YEARS !


Article written by our Staff Horticulturist, Peter B Morris, BSc, MSc, MBA

All photographs used with permission @SHUTTERSTOCK 

Peter Morris

Peter was born and raised on a beautiful green island in the midst of a tropical rainforest. He was introduced into the world of plants at the age of six when his grandmother, an avid Spanish gardener herself, asked him to help her grow seeds for her pepper garden. He was hooked! By the time he was a teen, he had his own rose and orchid collection numbering in the hundreds. Botany was in his blood, and that is what he set out to study.

His passion brought him to NY in the late seventies to further his education. His tenacity allowed him to work full time at Plant Specialists while he completed a MS in Plant Biology. As a manager at the time he felt unsatisfied with his knowledge of business and business processes. Peter felt compelled to learn, so he then pursued and completed an MBA in Quality Management within a few short years.

Peter’s other passion is teaching. His natural ability is quickly consumed by our staff in all subjects in Botany, Horticulture, and Landscaping. He created an immense reference library of more than 3,500 plants providing an invaluable resource for our staff.

Peter’s breadth of knowledge and wisdom allows him to effectively diagnose the needs of plants. Sometimes just by walking into a garden he can create a prescription that fixes even the hardest issue. He is our Staff Botanist, Diagnostician, and all around Mentor. Recently, he has put his immense knowledge and skills into developing a new department that focuses on Plant Healthcare. As he puts it, “Magic through Science”. The PHC staff that surround him have avidly consumed his teachings. Substantially developing their own plant wisdom, many have taken on difficult plant health issues with spectacular results.

Plant Healthcare has been an instant success with customers! The proper treatment of insects and diseases including Organic methods has made pest control a necessity for every plant. Correcting hormonal imbalances caused by planting in containers or refurbishing soils leached of nutrients by irrigation systems are big challenges PHC has become quite comfortable addressing. The scientific approach to the complex demands of keeping plants healthy in our harsh city environment has made many a customer say WOW!

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