Johann's Garden

The following are my comparative observations of the various myoga ginger ( Zingiber mioga ) cultivars currently available in the United States. Clones currently found in the United States: 'Japanese Cream' - This was long circulated without a cultivar name, being simply sold and traded as myoga.  This appears to be the old (mostly) sterile pentaploid Japanese form of myoga ginger.  At my nursery I designate this plant as 'Japanese Cream' due to the cream color of it's flowers and to distinguish it from the other cultivars which are now available.  Since it seems to be one of the most widely circulated clones in the United States I will use it as a reference point when comparing the others. 'Crûg's Zing' buds developing 'Crûg's Zing' - This is a clonally propagated selection which was brought back from Je-ju Island in South Korea.  In this region the  Zingiber mioga  population is tetraploid and fertile which means that they reproduce both b...

Note: The early months of 2022 have produced the most erratic winter weather I've seen since I began growing pomegranates.  I've already confirmed a number of plants in my garden which normally overwinter fine have died (including at least one native species).  We're in need of some first hand data for what pomegranates will both grow reliably here as well as produce worthwhile crops of fruit.  While it's easy to find nurseries selling pomegranates of various cultivars with claims that they will be fine in our area, it is NOT easy to find people who are actually growing and fruiting those same cultivars around here.   Now, I'm not willing to simply trial any and every pomegranate I can get my hands on.  Because we don't have long hot summers it's best to stick with trialing cultivars which already have a reputation for being early ripening as this intuitively seems like a good approach.  However, because there is very little information available about...

The following is a record of "hardy" Passiflora s I've trialed in my Pacific Northwest, USDA zone 8a climate with wet winters and lots of freeze thaw cycles (as opposed to places that freeze and then stay frozen till spring).  Passiflora incarnata (un-named purple flowered selection) - received as root cutting via ebay seller.  The cutting did produce a vine, but it ultimately failed to thrive and did not overwinter. Passiflora incarnata (un-named white flowered selection) - received as root cutting via ebay seller.  The cutting did produce a vine, but it ultimately failed to thrive and did not overwinter. Passiflora incarnata (seedlings grown from Tradewinds Fruit seed) - I successfully grew two seedlings from this seed source, but after a couple years I culled one because it did not match the vigor of the other in bouncing back from the roots each spring.  The seedling which I did keep has finally set fruit in its third year (due to lack of available cross pol...

 There are many wonderful named selections of European black elderberries ( Sambucus nigra ) selected for either productivity of berries or for ornamental use.  One area that has been underdeveloped despite the great potential is the selection of dual purpose elderberries which combine both ornamental traits such as cut-leaf/lace-leaf and or purple or variegated foliage with larger berry size and increased self fertility to ensure heavy fruit set.   In order to pursue these goals it is useful to understand the genetics controlling the various traits.  Following is what I have been able to determine: Cut-leaf/lace-leaf type - When crossing two cut-leaf elderberry clones I found that 100% of the resulting offspring expressed this trait.  The first true leaves to develop after germination didn't fully express this morphological variation, but as seedlings became well developed the foliage uniformly became heavily dissected like the parent plants.  Alternative...

The following is intended to document my breeding progress with perennial Helianthus (sunflowers).  It will be updated as progress is made. Due to the differing ploidies between species it is important to document and track ploidy of each parent in a cross to predict the most likely resulting ploidy in offspring so that multiple generations of breeding work can be accomplished without running into dead ends with mismatched chromosome counts.  Ploidies of 2n=2x, 2n=4x and 2n=6x are generally fertile to varying degrees while ploidies of 3x and 5x are generally infertile. The following is a list of Helianthus species, hybrids or selections currently being used as foundation stock in my breeding efforts: Helianthus ×laetiflorus 'Lemon Queen' (2n=6x) - heavily branching with exceptionally heavy flower production of pale lemon yellow flowers. Helianthus maximiliani  PI 592333 (2n=2x) - from wild seed collected in Manitoba, Canada.  I kept only one seedli...