Small beginnings

Back from our house hunting trip to find great excitement in the greenhouse - these are seedlings of a new abutilon. I have been trying to hybridize abutilons for several months with no success. Back in June I took pollen from one of my favourite cultivars (Apfelsine) and transferred it to the stamens of another favourite (Rosela). Rosela eventually set seed which I harvested. I took seed from three pods of differing ages and sowed them all at the end of July. Five seedlings have appeared (so far) from one of those sowings. Now I have to nurture these until they are mature enough to flower and then we will see what emerges. This might take several years!