"Alex Ng" wrote in message
...
Hi,

There is a rumour, but I'm not sure whether it is true, if I have 2
clematis
plants, one red and one purple, and if they get cross pollenated, next
year
my clematis plant will be a different colour. Is this true?

Alex



If your Chihuahua has sex with a St. Bernard, does that mean that the St.
Bernard will grow those goofy little stand up ears and the Chihuahua will
start needing a towel to wipe the massive amounts of drool it produces? No,
it only means that the progeny from such a union will share blended traits
from that union. (A 20 lb practically hairless dog with enormous feet and
sagging eyes?) The two individuals will retain the same genetic structure
and same distinct appearance. So, your plants will retain their
individuality, but if you plant any of the *seeds* from the two plants, the
seeds are likely to be the result of the mixing of the two genes and a new
hybrid is the result. Unless you conrol the pollination yourself by hand,
you really don't know if the seeds are the result of a self cross, or from a
cross between the two, or from a cross between one and a neighbors. Even a
self cross will not have the same genetic blueprint as the original plant,
and you get subtle variations in "open pollinated" vegetables for instance.

Sunflower
MS 7b