In message , Nick Maclaren
writes

In article ,
Stewart Robert Hinsley writes:
|
| In my case I think it would have to be the irreplacable plants - for
| example the variegated sport of Lavatera x clementii 'Barnsley' and the
| pink-flowered sport of Alcea x Althaea 'Park Allee'. (Perhaps in these
| cases my opinion would be different when I've grown them long enough to
| evaluate them.)

Yes. Like my Berberis vulgaris "asperma", which the national collection
does not have :-) But I would have hell propagating it, as the deciduous
Berberis rarely take from cuttings, and the few seeds it produces will
produce plants that will probably not be largely seedless ....

That does seem a problem - I've tried propagating Berberis from
cuttings, evergreen ones even, in the past, without success. Does it
sucker?

The two plants I mentioned are easy to propagate vegetatively (assuming
the 'Park Allee' sport behaves like 'Park Allee'. The blue-flowered
Malva sylvestris are more of a problem - short-lived and with cutting
not reliably winter-hardy, and I've lost a few of these after the years.
Similarly with interspecific Malva hybrids - if need be I can reproduce
the crosses for F1 plants, but any decent F2 plant has to be kept going
vegetatively.

Does anyone else have "asperma"? I suspect that the two sports are
mention aren't unique - the variegated 'Barnsley' might be the same as
'Chrisjen', and 'Park Allee' is known to produce sports.

But also the ones I got from relatives, though those ARE easier to
propagate.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

--
Stewart Robert Hinsley