Showing posts with label Botany of roses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Botany of roses. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Surprise! Twin blooms

Last week, one of my roses surprised me with twin blooms.

It was the first time I have seen such in my garden after years of growing and caring for so many different varieties of roses. I felt privileged to have seen it with my very own eyes. The blooms were weird looking but they were nothing but a pretty sight.

Chances that it will happen again in my garden are very much slim. So, I took pleasure to have lived in such moments by taking lots of pictures.

The rose tree that I was referring to is my hot orange miniature rose.

What causes a rose bud to split and form twin blooms?

I kept asking myself this question for days. So, I visited few websites and tried to uncover for myself the science behind it. I found there are few causes to such occurrence:

Random mutation

  • A random mutation can occur during bud formation process. It could be triggered by a sudden weather change hence the randomness. It could also be triggered by the effect of certain fertilizer or the change in dosage.

Genetic mutation

  • Some varieties of roses are more prone to genetic mutation as compared to others.


Herbicide / Insecticide effect

  • Damage can also occur during bud formation process, caused by the use of herbicide or insecticide. However, I ruled out this possibility as my insecticide spraying routine hasn’t changed since last month. It wasn’t the frequency of spraying or the concentration of the solution either.

Disease spread by mites / insects

  • A mutation can also caused by a disease spread by mites or insects, that caused the plant to produce excessive growth or distortion.

My best guess would be the result of random mutation caused by sudden weather change.

I noticed my garden has been receiving plenty of downpours since the beginning of the month. The downpours usually occurred at about 2 pm or 3 pm every day when the day’s heat was still at it's peak. In the previous month, the downpours always occurred very late in the evening.



Source:

  1. http://rose-gardens.suite101.com/article.cfm/what_is_rose_proliferation
  2. http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/forums/showthread.php?t=14934