Hi, sent you an email! Monica

Okay, maybe these O & L are hardier than I gave them credit for. Just as I was about to dig up the one that I thought didn't make it, I saw a tiny speck of green coming up. It must have known I had a shovel in my hand, LOL. These were much later to show any growth than the Burgundys or Goblins, so those of you waiting for them to come up, maybe give them just a little more time. It looks like all of the Gaillardias that I have moved in the fall haven't returned, so from now on I am only moving them in the spring, which I've had some success with. Hope this helps some. Bonnie

I had 2 of these last year and was absolutely crazy about them. Didn't look like much when they started out, but they bloomed their heads off all summer and well into fall. I have heard that they are short-lived because they wear themselves out from blooming so heavily. I moved them in the fall and lost them over the winter. So I just bought another one.

Hi All, There's a couple things being mixed together and I think that is why there's some confusion. When breeding SEEDS for sale such as Big Zac or Big Beef. There is a very complex process similar to what Steve/Greenguy1 was refering to. I once saw a video on the process and it is a very lengthy process of what they do to ensure all the thousands of seeds sold are exactly the same. That is why hybrid seed of veggies or flowers cost so much more. When breeding PLANTS, the breeder can cross what ever two cultivars they want, grow a lot of seedlings, and pick plants that meet their criteria for possible sale. From the plant, a new hybrid, chosen, new plants must be propagated by asexual means. Which means by division, tissue culture, etc. not by seed. Seed saved from a hybrid plant, will not be exactly like parent. Depending on the parents, grandparents, etc., they make look very similar or they could be incredibly different. People do grow out lots of seeds of plants(people often do this with tomatoes. It is called dehybridizing) to find babies that do resemble the parent. Then seeds of the closest plant are saved(if one is found.) Then those are planted again to find a seedling that closest resembles the original plant seeds were saved from. For tomatoes, this takes about 5-7 generations before the seedlings are stable and all look identical. At that time, you have an Open Pollinated plant that can be named as a new OP version of the original. As far as sterile goes, sometimes when lots of inbreeding is done to get desired characteristics, sterility can happen. It doesn't happen often though, most plants produce viable seed. Also sometimes sterility has to do with they type of plant and not inbreeding. Some plants that make offsets by tubers, don't readily produce seed or possibly not at all. Chocolate Cosmos is a plant that falls under this category. I have to go to work now. I hope I explained this simply and well. Remy