By Sharon Omahen
University of Georgia
Among the garden set, a new plant
variety is almost as exciting
as a new baby’s arrival. After all, a new plant is a new baby of
sorts. What most home gardeners don’t know, though, is how long
that new “baby” took to be born.
Carol Robacker, a horticulturist with
the University of Georgia,
has been working for the past seven years to breed a new azalea
variety resistant to lace bugs. Azalea lace bugs are major pests
of azaleas.
“We’ve found resistance in wild
plants,” she said. “But to
combine that quality into a plant that’s attractive to consumers
isn’t easy. From seed to flowering takes about three years. And
the cycle has to be repeated several times to obtain our
goals.”
Less pesticides, more appeal
A resistant plant would reduce the
amount of pesticides
homeowners and landscapers apply, and the new variety would look
better and live longer.
“Though it’s important to develop
pest-resistant cultivars,
breeding for pest resistance is usually much more difficult than
breeding for aesthetic qualities,” Robacker said.
As a plant breeder working with the
UGA College of Agricultural
and Environmental Sciences, Robacker focuses her breeding efforts
on woody ornamental plants in home and commercial
landscapes.
Besides the azalea project, she’s
working on new abelia
varieties. Abelia is a hedge-type shrub typically used for
foundation planting around commercial buildings and
homes.
“Consumers want an abelia that’s
smaller and more compact; has
brightly colored flowers, year-round appeal and attractive
foliage; and is cold-tolerant and heat-, drought- and
pest-resistant,” Robacker said. “Basically, they want the perfect
plant. And they want it in a cute, little, meatball
shape.”
Breeding a “perfect” plant is
probably impossible. But by making
the right crosses and growing enough seedlings, scientists often
come up with improved cultivars, she said.
“Ideally, these cultivars should be
evaluated over several years
and locations,” she said, “to determine their adaptability to
heat, drought and cold, and to improve the chance of detecting
any pest problems.”
You can’t rush and release too soon
For the past three years, Robacker
has been evaluating a new tree
variety for a northern grower.
“It’s a beautiful tree with silver
leaves,” she said. “The first
two years, it looked great in our Southern climate. But the third
year, all my specimens developed disease. If the tree had been
released after the second year of evaluation, consumers wouldn’t
have been happy with the long-term results.”
Robacker’s new abelia varieties will
head to commercial nurseries
for evaluation this summer. They should be released to the public
in two years. That is, if they pass her high
standards.
