Product Description

Human civilizations have long selected and bred plants to encourage desirable traits, but the work has focused primarily on food plants. As a result, the world of ornamental plant breeding remains wide open for hobbyists and students who may have little or no training in botany, horticulture, or plant genetics but who have a desire to create interesting and beautiful new plants. Their interest may range from seeing what happens when they cross a purple daylily with a yellow one in their own garden to commercial production of new cultivars of a favorite genus. The planned breeding of plants requires little more than a basic background of genetics and plant breeding and an understanding of the specific plants with which one wishes to work. This book provides that background and understanding in an easy-to-follow, accessible format.

Editors Dorothy J. and M. Brett Callaway have brought together the expertise of fourteen plant specialists to present the principles and techniques for breeding a range of garden favorites. The book opens with an overview of the basic components of cellular biology and the principles of genetic inheritance, followed by a discussion of the practical issues involved in any breeding program, from outlining the initial objectives through identifying desirable offspring to naming and introducing new selections. This introductory foundation is followed by fifteen chapters written by leading experts, each devoted to a particular plant or plant group, outlining the history of breeding, the important breeding materials or traits, and furnishing clear instructions on the mechanics of making a cross and propagating the selections. Once understood, the fundamental issues presented can be applied to many additional genera of garden plants.

Breeding Ornamental Plants will enable plant enthusiasts to go one step beyond gardening, to actually create new forms of favorite garden plants. The authors believe that the genetic improvement of ornamentals must rely largely on the work of dedicated amateurs; this book provides the tools that will enable them to do so successfully.

Husband and wife M. Brett and Dorothy Callaway both received their B.S. degrees in horticulture at the University of Georgia, and advanced degrees (Brett a Ph.D. in plant breeding, Dorothy an M.S. in botany) at Cornell University. Brett is now a corn breeder/geneticist; Dorothy, author of The World of Magnolias, is international registrar for Magnoliaceae and editor and member of the board of trustees of the Magnolia Society.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1220378 in Books
• Published on: 2000-09-01
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 359 pages

Review
Breeding Ornamental Plants enables enthusiasts to go beyond regular gardening to actually create new forms of favorite plants. -- Joanne S. Carpender, www.gardenclub.org, December 17, 2000

Extremely well written and provides a great introduction to genetics/breeding for nonscientists. -- R.J. Griesbach, HortScience, 35 (7), December 2000

Highly recommended to anyone aspiring to make our surroundings more beautiful through improvement of ornamental plants. -- L.C. Ewart, Choice, February 2001

There is no other up-to-date, single resource for this information. Don't even consider trying to begin breeding ornamentals without it! -- HortIdeas, December 2000

From the Publisher
Breeding plants to encourage specific traits is a customary practice in agriculture but much less common in ornamental horticulture. This introduction discusses the principles and practices of ornamental plant breeding, with individual chapters devoted to important plants or plant groups. Daffodils, daylilies, hostas, lilacs, magnolias, and rhododendrons are among the 15 subjects covered diligently by experts in the field.

About the Author
Dorothy Callaway (née Johnson) was born in Alabama and grew up in Bishop, Georgia. She was exposed to natural history—plant science in particular—at an early age through her parents. She attended the University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, and received a B.S. in horticulture, followed by an M.S. in botany from the L. H. Bailey Hortorium at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. Her thesis research involved the taxonomic study of magnolias cultivated in North America. Since then she has written a number of articles on magnolias for major botanical and horticultural journals. Her aims in writing this book are to compile scattered information into a single reference and to introduce others to the fascinating variety of the genus. Dorothy Callaway has served as the official registrar for magnolia cultivars and as a member of the board of trustees of the Magnolia Society, Inc.

M. Brett Callaway, a horticulturist and plant breeder, is married to Dorothy Callaway, horticulturist and author of The World of Magnolias. They continue to pursue horticultural and botanical interests, including magnolia propagation, cultivation, and breeding, as well as work with pawpaws (Asimina triloba), native plants, and beekeeping.

Customer Reviews

Required reading for amateur plant breeders
This book has been sorely needed: a book about breeding ornamental (as opposed to crop) plants, and geared toward the serious amateur plant breeder. However, even professional plant breeders should find much of interest in this book.

There are introductory chapters on general breeding and basic genetics, clearly written and none of it heavily technical. This will be especially useful to the beginning breeder. The rest of the chapters are written by different plant breeders, discussing different genera or groups of plants. Although this makes the quality somewhat uneven and some of the information redundant, it's both fascinating and instructive to see how the goals, objectives, and techniques are similar, as well as different, between the different plant groups and different breeders. By and large, these breeders are not professionals, they are just regular people who like to grow plants and have gotten bitten by the hybridizing bug. All have valuable information to pass on based on their own experience, so even if you buy this book for information about breeding Saintpaulia, or Hemerocallis, or another particular group, be sure to read ALL the chapters as much of the information is applicable to plant breeding in general.

The book is handsomely produced and very nicely illustrated, with excellent color photographs of the plants and line drawings to help illustrate certain techniques. This book is required reading for anybody who is interested in plant breeding as a hobby.

A Must for Gardeners who Plant Breed
This book is an excellent reference source in understanding the processes on breeding the top favorite ornamental plants. The book is well written to support the serious amateur plant breeder to even the professional. The introductory chapters provide a quick education on genetics and its applications to plant protection and trademarks. The book is well illustrated and provides and excellent source of collections, suppliers, plant societies and references for each ornamental plant. Well worth the purchase!