Oh no, Mama's having one of her spells. It might be a migraine, very possibly that pesky vertigo, but always annoying; Yet I usually live through them to plant and pontificate another day. However, what a great lead-in to a subject I've been thinking about lately. All the dizziness has me thinking about double flowers.
Double Hollyhock (martha stewart)
When plant breeders aren't trying to conjure up square watermelons or blue roses, their fall back position is to just make something double. Snapdragon "Twinny Peach" is one of the latest to come out. Yet double flowers aren't twice the flower, they just have more petals than usual. Ironically, double flowers are often far short of something else. Nectar and pollen.
The slightly scientific explanation is that double flowers occur when there is a genetic "misfire" that causes the sexual structures to mutate and produce more petals. Plant breeders work to make that happen on purpose for showier flowers. The drawback is that completely double flowers are sterile.
Planting sterile double flowers has its advantages; with more vivid, longer-lasting floral displays. They are a literal lifesaver for those who are allergic to bees, but want to see some color in their backyard scenery. Many sterile flowers are also self-cleaning, just like an oven, meaning no dead heading chores.
Unfortunately with sterile flowers, you get a sterile landscape; no buzz in your garden.
I love the cleome variety "Senorita Rosalita", for its prolific flowers and huge, rounded habit, plus its salsa-rific name. It blooms and blooms and fails to get all rangy and mangy like its old-fashioned, open-pollinated cousin. But watch the butterflies stop to feed and then pass it by, their disappointment almost palpable. OK, I'm being silly, but they won't be thanking you for your hospitality and hanging around your garden.
Imagine you see a splendid smorgasbord laid out with succulent dishes of food, but upon closer examination, it's all made of plastic; pretty but inedible. That's what mass plantings of double flowers, like Double Wave petunias, can seem like to your local wildlife. Does this mean all double flowers are the work of the devil? No.
Double Wave Petunias (photo by ndgardengirl)
There is, as mentioned above, a time and a place for double flowers. Moreover, there are different degrees of double flowers, there are semi-double and flowers that have a combination of fertile and sterile inflorescence (that's a fancy name for flowers), hydrangeas being a good example.
Pee Gee Hydrangea has both fertile and sterile flower petals The Garden Buzz
Many semi-double flowers have merely an extra layers of petals, just enough to make a little petticoat. Some are fairly flouncy, but the nectary is still apparent, in the form a pollen-laden yellow center. Without being a botanist, that is your best bet to noting the wildlife value of a particular plant.
Double Cosmos "BonBon" still offers nectar and pollen to butterflies and bees. (The Garden Buzz)
Double flowers give you a lot of bang for your buck, so place them strategically and sporadically around the garden; maybe in containers or hanging baskets within an otherwisepollinator-friendly garden. Then maybe they can work like those resin replicas on the dessert tray that draw us in for the main entree and the promise of sweet things to come.
Note----It is my personal policy to use my own photos whenever possible, however I don't grow any completely double flowers at this time, and with 10 inches of snow falling, none were available anywhere! Please note that these photos have been credited with their source.
