Today, we consider the abundance of horticultural one-hit wonders, and how G2 might be able to help you keep the one-hit wonder problem out of your plant product portfolio.
How often has a single product captured the imagination of the entire industry, and then ... there was never a follow-up product, nor a line expansion. All of the marketing dollars invested in developing a brand presence for a single product, and that investment could never be leveraged ... because there were no line expansions. That's a one-hit wonder.
Granted, sometimes expanding a single truly unique product is simply not possible because of genetic reasons. Consider Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm'. 'Goldsturm' is a wonderful product. Hardy, floriferous, grown and loved around the world. But there's never really been a line extension made in this crop by anyone. There are some very good genetic reasons for this. Rudbeckia fulgida is apomictic, meaning that the seed it makes is virtually 100% like the seed (maternal) parent. If you want to produce 'Goldsturm' from seed, this is a good thing: every seed produces a plant which is identical to the original parent plant. But if you want to improve 'Goldsturm', if you want to breed a series of varieties around 'Goldsturm', if you want to develop line extensions based on 'Goldsturm' --- apomixis means that you are out of luck. You cannot use 'Goldsturm' as a seed parent and have ANY of the seed incorporate genetic material from the pollen parent. All seed produced on 'Goldsturm' is identical to the mother plant.
Yes, there is the occasional 'Goldsturm' sport that appears to be different, but then gets lost. Sometimes, the sport is even a real genetic change so that it is seed-transmissable, even through apomixis. The Dupont Nursery release 'Early Bird Gold' may be one of these very rare events. We've seen this variety in a garden center, but have not yet grown it ourselves.
Campanula persicifolia is another good example of an unusual genetic phenomenon limiting the breeder's ability to improve existing varieties. If you were to look at the chromosomes of C. persicifolia under a microscope, you would discover that the chromosomes actually form rings. This does not interfere with the species ability to form viable seed, but it DOES limit the ability of the chromosomes to pair up during meiosis. Without chromosome pairing, there is very little opportunity for crossing-over (recombination), and without recombination, there is no mixing of the genetic structure when you make crosses. This is a serious limitation to effective plant breeding.
Or the hardy perennial geranium 'Rozanne' a sterile interspecific hybrid of G. wallichianum x G. himalayense. 'Rozanne' was introduced by Bloom's of Bressingham. This is how Bloom's describes the invention of 'Rozanne' on their website: "Donald and Rozanne Waterer collected seed from two geraniums growing as neighbors in their garden in Somerset, England. From the resultant seedlings, 'Rozanne' stood out as being exceptional, featuring stronger growth, larger flowers and leaves than their parent plants." The hybrid vigor observed by the Waterers in the seedling they eventually named 'Rozanne' is frequently observed in interspecific hybrids --- if you can get them to nick, and if the seedling survives. Many of the one-hit wonders in the horticultural world have resulted from this random nursery mating strategy. "Random" is a good strategy for one-hit wonders, but it is not a good strategy for a sustainable series of product line extensions.
One-hit wonders. A constant challenge to the breeder, as well as to the marketing team.
However ...
One of the reasons that we started G2 was to take "random" and turn it into "methodical". To take the traditional nurseryman's 'Bee's Hybrid' process and turn it into a planned, somewhat predictable, much more scientific method of developing new products. No, we are certainly not overlooking serendipity. Or chance. Or luck. Or grace. Indeed, we consider all of those to be significant components of the overall process of plant breeding, especially in herbaceous and woody perennial species.
In the words of the first century Greek philosopher Seneca: "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." We see G2's mission, in part, to enable large parts of the horticultural industry to move from being largely dependent on "random" for new product development to becoming "methodical." For G2, in this context "methodical" means "with planning and preparation." Study, experimentation, and trial runs. Applying the traditional scientific method --- observe, hypothesize, test, change, repeat. The more things you try, the more likely that you will observe something of value. If you are prepared to see serendipity, the more likely it will occur.
G2 might be able to help you create a series of well-matched line expansions to what might otherwise become one-hit wonders. Not every independent plant breeder has the capacity or expertise to break through some of the genetic (or even conceptual) barriers which made the initial release so popular. Before you throw your hands in the air and say "It just can't be done", give G2 a call. True, there will be times when we agree with you that it can't be done. But we may also see a path that you may have overlooked. We may even be able to help move your product to that new path.
It's worth the phone call.
