Volunteers

I find it interesting that petunias that sprout from seed don't necessarily breed true to the characteristics of the parents, especially if the parents were hybrids. The volunteers from last year's purple pentunias are coming out red or pink. They do have the veining of the original, and if anything it is more pronounced in the one shown here. Clones, of course, do keep the original color and veining. Here are a volunteer and a clone.

Theoretically I could apply for a patent on this variation for discovering it, but I don't know that it is commercially desireable. The veining is intense, but the overall color is a bit blah. I suppose this is how they do it, breeding billions of petunias to find a few marketable variations that are worth cloning. But I can still give it a name and call it by an unenforceable trademark. May I introduce 'Red Lodge Red Vein'™. I'm going to save this one.