On this web page, examples will be given of non-introduced Fuchsia seedlings that have been used for creating 'De Cooker' Fuchsia introductions.
As a legacy from the past, many Dutch Fuchsia breeders who participated in the Dutch Circle of Fuchsia Friends (the NKvF) Hybridisation Group have gotten (and still use) a letter for their identification.
As an example, ‘B’ is the identification letter representing hybridist Mr. Henk Waldenmaier, 'I' identifies hybridist Mr. Jan van den Berg.
The letter ‘N’ stands for ‘Mario de Cooker’.
As an example, the letter N in Fuchsia seedling N 99-12 denotes that it is a De Cooker seedling, and more specifically: it identifies preserved Fuchsia seedling nr 12 from the year 1999.
N 90-06
Seedling N 90-06 originates from crossing 'Elsie Mitchell' x F. magellanica ‘Alba’.
The bloom itself is not very special, but the seedling has excellent fertility both as the male and the female.
N 90-06 is part of the genome of 'Long Distance', 'Merry-go-Round', 'Delicate white', 'Delicate Blue', 'Delicate Purple' and 'Roger de Cooker', either as a direct crossing partner or as part of another seedling used for the crossing.
Several of its progeny have inherited the winter hardiness properties of seedling N 90-06, which has been obtained from F. magellanica 'Alba'.
It's still occasionally used for testing the fertility of new seedlings.
N 93-08
Seedling N 93-08 originates from the crossing N 91-09 x N 91-13 = ('Checkerboard' x 'Machu Picchu') x ('Checkerboard' x 'Machu Picchu'). It is an attractive floriferous semi-trailing variety, which has however never been released because it's appearance is not very different from a number of existing varieties. It has excellent fertility, predominantly as the male parent.
It is without any doubt one of the most productive preserved De Cooker seedlings, and has been used as a crossing partner for making 'Whisper', 'Careless Whisper', 'Phaidra', 'Roger de Cooker', 'Remembering Claire', 'Awake Sweet Love', 'Sappho Phaoon', Áll Summer Beauty', 'Pavilion Princess', 'Aphaia', 'Frans Boers', 'Misha Charlotte', 'Skyward Dwarf', 'Phaenna' and 'Winter Has Passed'.
N 01-02
Seedling N 01-02 originates from crossing (‘Checkerboard’ x ‘Machu Picchu’) x F. juntasensis. This seedling preferably blooms, as is also the case with F. juntasensis itself, in the winter season at the Northern Hemisphere. The growth of the plant and the shape and colour of leaves and flowers have a remarkable resemblance with F. juntasensis. The flower is somewhat smaller and has a lighter pink-violet colour than F. juntasensis itself. Pollen formation is less abundantly.
Salient feature of the flowers is the presence of 0-4 petals, having the same lavender-pink colour as F. juntasensis. The shape of the petals is oblanceolate. It is not really clear under what circumstances the petals are best expressed in the phenotype; the temperature level or temperature variations might play a role as more petals appear when temperatures go up during spring. The phenotype of seedling N 01-02 suggests that the chromosomes of the female crossing parent N 91-16 = (‘Checkerboard’ x ‘Machu Picchu’) have for the majority been lost. The genetic traits of the male parent F. juntasensis clearly dominate the phenotype. Furthermore, 2C DNA values of seedling N 01-02 and F. juntasensis are, within measuring accuracy, identical.
Seedling N 01-02 has good fertility, both as the male and the female. It has however only occasionally been used for making crossings because of its unfavourable flowering season.
N 05-23
Seedling N 05-23 originates from the crossing I 89-04-02 (= F. x colensoi x F. magdalenae) x ’Delicate White’.
F. x colensoi is a natural hybrid between F. excorticata and F. perscandens, which have both proven to be winter hardy species.
Hardy cultivar ‘Delicate White’ originates, a.o., from F. magellanica ‘Alba’, which is one of the best winter hardy Fuchsia species.
Seedling N 05-23 has good fertility both as the male and the female.
When used as the female, the male partner often substantially dominates in the phenotype. Even white progeny can be produced from such crossing, indicating the presence of 'Delicate White' genes as part of the N 05-23 genome.
N 07-20
Fuchsia ‘Winter Charm’ has over the years, as the female parent, produced several seedlings. Amongst these seedling N 07-20 should be mentioned as a result of crossing 'Winter Charm' x ('Playboy' x Unknown). This floriferous seedling N 07-20 has an attractive bloom colour, however poor growth properties. After its first exuberant flowering period it more or less collapses completely. Furthermore, the look of the bloom suggests that the genomes don’t really fit. The tube is clearly deformed, and sometimes several stamens are produced halfway the petals instead of one stamen following the normal growth pattern. Nevertheless, N 07-20 has produced, as the female parent, a number of progeny. Most of these have been disposed of because they were poor growers or had unattractive appearance. One seedling however has been preserved: N 09-07. This seedling, after having been tested at several conditions, has been introduced as 'Frans Boers'.
Seedling N 07-20 does not exist anymore. In the winter season 2020/2021 both a preserved older plant and several young cuttings died unexpectedly for unclear reasons.
N 11-05
Seedling N 11-05 originates from the crossing N 05-23 x 'Grasmere'.
It has good fertility and blue pollen. It is occasionally used for making crossings.
N 14-10
Seedling N 14-10 originates from the crossing N 11-05 x 'Jaspers Indestructible'.
It has good fertility and blue pollen. It is occasionally used for making crossings.
One of its progeny is 'Roman Emperor' (De Cooker, 2022).
