Yoharvard

Chrysanthemum

Variety Description

Variety used for comparison: 'Red Delano'

Summary: 'Yoharvard' has a predominantly spatulate ray floret type while 'Red Delano' has a ligulate ray floret type. 'Yoharvard' has a medium to long corolla tube while 'Red Delano' has a very short corolla tube. The profile of the ray floret in cross section is moderately concave for 'Yoharvard' while it is moderately convex for 'Red Delano'. The outer side of the ray floret is dark purple red mottled with light brown for 'Yoharvard' while it is blue pink streaked with brown purple for 'Red Delano'.

Description:

PLANT: disbud flowering type, pot plant, 8 week response group, semi upright bushy growth habit, green stem

LEAF: terminal lobe long in length relative to leaf length, lowest lateral lobe sinus shallow to medium in depth with diverging to parallel margins, base obtuse, upper side medium green

FLOWER HEAD: double, medium to dense ray florets
RAY FLORETS: spatulate with a ligulate secondary type and incurved tertiary type, medium to long corolla tube, moderately ascending to horizontal attitude at basal part, moderately concave in cross section at widest point, straight along longitudinal axis, emarginate and mamillate tip, inner side dark purple red (RHS 46A), brown red (RHS 181C-D) secondary colour distributed throughout in a mottled pattern, outer side dark purple red (RHS 185A) mottled with light brown (RHS N170C).

Origin & Breeding History: 'Yoharvard' originated from a controlled cross between the female parent 'YB-5832' and the male parent, 'YB-4959'. The cross was made by the breeder, Mrs. Wendy Bergman, in November 2000, in Salinas, California, USA. A single seedling from the resultant progeny was selected in March 2002, in Fort Myers, Florida. 'Yoharvard' was selected based on its uniform growth habit, excellent free branching habit, vigorous semi-upright growth habit, desirable inflorescence form, floret colour, fast response time and suitability for year round production. Asexual reproduction of the variety by vegetative tip cuttings was first conducted in Fort Myers, Florida, USA in June 2002.

Tests & Trials: Trials for 'Yoharvard' were conducted in Leamington, Ontario, in the fall of 2009. Flowering trials were performed under greenhouse conditions similar to those used in commercial chrysanthemum production. Forty unrooted cuttings of both the candidate and reference variety were directly stuck into 15 cm pots, with 4 cuttings per pot, 10 pots per variety, planted on August 24, 2009. Plants were spaced 30 cm apart and pinched once prior to short day treatment. All plants had the center bud removed. Observations and measurements were taken from 10 plants of each variety on November 6, 2009. All colour determinations were made using the 2007 Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Colour Chart.

Comparison table for 'Yoharvard' with reference variety 'Red Delano'

Colour of ray floret (RHS)

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Chrysanthemum: 'Yoharvard' (left) with reference variety 'Red Delano' (right)

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Chrysanthemum: 'Yoharvard' (left) with reference variety 'Red Delano' (right)