osteospernum whirligig

Hi, I bought one of these about a month ago and it is growing well, but I have noticed that the petals of the new flowers have reverted back to the standard shape (so not whirligig!) any ideas why it has done this and how to prevent it, as I specifically bought it for the whirlgig...ness!

 

Hi Axie. I am sorry to hear of your problem. I have never had a whirligig but I am not that surprised. I suspect a whirlygig comes from a standard Osteo that showed this propensity, and has since been bred from. Its a bit like a variegated plant. They sometimes develop a tendancy to revert back to all green. The only thing you can do with them is to cut off all the all green parts. But I wouldn't want to be cutting off the flowers.

I can't think that you can do anything but wait and see what develops. There might be only one branch where this happens, which could be cut off.

 

I have had the 'Whirligig' ones in the past and they stayed as they should but even with me were only annuals whereas the common ones are perennial here. I can only agree with Peter that for some reason they have reverted back to their parentage, shame really as they are lovely and 'different'.