First example:

This is Snapdragon 'Rembrandt', purchased from Valueseeds. If you check out the link below, you can see it doesn't even come close. It's listed as orange and yellow. Well, there's definitely yellow there, but where is the orange?

Second example:

Linaria 'Flaming Passion', purchased from Park Seed. If you check out the photo on their website, the blooms look mostly red with a bit of yellow. Mine are mostly fuschia and orange.

Third example:

This is Petunia 'Aladdin Orange' from Summerhill Seeds, which they describe as a vivid shade of orange. Now this photo looks more orange than the actual flower, which is more red than orange.

Anyone else been the victim of false advertising?

Bonnie

The one plant which annoyed me - actually angered me - was Phlox Paniculata Orange Perfection. There's no orange in that flower whatsoever!!!! Four purchases and still no orange.

I decided at that point that there was too much stress involved in trying to get this plant/color and began buying when in bloom as I said. Now I approach nursery owners and ask them what is orange about this flower?? They usually are at a loss for words. Someone was colourblind when they labeled it. No doubt in the back of my mind about that one! :O)

Karen

Does this look like "brilliant, crimson, scarlet flowers" to you? I am so PO!

A couple years ago, I bought 3 plants labeled Red Bee Balm ... they all bloomed lavender, and you guys no how I feel about purple and pink in my garden, LOL!
I also bought Sedum 'Autumn Joy', hoping for a brick red color. Turns out it wasn't 'Autumn Joy', but 'Neon', which is HOT PINK!!!
... and then there was the Hibiscus 'Freedom', which looked red in the photos, but turned out to be mauve.

Karen, you are right about reds! Most things that are described as red, aren't what I consider red at all.

Proudgm, that second photo isn't too far from scarlet, but that first one isn't even close!

Big disappointment last year, T&M's sweet pea Blue Ripple. It was not blue, not even bluish, but rather white with a purple tinged edge. And MG Kniolas Black Knight. Any resemblance to the picture in the catalog and website are purely coincidental :) They are not ugly by any means, but the color is far from the written description and/or photos.

Now this year, the Scarlet Flame Zinnia from Crosman Seed, all I can say is wowsers! It's even more beautiful in person than in the seed package photo. My camera doesn't do justice to the amazing shade of red.

I think some variations of red/orange/pink can result from different ph levels or different growing conditions. But I hate it when they advertise of a color that requires some special care and they don't tell you.

(Yup, my endless summer hydrangea was blue the first year, bluish/pink/purple the second and now I can never remember to put the stinking aluminum sulfate down so they turn out pink. It's a nice shade of pink though)

http://www.unwins.co.uk/nicotiana-sensation-mixed-seeds-pid1037.html

In the photo, the tips look kind of purple, but the sun was really bright when I took the picture, so the color's a bit off. Anyway, you can see the Gaillardia 'Goblin' next to it, which would have looked great with the real 'Red Dutch', but it doesn't go as well with the peach color of this one. I'm sure I'll find a happy home for it though : )

Bonnie

Bingo!

It's the same with all other flower colors as well. Ph, mineral content, tilth, nutrients, chemical composition of irrigation water and air, day and night temperatures, amount of sunlight, and just about anything else you can think of will all have an effect on flower color.

Couple all that with seed-grown plants, and the potential for color (and other characteristics) variations is almost endless. But it isn't limited to seed-grown plants. I have multiple copies of the same cultivar, created by division and tissue culture, which exhibit differences in color, size, habit etc., even when growing side-by-side.

I have volunteers from the same plant which have dramatically different colors. Blue Fescue is the best example. I regularly get self-sown babies ranging from pure green, to gray to the most beautiful deep dusty blue, and they all come from seeds of the same parent.

Ain't Nature grand? What a bore it would be if every plant turned out like the seed packet photo!

Here is a pic from last year...first blooms:

How about Dianthus 'Siberian Blue'? Everyone I've ever heard talk about this online (no matter where they lived) had theirs turn out more like dusky pink, but nobody has every had blue lol! Mine is dusky pink or muted you could say. Very much reminds me of Larkspur 'Earl Grey'...again it is not the color as advertized but muted dusky pink. They have yet to bloom this year, but are in bud...a very late blooming Dianthus too!! If you do a google image search for Dianthus 'Siberian Blue' only 2 out of all the pictures on the first page are really anything close to blue LOL!
Usually in my garden anything that was supposed to bloom blue has truly been blue...Delphinium, Blue Flax, Viola, Larkspur....and red has always been red.

Vera

Vera, that is the color I was going for and why I bought commercial seeds. Instead I got orange. Yuck!

What's up with that?

kt

Also another is a zinnia called Chippendales , it was suppose
to have an orange spot on the leaf. Nice yellow flower but
no spot.

I also purchased a new marigold that is so tiny that
it is almost invisible. Not true to the description.

I have plans to save seeds from the yellow zinnia, but
not the other two.

Mary

Here's what they should look like:

And here are they.. (on both ends of the window box):