Moraea MM 12-119

Seed parent: MM 03-98b (atropunctata X calcicola)
Pollen parent: Moraea bellendenii

The parents:

This was one of those what-the-heck crosses between a pale blue flower that doesn't have spectacular markings, and a small yellow flower that blooms later than the other Moraeas. The result was a family of plants with small fairly plain flowers, but tall stems and an incredibly high bud count. I'll be doing more breeding with these to see if I can get that high bud count mixed with nicer colors.

MM 12-119a. This one has some cute little dots on it, and also the highest bud count. The one plant of this selection that bloomed had five separate spathes on a single stem (the spathes are the green enclosures at the stem end that hold the flower buds). Each spathe produced 2-5 flowers, so we're talking about 15+ flowers on a single plant. A typical "peacock" Moraea species has two spathes and maybe 4-5 flowers total.

MM 12-119b. Fewer of the blue dots, but I like the yellow at the center. This one had a lot of buds as well.

MM 12-119c. A subdued color scheme and lower bud count. It does look kind of elegant in the photo, but in person there's a slight bluish tinge to the tepals that makes them look dingy.