Growing Cool Plants: August 2019

Moraea MM 17-26

Seed parent: MM 13-197a (M. lurida X villosa form H)
Pollen parent: MM 13-195a (lurida X (aristata x villosa))

This cross between two M. lurida hybrids produced several flowers with subtle pastel colors. They’re very nice: vigorous, long-blooming, and some of them have veins that remind me a bit of tiny Aril irises. The other thing I liked about these plants is that some of them went from seed to flower in just two years.

Here are several of them together, so you can see the color differences.

MM 17-26a

MM 17-26b

MM 17-26c

MM 17-26d

MM 17-26e

MM 17-26f

MM 17-26g

MM 17-26h

Moraea MM 17-19

Seed parent: MM 13-195b (M. lurida X (aristata x villosa))
Pollen parent: MM 13-133a (tripetala X villosa form D)

Both parents have interesting colors and patterns, so I was was disappointed when their first offspring opened:

MM 17-19a

However, the next year many more flowers bloomed, and I became a lot happier. Here's a family photo:

MM 17-19b. Check out the huge dark eye on this one. The inner tepal is also almost completely dark. And there are nice purple veins.

MM 17-19c

MM 17-19d

MM 17-19e. A totally solid black eye and kind of a pinkish-purple shade in the tepals.

MM 17-19e (oops, I re-used that letter). This one has a yellowish tone to it.

MM 17-19f. Very interesting! Lots of veins, and the eye has turned into a narrow ring.

MM 17-19g

MM 17-19h

MM 17-19i

I haven't assigned letters to these yet, but I really need to do the first one. Its veins are something else!

Moraea MM 16-87

Seed parent: MM 12-139a
Pollen parent: Moraea neopavonia ‘Summerfield’

MM 16-87a

MM 16-87b

GK 1636. A seedling from this cross, grown by Garry Knipe.

Moraea MM 16-86

Seed parent: Moraea neopavonia with indigo eye
Pollen parent: MM 11-28b

MM 16-86a

Here's a sibling from the same cross.

Moraea MM 16-85

Seed parent: MM 11-28a (M. aristata X gigandra)
Pollen parent: MM 11-20b (villosa a X tulbaghensis)

The colors are not all that unusual, but this is one of the largest Moraea flowers I’ve ever grown. So I crossed it with a lot of other things.

MM 16-85a

Moraea MM 16-83

Seed parent: Moraea neopavonia ‘Summerfield’
Pollen parent: Moraea 12-139b

I have tried crosses like this a few times now, looking to get orange flowers with lots of spots on them. I haven’t gotten that, but the first of these flowers looks very nice, and I think the F2 crosses will be interesting.

MM 16-83a