Growing Cool Plants: 2022

Monday, December 26, 2022

Moraea GK 1202

Seed parent: M. gigandra

Pollen parent: M. aristata

GK 1202_6

Sunday, December 25, 2022

Very rare, known from only a few small locations in South Africa. It's a beauty, but not easy to grow. Here in San Jose, California, it took about eight years to get one of these corms to go from seed to flowering plant. I had just one flower in 2022, and then two flowers (from the same plant) in 2024. I saved the pollen very carefully and parceled it out minutely, like gold dust, in dozens of crosses. A number of those appear to have taken, and I am looking forward to doing more breeding with this plant in the future. Hopefully the hybrids will bloom in less than eight years.

If anyone else is growing these and wants to exchange pollen, please contact me. It does not reproduce by offsets, so we should try to increase the population through seeds.

One of the distinctive things about this species is that the six tepals are almost all the same size. Usually the Peacock-type Moraeas have much smaller inner tepals.

A note to anyone who gets a chance to grow these plants: In the two years that these bloomed for me, during the previous summer I burned a small pile of twigs and dry grass over the ground where the dormant corms were planted. In the wild the species supposedly blooms best after a fire, and maybe that applies in cultivation as well.

In the photos below, the flower looks red, but in person it's more of an intense, almost fluorescent orange (the fourth photo comes closest).

This photo is pretty close to the right color balance:

Moraea GK 1926

Seed parent: GK 1699 MX_19 (Moraea unknown)

Pollen parent: M. villosa form o

GK 1926a. The color pattern on the inner tepals is very nice. I like the little triangles toward the ends of the tepals.

Oops, I labeled this one 1926a as well.

GK 1926b

Some siblings...

I am intrigued by the purple edge around the blue eye That's an unusual combination.

Moraea GK 1914

Seed parent: GK1699 MX_21 (Moraea unknown)

Pollen parent: GK 1699 MX_19 (Moraea unknown)

GK 1914a

The color pattern of the central cup -- bright yellow-orange minutely speckled -- is very nice-looking, and I like the extensive ring around the eyes.

Moraea GK 1912

Seed parent: GK 1699_20 (Moraea unknown)

Pollen parent: GK 1699_17 (Moraea unknown)

A heavily spotted flower crossed with one that has bright blue eyes. We mostly lost the intense blue of the eyes, but there are spots on two of the flowers.

GK 1912a

GK 1912b. I like the faint stippling and streaks on this one.

Here's a sibling with very wide tepals:

Moraea GK 1911

Seed parent: GK 1699 MX_17 (Moraea unknown)

Pollen parent: GK 1699 MX_12 (Moraea unknown)

GK 1911a. This is a cross between a heavily spotted flower and a purple one with strong banding around the eye. I have no idea how that combination produced a flower with two colors of veins and streaks on it, but I am fascinated and happy about it. I have never seen coloring like this on a Moraea.

GK 1911b

Moraea GK 1908

Seed parent: GK 1699 MX_18

Pollen parent: GK 1699 MX_17

A cross between an orangey hybrid and a heavily spotted one. Their first offspring was interesting but not all that impressive:

GK 1908a

Moraea GK 1903

Seed parent: GK 1312 MX_7 (Moraea unknown)

Pollen parent: GK 1699 MX_12 (Moraea unknown)

The shading in these flowers is interesting, almost as if they had been drawn with pastels.

GK 1903a

GK 1903b

GK 1903c

GK 1903d

Moraea GK 1501a

Seed parent: Moraea unknown

Pollen parent: Moraea unknown

GK 1501a. This is a seedling I grew from a cross by Garry Knipe. A handsome flower!

Sparaxis MM 19-115

Seed parent: Sparaxis grandiflora v. grandiflora

Pollen parent: Sparaxis elegans

MM 19-115a. The fluorescent color in this one is really nice.

Moraea MM 19-160

Seed parent: Moraea longiaristata

Pollen parent: MM 15-80b ((M. atropuctata x calcicola) X neopavonia 'Summerfield')

MM 19-160a. I like that little pointy bit coming out of the eye.

MM 19-160b

Moraea MM 19-155

Seed parent: Moraea neopavonia with thin blue eye

Pollen parent: MM 13-81c ((aristata x villosa) X atropunctata)

Moraea MM 19-142

Seed parent: MM 15-45 (M. villosa 'Zoe' X neopavonia 'Summerfield')

Pollen parent: MM 14-126a (M. aristata x (aristata x calcicola) X neopavonia 'Summerfield')

MM 19-142a

I think this is probably the same plant, faded a bit by the sun.

MM 19-142b. I thought this might be the same as form a, but the style crest in the center looks quite a bit different, as does the spot pattern in the inner tepals.

MM 19-142c

MM 19-142d

Moraea MM 19-138

Seed parent: MM 13-81 ((aristata x villosa) X atropunctata)

Pollen parent: MM 13-77b (villosa X tulbaghensis)

MM 19-138a

This is the same plant; the flower fades over time.

I think this is a sibling. Note the different color pattern in the narrow inner tepals.

This was labeled 19-138, but I think I made a mistake. It looks nothing like either parent. It is, though, a very interesting flower due to those vivid long hairs in the center. Hopefully it'll bloom again this spring, so I can figure out its parentage.