Growing Cool Plants: January 2022

Monday, January 31, 2022

Moraea MM 17-100

Seed parent: MM 12-95a (M. gigandra X loubseri)

Pollen parent: MM 12-122b (villosa a X tulbaghensis)

This is a very deep purple seed parent crossed with a pinky-orange flower that had purple and orange parents. So the plant below has three purple grandparents and one orange grandparent. But as often happens with Moraeas, the orange dominated.

Moraea MM 17-91

Seed parent: MM 13-120a (M. gigandra x (atropunctata x neopavonia))X tripetala

Pollen parent: Moraea unknown

Hmmmmm. Based on the double-crescent, I'm guessing the pollen parent probably had M. bellendenii in its parentage.

Moraea MM 17-89

Seed parent: MM 13-12 ((M. atropunctata x neopavonia) x gigandra) X calcicola

Pollen parent: MM 13-109a (M. villosa a+ X (atropunctata x neopavonia))

Not sure what to say here. I combined a couple of very distinctive flowers that have complex genetics, and the result was nice but kind of bland.

MM 17-89a

Photo by Garry Knipe

Moraea MM 17-52

Seed parent: MM 11-35c ((M. neopavonia x atropunctata) x villosa) X (neopavonia x atropunctata)

Pollen parent: Moraea 'Zoe'

I crossed an orangey-pink flower with a spotted flower, and the result was fairly plain-looking purple flowers. That seems to happen with Zoe a lot.

MM 17-52a

MM 17-52b

Moraea MM 17-45

Seed parent: Moraea fergusoniae

Pollen parent: Moraea elegans

This one looks exactly like the seed parent, so I think it's a self-pollinated plant rather than a hybrid. Oh well.

Sunday, January 30, 2022

Moraea MM 16-67

Seed parent: Moraea tricolor purple form

Pollen parent: Moraea tricolor salmon form

I wanted to see what would happen if I crossed two of the unusual color forms of M. tricolor that I've been growing. To my surprise, they produced what looks like the standard pink-colored version of the plant.

Moraea MM 16-64

Seed parent: MM 11-80a (M. atropunctata x neopavonia) X (atropunctata x calcicola)

Pollen parent: MM 11-15f (M. villosa b X (neopavonia x villosa))

Interesting. This is a cross between a mauvey-colored flower and an orangey one, and I got a couple of sorta-reds. The genetics are probably telling me something here.

MM 16-64a. Looks like this is another chapter in my long-term saga of flowers that are almost bright red, but not really. This and form b first bloomed in 2022.

MM 16-64b

Interesting, this one is very different from the others. It bloomed in 2021, and I originally had it labeled as 16-64a.

Moraea MM 16-69

Seed parent: Moraea 'Zoe' offspring

Pollen parent: Moraea neopavonia 'Summerfield'

As often happens, Zoe didn't pass along most of its spots to the offspring (there are a few). But neopavonia Summerfield did pass along its orange color and wide inner tepals.

MM 16-69a

GK 1631_1. A seedling from this cross, raised by Garry Knipe.

Saturday, January 29, 2022

Moraea MM 15-99

Seed parent: MM 10-39a

Pollen parent: MM 11-72a

Usually a cross between an orange flower and a white one makes a pale orange flower, but not this time.

Moraea MM 15-35

Seed parent: MM 11-19a

Pollen parent: MM 11-19

MM 15-35a. I am very happy about this flower. The seed parent had narrow needle-like lines radiating out of the eyes. Unfortunately, it died out after a couple of years. This offspring has the same color pattern, which will let me use it in other hybrids.

Moraea MM 15-30

Seed parent: MM 11-19a

Pollen parent: MM 10-02c

The colors are kind of dingy, but look at all the spots!

MM 15-30a

MM 15-30b

MM 15-30c

MM 15-30d

Moraea MM 14-65

Seed parent: MM 10-16d

Pollen parent: Moraea bellendenii

I was hoping to get a red flower from this cross between a mauve flower and a yellow flower. No luck.

Moraea MM 14-59

Seed parent: Moraea "longiaristata" with no spots

Pollen parent: Morea neopavonia 'Summerfield'

Moraea MM 13-216

Seed parent: MM 09-02b

Pollen parent: Moraea unknown

The ragged edge around the eye is interesting.

Moraea MM 12-36

Seed parent: MM 09-02a (M. villosa X aristata)

Pollen parent: MM 09-04a (M. neopavonia x atropunctata)

Crossing a pale almost-white flower with a yellow one, I was hoping to get something in pale yellow. Instead it reverted to typical M. villosa colors.

MM 12-36a

Gladiolus vigilans

Native to the very tip of Cape Point in South Africa, these little flowers often have complex arrowhead markings in red and cream. This is a relatively late bloomer, mid-May in my California garden.

Gladiolus priorii

One of my favorite glads, easy to grow and vigorous in San Jose, CA. It gives a brilliant pop of color to my garden in the gloomiest part of January, when few other plants are in bloom. It's also a reliable parent for hybrids.

Gladiolus angustus

Not the most stunning flower, but the plant is vigorous and blooms very late in the season -- late May in my location. I've been trying to cross it with other glads, but so far nothing has taken.

Gladiolus aureus

This species reportedly grows in only a single spot near Cape Town, and is classified as extremely endangered. I received seed from Kirstenbosch back when they still shared seed. Unfortunately, only a single clone survived from the ones I grew, and it's not self-fertile (and is very slow to make offsets). I was resigned to eventually losing it, but Ernie DeMarie shared seeds from his three plants, and now I have a viable little colony that produces fresh seed every year.

It's a pretty little flower, and hybridizes nicely with other species.