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Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Gladiolus MM 19-34

Seed parent: Gladiolus bonaspei
Pollen parent: Gladiolus tristis

I love this cross, which marries some of the intense color of G. bonaspei with the size and vigor of G. tristis. See also MM 18-280a.

MM 19-34a

MM 19-34b


Gladiolus MM 17-42

Seed parent: MM 11-22b (G. gracilis x priorii) X violaceo-lineatus
Pollen parent: MM 11-21f (G. gracilis x priorii) X unknown

Crossing a yellow-orange flower with a heavily-striped white one, I was hoping for a stripey orange flower. But instead...

MM 17-42a. A nice pink flower with a lot of speckling on the lower tepals. The flower is quite narrow, unfortunately.




Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Gladiolus MM 17-13

Seed parent: MM 11-04a (G. carinatus X tristis)
Pollen parent: MM 11-04c (G. carinatus X tristis)

These flowers seem to have reverted to mostly G. carinatus in appearance, but they are quite vigorous.


Moraea MM 12-79

Seed parent: Moraea tulbaghensis dark orange form with green eye
Pollen parent: Moraea villosa form d

This is a cross from 2012 that failed to survive when I first planted it. I planted more seeds in 2016, and now in 2023 one of them finally bloomed. I have no idea why it took so long.

This is a pleasant orange flower with sea green eyes. It's quite a bit larger than a typical M. tulbaghensis flower, thanks to its villosa parent. The flower is cupped, which often happens with tulbaghensis hybrids. I flipped the tepals down to take the second photo.

The pollen parent is a mauve-colored flower that I hoped would make reddish children. No luck so far, but presumably those mauve genes are lurking somewhere, and I might be able to bring them out with more breeding. We'll see...

MM 12-79a