Manfreda virginica

Dennis Kramb dkramb@badbear.com
Sat, 23 Apr 2005 10:38:15 PDT
At 06:06 PM 4/22/2005, you wrote:
>Dennis, it's one of my favorite plants. I've bought a few into the garden
>over the years - I'm always on the lookout for forms with attractively
>spotted foliage. I've seen some very fat, stout, nicely spotted Manfreda in
>a local garden - it's labeled M. virginica although as a garden ornament
>it's pretty distinct. Early in the season the leaves have a strongly rippled
>edge - very cool!
>
>If your plants do bloom and you have access to tuberose pollen, do some
>crosses. Manfreda virginica and Polianthes tuberosa will cross and produce
>viable seeds (and this suggests that the botanists need to take another
>look!).

Wow!  And to think I was nervous about sending an email to the PBS forum 
about a plant distinctly NOT of pacific-rim origin.  LOL.  It seems M. 
virginica is a bit of a hit amongst other fellow PBSers.

I will be sure to share some photos with you as it matures this 
season.  Just going from my memory there not a lot of spots on mine.  It 
was pretty much a regular boring green color.

I do not have any potential "mates" for it.  I'm just happy to have a 
specimen that's thriving (now that I found the growing conditions that make 
it happy).  If it sets seed, well, hooray!  I'll have something to donate 
back to PBS.  :-)  How tall can I expect the bloom stalks to reach?  Is it 
like just a few inches or does it reach several feet?  I like the way it 
forms pups, almost like hens & chicks.



>Conroe Joe might have something more to say about this interesting genus:
>he's down in a hotbed of Manfreda culture, where several species and
>cultivated forms of dubious origin will thrive.
>
>If my plant of Manfreda singuliflora blooms again this year, I'll be doing
>some other crosses, too. This is evidently hardy here, and it may be in
>Cincinnati, too. Unfortunately, Manfreda singuliflora does not have a scent
>that I can detect, so some tuberose hybrids here might improve things.
>
>Jim McKenney
>Jimmckenney@starpower.net
>Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where sadly there are no
>rattlesnakes for the Manfreda to master (did I say that last year?).



Hmmm... the only rattlesnake master I know is Eryngium yuccifolium.  Which 
sadly, mine died out without self-seeding a few years ago.  Boo hoo!!!

Dennis in Cincy


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