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Topics - Dennis Kramb

#1
Current Photographs / Sinningia Sdlg. K5
February 17, 2023, 03:27:16 PM
This cross is  ( leucotricha × "Seminole (white-flowered sport)" ).  The first sibling to bloom from this batch took only 4½ months from seed, but K5 shown here took 3½ years.  You can tell its old because the tuber is quite large.
#2
Current Photographs / F2 Sinningia siblings
December 11, 2022, 12:45:17 PM
Three years ago I did a selfing on my Sinningia Sdlg. K1 which was a cross between [Sinningia leucotricha × Sinningia 'Seminole' (white sport)].  It was a lovely flower & I was excited to explore what offspring it could produce.

Two of the F2 seedlings have bloomed so far and they both have strange flowers.

K1F2-3 has wavy rimmed flowers.
K1F2-6 has petaloids inside the flowers.

I suppose two seedlings is too small of a sample size to draw conclusions from but I am disappointed to see them having narrower, more leucotricha-like flowers than "K1" (the F1 parent).  There's a few more siblings I'm waiting to see bloom, but I'm losing enthusiasm after seeing these first two.

Many of the seedlings have a sprawling habit which is both strange and annoying considering they're genetically half leucotricha which has a very compact growth habit.  The soft lambs-ear foliage is quite nice but it's not enough to make me consider any of these F2 an improvement on the F1 parent.  Maybe the next one will have spectacular flowers?
#3
Current Photographs / Sinningia sulphurea
December 02, 2022, 05:20:25 PM
Formerly known as Sinningia sp. 'Bahia' for the region of Brazil in which it was discovered, the official name Sinningia sulphurea was published a couple months ago.  Of the 75-ish species in the genus it's one of the few yellow-flowered ones.

https://bioone.org/journals/candollea/volume-77/issue-2/c2022v772a1/Two-new-species-of-Sinningia-Gesneriaceae-endemic-to-Bahia-Brazil/10.15553/c2022v772a1.short

I don't have the other species that is named in this article, but some friends here in the USA are growing it.
#4
Current Photographs / Sinningia flammea
November 30, 2022, 03:09:32 PM
This species produces a spectacular display of flowers in late autumn for me in my indoor growing conditions.  Its scientific name was just published in 2019, but I've been growing it since 2016 under its original collection name of Sinningia sp. Itaguaçu (Itaguassu).  Frustratingly it has resisted my attempts at hybridization.  Not that it doesn't produce seeds... but so far none have germinated.

The stems from the previous two years are still attached to the tuber providing it with some aesthetic balance.  The oldest stem has dropped its leaves but last year's stem still has them persisting.  Seeing this plant in bloom reminds me of a ballerina.  Last year this ballerina bloomed in 2nd position (both arms extended, see final photo) and this year she's in 3rd position (one arm extended, first 3 photos).

This is such a unique plant and an absolute joy to have blooming in the winter.  I highly recommend it to anyone with a houseplant addiction.  (It's fully dormant for me in summer months and requires almost no attention whatsoever.)
#5
Current Photographs / my Sinningia seedling N1
August 15, 2022, 10:25:04 PM
Well, this is weird.  This is maiden bloom for this 3-yr old seedling.  It produced flowers directly from the (large!) dormant tuber.  I've never seen this happen before.  While it's normal behavior for a few obscure, rarely grown Sinningia species, none of those species are in the background of this hybrid.  So I think this effect is temporary and cultural, but only time will tell.

Another weird thing is that the flowers bee guide is deeply warped into a 3-D gully effect to an extent that I've never seen before on a Sinningia.  I quite like it!

For comparison I'm adding a couple photos of its sibling who had maiden bloom 4 months ago with normal flowers on a normal plant.

The parentage is Sinningia eumorpha 'Saltao' x "Seminole" (white-flowered sport)
#6
Current Photographs / Opuntia macrorhiza 'Ohio'
June 12, 2022, 06:10:10 PM
A geophytic prickly pear cactus from Ohio?  Apparently so!  This is blooming en masse in my garden right now and it is GLORIOUS.
#7
Howdy from Ohio!  I've been gardening here for 25 years and my 3 favorite families of plants are Irises, Gesneriads, and Amaryllids.  I'm especially fond of the species from the Americas... and even more so those that are locally native.  I'm doing lots of hybridizing work with Iris (outdoors) and Sinningia (indoors)... and I've dabbled in hybridizing Smithiantha, Eucodonia, Hippeastrum, Polianthes (now Agave), and Hymenocallis.  Another hybridizing obsession I have is with Opuntia (some are geophytic, some are not) also known as prickly-pear cactus.

With Opuntia my focus is crossing the native Ohio species with nearly-native species from the east coast, deep south, and central plains.  The idea is to expand the color pallet of what will happily grow outdoors here.

With Agave my focus is crossing the native Ohio species with fragrant and colorful species from the south & southwest.  The idea is to get colorful, fragrant, showy plants that can happily grow outdoors here year round.

With Iris there's almost too much to talk about.  To say I'm obsessed would be an understatement.  For about 20 years I was the webmaster for the Aril Society International, and for over 20 years and counting I've been the webmaster for the Species Iris Group of North America.  I have grown dozens of Iris species from around the world and hundreds if not thousands of hybrids.  I've gone on Iris expeditions in Greece, Ohio, Kentucky, Newfoundland, and northern California.  I love to hybridize irises too.  Each year my focus shifts a little bit.  Sometimes it's strictly arilbreds, sometimes it's Louisianas, and then this year it's crossing bearded irises with Iris tectorum.

With Sinningia, it's just pure fun.  For reasons which defy my comprehension, I can easily grow species that other growers can't.  And that gives me unique opportunities at hybridizing with them, and my success has been astonishing!  Here in Ohio we get 4 to 6 months of wintery weather that keeps me indoors.  That's when I play with my Sinningias.  I do not grow them outside, and I am not hybridizing for hardiness.  My overwhelming success with them indoors means that they are strictly indoor plants for me.

Despite all of my hybridizing activity I have only named & introduced one plant into commerce.  It is ×Smithicodonia 'Clara the Storyteller', a hybrid between a Eucodonia and Smithiantha.  Picture attached.  It has pink flowers with yellow throats dotted heavily in pink.  The leaves are chartreuse-green with red veins.  There aren't a lot of ×Smithicodonia in commerce, and this one is totally unique.
#8
General Discussion / Iris × tetra-versata
June 02, 2022, 09:26:01 AM
Iris × tetra-versata, a hybrid between Iris versicolor (of eastern North America) and Iris ensata (of eastern Asia).  Both parent species are diploid but my plants are derived from tetraploid parents & so should be fertile, but in all my years I haven't succeeded in hybridizing it with anything but other tetra-versatas.

This week I'll get pollen of some tetraploid Cal-Sibs from a kind & generous grower on the west coast.  I'm hoping that proves compatible.

Dennis in Cincinnati