Pics of Bulb Hybrids

Martin Grantham marhoot@yahoo.com
Sat, 07 Nov 2009 07:51:15 PST
I have some interesting bulb hybrids that have flowered recently and 
thought PBS folks might be interested in the pics.
http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/…

In 1995 Wayne Roderick let me make reciprocal crosses with his 
Brunsvigia josephinae and 3 color forms of Amaryllis belladonna, 
white, bicolor, and magenta. (Jim Lykos let me know the same 
bigeneric cross was made with a superior form of B. josephinae in 
Australia back in the 1800's.) It took 12 years for the first to 
flower and now, after 14 years only 9 individuals have flowered 
(probably because I haven't had enough room to put many in the ground 
where they belong). The 3 progeny with A. belladonna as seed parent 
that have flowered look just like their A. belladonna parent, but the 
6 that have flowered with B. josephinae as seed parent are 
intermediate. I call them "Brunaryllis." None of these has been able 
to set seed with A. belldonna or with sibling pollen so far, but my 
hope is that eventually one of the progeny will be fertile so an F2 
can be produced. The tallest inflorescence this year has a 41 in. 
stalk height and, with flowers included, stands 52 inches. Flower 
number has gone up slightly for repeat flowers, starting at about 20 
flowers per stalk and now approaching 30. No offsets have yet been 
produced. The pics are by a friend named Ken Gray


Martin Grantham








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