EUCOMIS, breeding etc.

[Lvandelft]

In the Weekly Lisse Flower Show topic I showed this week some Eucomis.
One hybridizer is rather nearby and I got permission to make some pictures.
So now you may see how much work is to be done before some real good varieties arise.
I saw some interesting seedlings in the field and one interesting variety misses the
green leaves on top of the flowerhead. The flowers are looking very good but the leaves are terrible.
Compare pict. 4 and 6.
I do hope some of you enjoy my short visit too!

Eucomis seedlings 1                  
Eucomis seedlings 2
Eucomis         

[Lvandelft]

next batch.

One plant even showed some variegation, pict. 14
Eucomis (9)                       
Eucomis (10)             
Eucomis (11)                   
Eucomis (12)                   
Eucomis (13)           
Eucomis (14)           
Eucomis (15)                 
Eucomis (16

[Maggi Young]

Thanks for this, Luit.... I too was most interested to see the varieties you showed in the Lisse thread :
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=4969.msg162802#msg162802


Tell me- will these plants be lifted from the ground and stored over winter?

[Gunilla]

Thankyou for showing us, Luit. Very interesting.  I grow several varieties Eucomis but have to store most of them over winter.

[Brian Ellis]

I will add my thanks Luit, a fascinating insight into how many are grown.  I'm not sure that I like the one lacking a topknot or the 'variegated' one either.  I overwinter all mine in the cold greenhouse, dry as a bone.  The ones that have seeded in the garden seem to be quite happy without any protection, but I don't think I'd like to risk it with some of the others.

[ArnoldT]

Luit:

Thanks for the treat.  Are they left in the fields during winter or lifted and stored.

[Lvandelft]

Thanks for this, Luit.... I too was most interested to see the varieties you showed in the Lisse thread :
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=4969.msg162802#msg162802


Tell me- will these plants be lifted from the ground and stored over winter?

Maggi, Arnold, these are every year lifted and stored dry!

[Hans J]

Luit ,

very interesting !
A question : are this plants all grown from seeds or is this also made with vegetativ multiplications ? ( leaf cuttings ) ?

Many thanks
Hans

[KentGardener]

I've just found this thread Luit.  Very interesting to see the fields of Eucomis.  Thank you. 

[Lvandelft]

Glad you found it John.  So there's more than snowdrops, eh   

[KentGardener]

Yes - Eucomis have a place in my garden too - it's not just snowdrops.   

I am interested - does the breeder only 'look' at the flowers/leaves when deciding which are nice.  I ask because I had a seedling with a beautiful coconut scent about 5 years ago - I have been waiting for it to flower again but it has only been leaves and a few offsets ever since - but because of my memory of the scent I keep growing the leaves and hope to smell a flower again next year.     I hope the wait is worth it!

Better than my memory of Bicolor flower scent which is so disgusting they have been banished from my garden forever!   

 

[Lvandelft]

John, this breeder started not so many years ago with Eucomis. I think one of his aims will be to find nice cultivars for pot-selling.
I can imagine that he too is trying to find flowers with a good scent.
And as the cutflower industry is interested, rich flowering plants with long lasting sturdy stems, keeping their seed pods long.
I meet this man almost every week, but I am mostly guessing here now, because most breeders are not so open about there aims 

[Graham Catlow]

Better than my memory of Bicolor flower scent which is so disgusting they have been banished from my garden forever!   

 

John, I have had bicolor in my garden for many years and had never even got a whiff of the scent. So I went outside and and got close TOO CLOSE! It really does have a disgusting scent.
Won't be going near again. Shall just admire from afar.

Luit,
I particularly like photo 15; spotted leaves and dark flowers.

Graham

[Gunilla]

Graham, I did the same thing    phew!  I have never noticed any scent before.  I also sniffed the sweet little 'Octopus'  and found that it had the same smell, nothing sweet about it.  My E. autumnalis smells of cat but only if you get really close.