Crinum 'Patricia Hardy' is one of Dave Lehmiller's hybrids, obtained by pollinating Crinum rautanenianum with Crinum moorei var. schmidtii. It has beautifully shaped, lightly fragrant, pale pink flowers and compact, tidy foliage that's upright, arched, and extremely narrow. Its flowers are durable, each one lasting several days, and they're delivered sequentially, so an individual scape can decorate the garden or vase for at least a week. My bulb, a new addition to the garden this spring, extended the show by producing a second scape which began blooming just as the first one faded. With Crinum rautanenianum, an aquatic species from Southern Africa, as a parent, it's unclear whether this hybrid will survive a North Carolina winter, but its other parent, Crinum moorei, performs well here, giving me enough confidence to leave it in the ground for testing this winter.
Close-up of Crinum 'Patricia Hardy'
Crinum 'Patricia Hardy' umbel
Crinum 'Patricia Hardy' with Canna 'Bengal Tiger'
Update on May 26, 2009: 'Patricia Hardy' did not sprout this spring after encountering air temperatures near 10° F (-12° C) in January. I located the neck of the bulb, dug it out, and found it was rotten throughout, so perhaps this pretty plant should be renamed 'Patricia Not Hardy'.
3 comments:
It's hard for me to decide whether I like these lighter colored crinums or the bold ones like Ellen and Carnival. This one is very delicate for certain. Nice one, cool that it bloomed this year.
BTW- It takes real guts to keep that crinum in the ground this winter, true grit. Makes you the Navy Seals of crinum growing.
Steve
Thanks for the comment. All it takes to keep that Crinum in the ground this winter is to do nothing, so pure laziness, instead of true grit, might be as good an explanation for my rationalizations.
Looks like I'm paying the price for my laziness, my Crinum 'Patricia Hardy' is dead. I've updated the post with the details.
Post a Comment