Upon returning home from the ADS Convention Bob Spott’s fabulous Mesa Verde was in bloom. It went through an unsually cold winter here. I had one night at 5 degrees, a couple of 7 degree nights and numberous nights in the teens. Of course during these times the folage was only barely above ground. Wish it had been in bloom a few days sooner, would like to have carried some blooms to the convention.
Yesterday a Lemon Tree x Shaws Nature Reserve poet was in bloom, a different one than I posted last year. I put Lima’s Green Goddess 8G-G pollen on it. Stay tuned, MAYBE in 5 or 6 years we’ll have something nice.
Regards,
Larry Southaven, MS zone 7-7b
Love that poet Larry
Hi Larry,
This poet is nice. I especially like the precise rounded triangle form to the cup. The green center is a triangle and the red rim is three primary lobes and each is slightly divided in half. Maybe next year you could find one that has that same characteristic and breed them together. Is there a law that says the rim HAS to be entire?
Donna
Hi Larry ,
Thanks for your enjoyable posts . I was at Wilfs yesterday and we discussed your beautiful poet .Is this the first poet to flower this season , — or have I missed some in earlier show results , – possibly in collections .The poet breeders here , Wilf particularly , are working very hard to breed early flowering poets .Is this a specific objective in your program .? There is very little early stock to work with , — if this beauty is as early as we suspect , you not only have a very fine poet but also an important stepping stone to potential early poets .
John .
Congratulations on your poet, Larry, it is beautiful. The shape and breadth of the petals and the bright corona colours are very appealing. Don’t you think that the viridiflorus hybrids have a great future as cut flowers? I am sure that the cool shades of Mesa Verde would be very popular and it certainly looks very floriferous
I planted two bulbs of Mesa Verde in November in Louisiana. Both sent up buds. Both buds failed to open after enlarging. I assume that it was the low temperatures of about 22 degrees F or the light snow which lasted about 30 hours. The leaves look vigorous. Annette Parker
Annette, Mesa Verde has proven to be viable at the temperatures that you endured. Richard Ezell has bloomed it successfully in Pennsylvania for several years. Jason Delaney grows Mesa Verde in Missouri, Carol Barrett grows it in Nantucket, and Nancy Mott in Connecticut.
Since both of the blooms – on different plants – failed to open, I must conclude that the cold was the culprit; it must have occurred at a vulnerable time for the developing buds – and they were frozen. Hopefully, vigorous foliage portends better luck and more buds for you next year.
Thanks everyone for the kind remarks about the poet posted.
John, Yes the poet was one of the first poets to bloom this season. Not sure why it bloomed so soon. Most of the Lemon Trees crosses bloom about the same time as Lemon Tree, a late blooming cultivar. In fact some of the others are just coming into bloom now. No, early blooming poet are not one of my main objectives in my poet hybridizing program. I really like to have some late blooming daffodil cultivars. As a lot of the ADS shows are north of me, late blooming cultivars are all I have left to carry to the shows.
No, you haven’t missed any poet postings. They were not in bloom for the Little Rock ADS show. Little Rock is only about two hours west of me. About the same blooming season. I’ll try to post a few later on.
Denise, Yes, Probably the viridiflorus hybrids will be used in cut flowers and arrangments. They are very long lasting and fragrant also. Bob’s Mesa Verde is certainly floriferorus. The posting above had 6 or seven spikes, several with two blooms per spike, from a single bulb planted I believe three years ago.
Best wishes, everyone
Annette, I’d tend to agree that the cold affected the buds of your ‘Mesa Verde’. I’ve grown it here in Ohio for two years now. Last year there was only one bloom stem. This year there are two stems, at least one with multiple florets. Even with the worst winter we’ve had in years, it seems to be doing fine.
However, I grow quite a few things in pots that go in and out of my garage, depending on the outdoor temperature. When it got near zero, it got down to 22 degrees in the garage, and even though I moved the pots indoors, many of the plants which sent up buds had buds that failed to open. And some of the bulbs froze/rotted completely. This occurred mostly in the small pots; those few in the larger pots seem fine. So I think it’s the extreme cold that surrounds the pots that affected the developing buds. My plants in the open were surrounded by soil and covered with snow, so weren’t affected. I’d guess, Annette, that your ‘Mesa Verde’ will be fine another year.