Hybridizers: And so it begins..., 1 by Pistil

Pistil wrote:
What can I say, Americans can be a bit backward. Some day we will go metric.

The D. lutea is under a pine that has been "limbed up". Against the trunk or the other dark shrubs nearby the little flowers are quite nice, and there are lots of them. Also as I come up the driveway in the afternoon they get backlit. Some breeding for flower size would be nice...

Eucomis- last fall I planted E. bicolor (from Plant World Seeds), I put some outside in pots (Wintersowed), and some on the windowsill. The outside ones have not come up, the inside ones sprouted immediately. I also planted some seeds that were on the plants I purchased of Eucomis 'Mini Tuft Red', from Plant Delights Nursery. It was the same, the indoors ones sprouted quickly, the outside ones have done nothing yet. My little plants have been growing all winter on the windowsill. It will be fun to see what grows. Plant Delights sells several Eucomis, so the pollen could be from anything. It will be a while before I know what they will look like, it sounds like Eucomis can take 3-4 years to flower from seed.
I have been reading about Eucomis. I have one that seems quite hardy (E. comosa 'Tugela Ruby'. They seem to be from summer rainfall areas in Africa, so I will try to water a bit more this year. I would like to try the one species from the winter-rainfall area E. regia. For me this has the added attraction of naturally growing on clay slopes. However it has big leaves that grow prostrate on the ground. Here they might collect puddles in winter, and rot. I might have to grow it in a pot under the eaves of the house, to use it in hybridization trials.
I had never heard of Eucomis, until I read an old book about shade gardening by a Seattle author. He noted E. comosa to be a tough survivor here. He liked it best in a dry stone wall, and says it can (here) tolerate either full sun or as little as 1 hour sun per day. That sounded like a plant I could grow to love!
E. vandermerweii looks very nice, especially the spotted leaves, but I am not sure I want to have a stinky plant in my small yard. Plantzafrica says it is an alpine, and to sow in early summer, it germinates in 3-4 weeks http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantefg/eucomisvandermerwei.htm