Finally!

My pardonii germa decided to bloom. I think I've had this one for about a year. I'd forgotten about it.

I just got Germa this season and I just love it's delicate yellow green flower...

It gave out 2 scapes with 5 'truly' trumpet flowers each. Is this as 'finicky' as Amputo, Misty and Pink Floyd? Any advice on it's likes and dislikes?

Yours is quite nice. Mine has two scapes of two trumpets each. This one took a while to start root development, but seems to be on track now. This is the only one that I have, but my understanding that they are picky about dormancy and wintering. When I acquired it I potted it up and left it alone. That was almost a year ago. At about six months it began living outside in the warm weather. I paid little attention to it.

Lora in Gardenweb adviced to not water it too much. The reluctance to root must be the reason. I guess most trumpets are like this when they are newly planted? They do LOVE giving out bulblets though, once established. I have seperated a few decent sized bulblets from my Striped Panthers. Pink Floyd and Amputo has a circle of bulblets growing too. Did your Germa give out any bulblets after one growing season?

I will have to check. I haven't noticed any and I should probably pot it up.

Yep, I have several offsets. That's quite a rate.

That's good news! All my pollination attempts on the flowers of the first scape failed. :-( I am still observing the second scape pollinations. If I don't get seeds this season, then hopefully I'll get some babies next year. :-)

I have some new varieties of trumpets in bloom right now. I will try using Germa's pollens on them.

That's interesting. Let me know how those turn out.

Sighhhhhh...I think I will also lose the second scape with no success.
X Pink Floyd
X S. Panther V
X S. Panther III
...were aborted today.

I did receive some seeds from a friend of SPX Germa and vice versa. I still need to plant them though to check on their viability.

My Striped Panthers rejected all pollens of Germa. :-(

Pink Floyd II is showing scape tips. I will try Germa on it too.

A Jungle Star X Germa seedpod is now 3 weeks old. Halfway there... :-)

Keep me posted. I'm curious - What kind of a system do you use for keeping track of your crosses?

Geeezzzz ...Andi! I could be as primitive as you can get...lol!

I am an accountant from the "old school" where everything is documented and recorded in paper. This is what works for me...

Every single bulb that flowers is recorded from , name of variety, source of bulb (if I have more than 1 bulb of the same variety but different source),# of scapes, size and #of flowers/scape, pollens used, date pollinated, date harvested or date pollination failed or seedpod aborted. Then of course I get to write my little notes somewhere there...

If different pollens are used in a single variety, I keep a pollen list with that certain variety's notes. Noted are # of times the pollen is used, # of times pollen failed and #of times pollen was accepted/harvested. Here is Lovely Garden's 2008 pollen list.

Every single flower that blooms from every bulb in the collection is pollinated if possible. They are all tagged right after pollination with pollen used and date pollinated written. I use those small stringed tags from WM.

If a pollination failed, dried flower/seepod is removed with tag and recorded in their individual notes (pic #1). If the seedpods are successful, they are harvested, date of harvest noted in tag and then the seedpods are dried for a few days.

Then the seeds would be harvested, evaluated, counted and packed.

The seed cross would then be recorded in my seed list before they are stored.

"IF" I decide to plant the seeds, I have a seedlings list that I keep too.

By the way, pollens of every variety is collected and dried for a few days with name and date of collection noted.

Then they are stored in the refrigerator. Important pollens that would be used later on in the season are frozen.

There you go. "Maria's System"...simple and fun! You do not need to be hi-tech to do this.

The flowers are pollinated, the seeds collected and the seedlings have sprouted. My job is done!

Will I ever see their flowers? Maybe...

The question is...Does it really matter???

Oh dear. I am certainly not one to criticize on that front. My notes are in the old composite notebooks that they sell for school kids. I think that Gordo was working on some software at one point, but I never heard more about it But you are clearly a hero among amateurs!

Oh my Andi! I certainly don't consider myself a hero...lol! Just a plain old mom who is "amaryllis crazy" I guess...lol! But thank you anyway. I hope I got to share something out of "Maria's System". My advice is what works for you...keep it!

By the way, Pink Floyd II is in full bloom.

It gave out 2 scapes with 4 flowers each. One of the flowers will definitely get Germa pollens. I have so many pollens of other varieties to try on Pink Floyd. I have a feeling this would be my last diploid to flower this season. Unless La Paz will perform like last season, blooming 3 times. Or some of the Papilios bless me with late summer/early fall blooms.

Pink FloydI just gave out 1 scape with 2 flowers but succesfully produced:
Pink FloydX Striped Panther
Pink FloydX Residence

I will also try Germa pollens with this Striped Panther (6th attempt) and maybe on Flamingo(right) which is acting like a diploid.

Finally!!!

Jungle Star X Germa seedpod is harvested today.
Will it have viable seeds? Perhaps...
What would the seedling's flowers look like? Cybister? Butterfly? Trumpet?

Oh...the joys of hybridizing!

Wonderful!

Ahemmmm...

Some possibilities are a-forming here... Still very young to tell though. Please ignore my hands, I'm an avid gardener...lol! We will keep the seedpod parent a secret for now to put in some excitment here. If these succeeds, then I'll tell...lol!

Not looking the best, but at least forming... X Germa (1)

Now this one is lookin' good... X Germa (2)

Time to pray...

I'll update you in a few weeks.... ;-)

Jungle Star X Germa
Harvested : 6/29/08
# of seeds: 30
6/30/08 - Floated 10 seeds
7/8/08 - 6 seeds sprouted roots

These seeds "WANT" to grow!!! Seems like these seeds inherited Papilio's vigorousness. Good!

Oh...Let me intoduce the seed parent.

Jungle Star IV
1st scape gave out 6 flowers
2nd scape gave out 5 flowers
Other seeds harvested:
JS X Gilmar
JS X Bogota

Jungle Star X Germa today.

All 10 seeds that were floated has sprouted. YES!!!

Congrats!

Thank you Andi! Of the thousands of seeds I plant, seeing a seed of my crosses sprout ALWAYS makes me feel like a "proud mommy"! I feel so blessed to be a part of beautiful thing....LIFE!

Keep me posted!

X Germa (1)
pollinated 6/26
seedpod has grown some and holding on

X Germa (2)
pollinated 6/24
seedpod IS looking very good now

One more week and both seedpods would have passed the "critical" stage. The warmer weather is making the seedpods mature faster. I have been harvesting seedpods that are just 4 weeks old lately.

Let's give this thread some excitement...
Seedpod parent of:
X Germa (1) has 3 1/2" pink flowers
X Germa (2) has 2 1/2" white flowers with a pink picotee (Ahemmm...Raydio, do you see this?)

Very nice... I do want to keep them small if possible.

The little "Jungle Germas" have grown a leaf now and most are starting to put up their second leaf. Germinating seeds in water always makes me wonder how they survive under water at this stage and yet HATE being overwatered once they are potted up. Nature just continously amazes me...

I germinate in water and they look like they are at the stage where I would pot them up. Do you wait for leaves?

Yes I wait for at least a leaf to grow before I transfer them to my seed/seedling mix. I feel they are a little bit stronger by that time. Having at least a leaf kinda gives them a 'headstart' and be able to manufacture food for their further development.

Here they are looking happy in their new home.

I am so late with the updates on the X Germas. I've been really very busy but I still get the time to click that camera once in a while.

Here was X Germa (1) last July 19, 3 weeks after pollination (June 26). It is a very unusual looking seedpod.