Now that really sounds like fun. I would have to pot mine up just before the clinic, I don't do very well growing them in containers.

Seems like if Kevin isn't ready for them, we could bring and admire them amongst ourselves like proud parents. My seedlings (if any survive and would be presentable) would have to consider me their adoptive parent as they first came from Patty...

So Patty was the surrogate parent, seed donor?

The rules are "whoever germinates the seed, is considered the originator". So Bev you are considered the originator if you get anything good.

Greg, I'm so excited that you're going to grow some seedlings too. I think there is LOTS of room for more velvety sorts. We have lots of glabrous ones and I do generally prefer them as they are less prone to rot but we need them all!

Kevin

I agree with needing them all. It keeps the beds from becoming one dimensional.

That will be fun. I'm collecting a few this year,not anything like last year. I still have some seed from last year(bee pollinated) if anyone wants some.

You know it is a little weird that we have so few velvety ones now. Part of it might be the fertility issue. When I was starting to hybridize, 'Cleveland Morgan' was one of the best semps and a very easy parent/ Both Patty Drown and I grew lots of seeds from it and nearly every one was velvety and quite nice. I wish that I had named a couple more of these now as it would be good to have a lot of really fertile velvety ones to use as a parent. In fact I haven't even seen 'Cleveland Morgan' itself in a listing for a while.

I can almost hear Joan Baez singing "where have all the velvets gone?".

OK I went to far...

Kevin

I will be hearing that song for the rest of the day. According to the song it is an everlasting circle of events. Soon the velvety ones will be coming again.
I have 4 or 5 of them in my collection. And I just cut all the blooms off of them.

Lynn,

The good news is that velvets are dominant to glabrous forms. Patty gave me pollen of her Engle's 13-2 to try too and it's on my kitchen window now.

I think we might convince Greg to become the "Velvet King" of the semp world, once he starts growing seedlings. I think we could use more with prominent cilia as that has a wonderful effect on the appearance of the rosette. That seedling from 'St. Cloud' X self is much cooler because of the cilia running along the edges of all these leaves. They do seem to be rare birds too. I've self-pollinated the two bloomstalks on 'St.Cloud' this year too as I'd like to see more seedlings in that group. 6 is not enough!

A glad you liked my version of the Joan Baez classic!

Kevin

Kevin I think Cynda has 'Cleveland Morgan'.

Pacific Magic Night and Pacific Mauve are lovely velvet semps. Have you tried them as parent plants?

'St. Cloud' is a truly amazing semp with all of the cilia on the leaves. Make you want to snuggle it. Do you know the parentage of it?

Lynn,

No, I don't know the parents put it must have a yellow or pale colored flower as one parent as the flowers are much paler than a typical arachnoideum hybrid. I have one from S. ciliosum from Ali Botusch X 'Denise's Cobweb' that has a similar look so i'm wondering if there is a cilosum in 'St Cloud' too. That's why I do a lot of self-pollination of wide hybrids to discover their heredity.

Kevin

Interesting.

Kevin can you give me the information off of these two tags? I can't read them. I will have to be more careful in the future when photographing the tags. First tag is for a lovely heuffelii

Large webby one.

Lynn, It's dark now but I'll look in the daylight! The first tag though is 'Nannette' of Bill Nixon's. He said it was his best one and I obtained a plant from Fernwood. This year it has matured into a lovely clump with lots of pink tones. He named it for his mother.

The second is that large cobweb seedling with the very clear green color and nice shape. With that many seedlings I don't remember the number off the top of my head! However, it might be C26-2.

Hope that helps!

Kevin

J. heuffelii 'Nannette'. It is much prettier in real life than this photo.


I'll post the photo of the seedling when I get the information on it. Thank you Kevin.

Lynn,

Definitely C26-2. It is blooming right now, much later than the other arachnoideum hybrids. Makes very big rosettes for a cobweb, although not the foot wide ones I'm seeking!

Kevin

Got it. And here it is. Who are the parents? It really is a large one, I was impressed by it when I was at your place.
C26-2

This was one from the North American Rock Garden Society seed exchange simply marked "extremely large rosettes". There was one really large and vigorous one plus a very nice lavender that also grows with abandon. I didn't expect much from this other than some breeding material for the large rosettes I was seeking and certainly NOT a cobweb! Of course this could be from a large rosette type X an arachnoideum that was blooming at the same time in the seed donors garden.

The blooms are a nice typical arachnoideum hybrid rose. The green is a very clear green with none of the red or purple that you see in most arachnoideum hybrids. The clump is very neat too. I did better with this batch than the other NARGS seed!

Kevin

Does it do any color changes in the different seasons?

No it seems to be bright and light green all the time, although there is a bit of pink at the leaf base. Now that I've numbered it, I will give it more scrutiny. It is on the list I'm considering giving a name for sure.

Kevin

I look forward to seeing it this winter and spring.