Tim,
My Nico was pretty good all year but mine is in a lot of sun. I like the rosette shape too.
Nico has darker leaf tips and quite red so it was a similar pattern to the pink in Slabber's seedling. Not many semps have it in that pattern. Also crossed Nico with Fire Glint and Roasted Chestnuts for more with intense tip colors. Would have used Fernwood too but it didn't bloom. Next year for sure.
Had a very interesting seedling from Roasted Chestnuts X Jungle Shadows that is sort of a very large, much more pointed leaved, and better color retention version of Roasted Chestnut that inspired these other crosses. That one has very good color retention (even now) and makes very neat clumps.
Hope that helps! I had done lots of really big purples the last couple years so wanted to do something different. Sometimes you have to have the imagination of an artist and the genetic knowledge combined in one to get just what you want. Of course even with that, I often get surprises (good and bad!).
Kevin
