Crinum Lily, Lorraine Clark, medium-size bulb, NEW

Description: DESCRIPTION: Lorraine Clark is one of the darkest "red" crinum hybrids we have seen. The only other darker color we have in our collection is one we sell called 'Antares'. It looks more like the first couple of photos where the other pictures are more washed out by a flash. It is a genetically unstable hybrid and has produced some plants that have red flowers with random white stripes. If you look carefully you can see a couple of white streaks. This trait happens quite often with hybrids of Ellen Bosanquet. Although we are growing some that have LOTS of white color, even some entire flowers that are white. It's neat to have a plant with 2 different colored flowers at the same time. Unfortunately, there will not be enough of those to sell for a few more years. The bulbs grow rapidly and can produce an amazing number of offsets when they have the right conditions. For example, one bulb we acquired was 1 3/4" in diameter in June of 2007. 18 months later it was 3 3/4" in diameter and had produced 30 new offsets but still had not bloomed. It blooms May - July here in northeast Florida, zone 9. The flowers open sequentially over several days. In a large grouping of bulbs they can be spectacular. We have observed mature bulbs with as many as 10 flowers on 22" tall scapes and our largest bulb measured 5 1/2" in diameter. It is a must for any crinum collector and has only been distributed among other collectors. Lorraine Clark is marginally fertile and can produce some seeds and has been used to create a few hybrids. We have been growing this since 2004 and are just now introducing it for sale on eBay for the first time in 2014. We grow over 1000 different crinum, including about 350 of our own hybrids. BACKGROUND: Lorraine Clark is a hybrid of Ellen Bosanquet (seed parent) and crinum scabrum (pollen parent). Barry Clark was the hybridizer. For those that might be interested, here is his account of how he produced and named this bulb after his mother. "Crinum Lorraine Clark - my late Mother selected that one out of a batch of labeled seedlings. She was impressed with the dark colored flowers and the attractive leaves of the plant. The hybrid is the good form of the old Ellen Bosanquet pollinated with scabrum. Only one very tiny seed formed (probably just the embryo), since it was about 2 mm in diameter. I washed it and cultured it in a small jar of sterile sphagnum. It germinated a month later. When the 3rd leaf formed, they were the size of pine needles, I planted it in a pot of ProMix and kept feeding it liquid fertilizer diluted half the recommended strength. The plant was transferred to an outdoor flower bed and it bloomed just a few months shy of 3 years (in 1992). (The variegated sport offset first bloomed in 1993. See Marcelle Sheppard note below.) It already had 20 offsets. It even re-bloomed the first year. The rest is all history. In hindsight, I think that the hybrid inherited one gene from moorei for the solid color, and just by luck, it inherited 2 genes for the red color, one gene from each parent. Of course that is just speculation, but the only explanation for the dark color. I would suspect that the genetic make up of the plant is somewhat unstable since variegated flowers keep showing up. More will be learned in the future about that trait. Most of the variegated Crinums usually have scabrum someplace in the ancestry. It is amazing that you can get a plant with variegated foliage and normal flowers, and also the reverse. The genes for variegation are different and in different places in the ovum."Regarding hybrids he did with Lorraine Clark:“C. Lorraine Clark, as you know, is Ellen Bosanquet x scabrum. The first hybrid of it was Lorraine Clark (LC) x Rose Parade. Dusty chalice shaped pink. Discarded. The second hybrid to bloom was LC x tetraploid macowanii. The hybrid looked like a large macowanii (not unexpected ), and the flowers do not droop. The fowers are chalice shaped and more open at night. Five scapes on the first bloom and much to my surprise, it produced one very large seed from using mixed pollens. The third hybrid to bloom was the picture I recently sent you. With the help of a friend, we determined that the most likely pollen parent was xdigweedii. I had pollinated LC with scabrum pollen, but mother nature did her own thing and used some nearly infertile digweedii pollen instead. The moths that come out at night did the crossing. The more Crinums you have, the more moths you have. They come out at late sunset.” GROWING INSTRUCTIONS: This is a very hardy, prolific and easy to grow bulb requiring no special care. It tolerates a wide range of soils but prefers rich soil with adequate moisture. It can withstand extended dry periods like most crinum and will tolerate freezing weather to zone 7 if the bulb is planted deeply and mulched in the winter. Bulbs can survive nicely out of the ground for very extended periods if allowed to dry. They prefer full sun, but partial shade is OK. They will also make excellent, large container plants. DESCRIPTION OF ITEM FOR BID: You are bidding on a medium-size bulb at least 2 years old and about 1 1/2" in diameter which should bloom within 2 years. They don't like being disturbed, so it could take one year to "settle in." Bulbs will be freshly dug, shipped bare root and with leaves March-November. In the winter months the leaves may be absent. WE SIZE OUR BULBS APPROXIMATELY BY AGE AS FOLLOWS: A few varieties can take 6 years or more to bloom. Jumbo bulb – has bloomed at least 2 years, close to the maximum size for that particular plant (6+ years old) Large bulb - should bloom this year or next (3+ years old, close to, or at blooming size) Medium bulb - should bloom in 1-2 years (at least 2 years old) Small bulb - should bloom 2-4 years (current year or 1-2 year old offset) Seedling bulb - started from seed (usually in its first year of growth unless otherwise stated) PHOTOS/ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: These are pictures of our plants, so you know exactly what they look like and what you will receive. The photos show the plant in various stages of growth. Please feel free to contact us for additional information, and click on "Me" following our star rating. Also, we invite you to go to our store (little red door) and look at other items we have for sale. Powered by eBay Turbo Lister The free listing tool. List your items fast and easy and manage your active items.

Price: 30 USD

Location: Middleburg, Florida

End Time: 2024-11-07T21:12:50.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 USD