Lachenalia aloides v. vanzyliae hybrids

[Colin Davis]

Lachenalia's have long been my passion - L. viridiflora being the first species that ignited a passion for SA bulbs. Turquoise is the rarest of all colors in the plant world, so naturally I was drawn to it. Being that the aloides clan has a great amount of diversity and largely bloom at the same time, they are ripe candidates for creating hybrids. In the following posts are two very stunning hybrids (in my opinion) worth mentioning, with vanzyliae as the parent. I have several clones of vanzyliae, the two below being the best. The one on the right is 'Davis HSC' - a darker, more saturated variant from UC Davis with strongly mottled foliage. The one on the left is what I call Lachenalia vanzyliae 'Galaxy', a rare variety from an famous botanic garden. This clone displays excellent coloration reminiscent of a galaxy: turquoise, green and violet/purple. Also shows strong mottling, with a beautiful purple shade to the leaves.

Colin

[Colin Davis]

Lachenalia 'Aurora' - Lachenalia aloides v. vanzyliae 'Davis HSC' x Lachenalia callista. Beautiful pastel colors that develop leading up to Easter, very vigorous strong growth.

[Colin Davis]

Lachenalia 'Twilight' - Lachenalia aloides v. vanzyliae 'Galaxy' x Lachenalia aloides v. aurea (dark orange form with purple scapes). This hybrid exhibits some of the purple/blue on the upper scape and lower sepals from the 'Galaxy' parent. 

[Ottoline Clapham]

Colin , these are stunning , especially picture 5604 , is that the 'Galaxy' ? I am going to have to keep my eyes peeled    for these . Regards
Ottoline zone 9 were the Lachenalia are setting seeds

[Lee Poulsen]

Colin, did you ever look at any of Komoriya's Lachenalia hybrids back when he was selling them on eBay? There were a lot, and some seemed less interesting than even the uninteresting species. (Maybe it appealed to the Japanese sensibility?) But some were stunning and always made me want to know what he had crossed to get them. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough excess funds at the time to order any, and just expected that he would keep offering them every year during dormancy. Then he stopped offering Lachenalias.

[Colin Davis]

Ottoline - picture 5604 is one of my hybrids I call 'Aurora'. It definitely shows hybrid vigor.

Lee - Yes I recall the Komoriya hybrids, although at the time I was really only focused on species, so never got too excited. But yes, some didn't seem all that interesting. Kind of glad I dont recall the prettier ones now lol, I spend too much on plants as it is! By the way the Leucocoryne vittata I got from you years back is still going strong, absolutely love that form, thanks again!

Colin