Crinum Breeding, Marcelle Sheppard's Project
ConroeJoe@aol.com (Sun, 22 Aug 2004 09:20:06 PDT)

Hi Gang,

Marcelle Sheppard is willing to write up details about her various Crinum
breeding successes (and failures). She's her work documented on 5x7 color
photographs; she also has many wonderful photos of plants she's received from others
over the years. She's been at her Crinum work since the 1950s and must have
somewhere between 3,000 and 10,000 plants growing in her breeding gardens.
She's a wonderful repository of knowledge; for instance, Marcelle knows
how/where/when clone 'Shreck' was found and why it got that name, etc.

I'm writing because I'm interested in her project and am helping her "get the
information out," as she says. She's quite happy to tell about her
experiences, and I return I'm learning a lot. Some of her plants are quite amazing; I
was present one day when an amazingly large-flowered plant bloomed. As you
might guess, when I took the photo I got the focus and light all wrong, but I've
posted it so you can get some sense of her Crinum collection (see links
below).

Marcelle has decided to start with her "best picks," those plants that she's
happiest with; the ones with best color and substance, as well as other
measures like "garden worthiness," "repeat flowering ability," etc.

Eventually, Marcelle plans to post many wonderful photographs, the kind that
will make Crinum-addicts out of the most staid observer. She really does have
over 50 years of photos and many hundreds of valuable photos to post (maybe
thousands of photos). She's quite willing to share her knowledge and
observations. Her philosophy is that she benefited by learning from others, as well as
by sharing her knowledge with others, and she wishes to continue that
tradition.

For now, Marcelle has scanned some of her photos and sent them to me to begin
the project. We'll be experimenting over time and finding the best ways to
get the color photos up on the Web, along with descriptive text.

Do you all (anyone) suppose the PBS might want to find some Web space just
for this project?

Conroe Joe (in hot and sticky Conroe, TX)

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LINKS, Some example photos

No. 1: Rose City School House Clones (scabrum-like)
http://members.aol.com/johnson3591/Marcelle1.jpg

No. 2: Two of the Best Seedlings (out of hundreds)
http://members.aol.com/johnson3591/Marcelle2.jpg

No. 3: C. macowanii x Rose City S.H., 2 unnamed seedlings
http://members.aol.com/johnson3591/Marcelle4.jpg

No. 4: C. macowanii x Rose City S.H., 2 more unnamed seedlings
http://members.aol.com/johnson3591/Marcelle5.jpg

No. 5: 'Burgundy' clone x C. macowanii, 2 unnamed seedlings (one pale, one
dark)
http://members.aol.com/johnson3591/Marcelle7.jpg

No. 6: Huge Crinum flower (not sure if this is Marcelle's hybrid or not)
http://members.aol.com/johnson3591/…