LEWISIA HYBRIDS.
According to B LeRoy Davidson's new book on Lewisias, I fall into the category of a backyard pollen-dauber. As many of you who follow this column on a regular basis will be aware, I have been known to daub a little pollen on various plants from time to time. But my favourite pollen-daubing pastime is always with the genus Lewisia. The reason for this is twofold, first they the give faster results that most other plants, and second the colour and quality of the offspring is second to none, with most if not all of the seedlings produced worth keeping though not necessarily worthy of commercial production.
Let me tell you how this all started! When I first acquired an alpine house one of the first plants to take up residence was Lewisia Brachycalyx, followed by a few Cotyledon hybrids, including one called rose splendour. These were followed a year later by L.Rediviva and L. Nevadensis. And anything that came to hand in the Lewisia category.
About two years later quite by chance L.rediviva and L. brachycalyx were in flower at the same time and I could not resist a little bit of pollen-daubing each way. At the same time L. rose splendour was in bloom, a little pollen from that plant was also daubed onto the L. Brachycalyx and the L. rediviva.
You can imagine my surprise when they all produced a few seed, not many, but enough to get me rather excited.
The seed was carefully sown and the pot was inspected on a daily basis for signs of germination. I thought they never would come up as I watched week after week. Then one morning there was the pots with little green seedlings popping up all over the surface. Needless to say the seedlings were minded like children, fed and potted on when required. The Pollen parent would appear to transfer the flower type and colour, and the recipient the foliage. At least that was how it worked with the L.cotyledon rose splendour X L.brachycalyx cross .The result was a L.brachycalyx with a beautiful rosette of large Magenta flowers which flowers from late April until September. The foliage is of the L.brachycalyx type but evergreen. While these plants are sterile and are supposed to be short lived, my plant is almost seven years old and still going strong.
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