Grit My Teeth and Bear 90°

So, I went on a trip and missed the one P. macrophylla bloom that opened this season. But, before I headed out on another trip, P. gritensis opened for the first time. It was one of 4 buds to form, but the only one to hang on through the end. But, it was also deformed from the start. I don't know why, but the sepals weren't fully closed. When it opened, I found that the androgynophore was fully formed with a 90° bend in it.

Full House and Fullerton

This Saturday I trekked out to Fullerton College for their Fall Plant Sale. I had never been out there, and given the heating trend in the weather, I wore my desert survival clothes for maximum sweat wicking and UPF. But actually, 45 minutes East from Redondo Beach was pleasant at 9 in the morning. I'm not sure that's always the case, but it was a nice morning for plant hunting.

I knew there would be Passiflora there at the sale, and so when I arrived I scanned and targeted. They had a healthy selection of 10 different species/hybrids of which I snagged 3 for myself and 2 for an online friend. One of the three P. adularia was in bloom, so I snapped a shot when I got home.

Misera Loves Company

I got a second chance at some photos of Passiflora misera. The first round was blurry because I had to go off to work that morning in a rush. Today, I took my time. First I tried with the natural fence background, but the white flower on that light gray was a wash. Then I held a black background up to get the contrast that I needed, but it looked synthetic and staged and still the photos were coming out ... not great. So, for the third try I sprayed the fence down with water which darkened it up some. Finally I got a few acceptable shots. They're not fantastic, but they'll do. They always bloom in couplets it seems, and they look very sea-creature-y with their white tendrils and pale purple inner corona.

Awns or Yawns

I recently posted the bud of P. aff gibertii with curly awns. Today it bloomed for the first time. I like the flower, but if it weren't for the awns it would be a yawner for me.

Kitty in the Rough

For the last week a gray cat has been sleeping on my patio furniture. I'm not feeding or watering him or her, but she looks healthy and perhaps just likes the scenery. Regardless, I figure that if it keeps the opossums from using my yard as a bathroom, then it's welcome to stay.

Tulae Today

I've been keeping my eye on the Passiflora tulae bud, and jeez did it mature quickly. It went from a faintly pink tipped cream colored bud to and opened flower in about a week. Anyway, it's a beauty and a keeper. It reminds me of a daffodil, and I hope there are more flower next year.

Focus on Macrophylla

I was snapping some shots in Pergolatory today. Casually inspecting my collection and noting the buds on P. aff gibertii, P. tulae, P. bogotensis, and P. misera. The first three in that list have yet to bloom, the last has bloomed but my pictures were terrible. So, I'm excited about all. I was checking out Passiflora phyrrantha which has some bumps on its tendrils just like P. cirrhiflora hoping that they'd mature more. Next to it is P. macrophylla having just dropped both of its only leaves, but with a healthy shock of 4 or 5 new baby leaves. I decided to snap a shot of the new growth when I noticed much to my surprise that there was a pair of buds! I'm still shocked, and after P. gritensis, a healthy and large plant dropped its two buds, I'm nervous. I hope these make it to bloom!

Something Like Gibertii

So, some Passiflora aff gibertii seeds came to me a few months ago. The "aff" part means "similar to" which indicates that the plant may be gibertii, but it isn't certainly so. The seeds germinated in good numbers and the strongest plant has been outside in a gallon pot for awhile. I noticed recently that it had a bud on it, but that it dropped soon after. However, there are more! And they look bonkers!

Seeing Reds

Today I plucked two fruits. Passiflora sublanceotata x Passiflora foetida and the opposite cross, P. foetida x P. sublanceolata. Both of which were bright red, but the seeds were shaped differently. I pulled 50% more seeds out of the P. sublanceolata x P. foetida than the other, but I sowed 18 of each. They're fresh and from subgenus Dysosmia I expect good germination rates. Maybe in a couple of weeks there will be some sprouts to get excited about.

I also sent one cutting each from the parents to a student at Ohio University. He's doing some genetic study on the subgenus, from which I'm excited to read the findings.

P. sublanceolata mother on the left. P. foetida mother on the right.

August Update

I sent off a bunch of cuttings to a nursery of P. karwinskii and P. porphyretica var. angustata along with a bunch of rooted cuttings of a good friend's hybrid. It feels good to share when I have plants that I'm able to cut or need to cut. I also started some cuttings of P. cirrhiflora again. The last ones didn't take, and the ones that I sent to another nursery also didn't survive. My parent plant is going strong inside the green house, so as long as it survives the winter in there, I guess it doesn't matter if these cuttings take. Although, I'd feel much better if they did. I have P. pyrrhantha and P. macrophylla in one gallon pots flying in from across the country this week. These are two really hard to find Astrophea that are extraordinary for their red flower and giant leaves respectively. I hope they arrive in tact. I also recently acquired P. 'Ex Menton', and it's doing fine outside right now. The leaves look a little off, but I'll reserve judgement until it blooms. And last, my new hybrid has buds on it. I'll have to keep an eye out for Tacsonia flowers that I don't recognize. I already have a name picked out if it's a winner. Even though my collection is mostly young plants there have been some neat acquisitions this season. If all survives the mild winters here in Redondo Beach, it should be a very fun 2015 summer!

Container 1:

• P. holosericea 
• P. 'Manta' (xiikzodz × coriacea) 

Container 2:

• P. × belotii (alata x caerulea) 

Container 3:

• P. membranacea (Strybing variegated)

Container 4:

• P. pyrrhantha

Container 5:

• P. trisecta 

Container 6:

• P. cirrhiflora 

Container 7:

• P. membranacea 

Container 8:

• P. serrato-digitata

Container 9:

• P. macrocarpa

Container 10:

• P. luzmarina x (? x ?)
• P. actinia x (? x ?)

Container 11

• P. glandulosa 

Container 12

• P. gritensis

Container 13

• P. 'Erl' (P. 'Blue-Eyed Susan' x P. 'Blue Bouquet')

Container 14

• P. discophora
• P. bogotensis

Container 15

• P. guatemalensis
• P. misera

Container 16

• P. karwinskii
• P. porphyretica var. angustata

Container 17

• P. tucumanensis 'alba'

Container 18

• P. loefgrenii

Container 19

• P. nephrodes
• P. caerulea

Container 20

• P. macrophylla

Container 21

• P. New Hybrid 2

Container 22

• P. pittieri

Container 23

• P. lindeniana

Container 24

• P. ornithoura
• P. morifolia

Container 25

• P. x decaisneana
• P. nigradenia

Container 26

• P. stipulata
• P. sublanceolata

Container 27

• P. tulae
• P. malacophyla

Container 28

• P. umbilicata

Container 29

• P. 'Ex Menton'

Container 30

• P. racemosa 'buzios'

Container 31

• P. subrotunda
• P. exsudans

In the Ground:

• P. edulis 'Flavicarpa'
• P. 'Blue Horizon' x P. gritensis
• (P. 'Pruney' x gritensis) x gritensis
• P. foetida 'urbaniana' 
• P. caerulea

Plants in 4" - 1 gal Pots:

• P. New Hybrid 2
• P. aff gibertii
• P. nephrodes
• P. 'Blue-Eyed Susan' (incarnata × edulis) × (incarnata × cincinnata)
• P. 'Raspberries and Cream'
• P. umbilicata
• P. exsudans
• P. racemosa 'buzios'
• P. caerulea
• P. gritensis
• P. karwinskii
• P. porphyretica var. angustata

Snow in Summer with Passiflora tucumanensis

One of the plants that I purchased this Spring at South Coast Botanical Garden was Passiflora tucumanensis. It was a vigorous grower, and recently before a week long vacation, I noticed that it had some immature buds. I returned home from that vacation to find something a little unusual. I expected a lovely little corona of banded filaments. What I got was a nearly pure white flower with a tiny hint of mauve on the inner series of filaments. Although it wasn't what I was expecting, it's a very nice flower and I don't have any all white plants since my P. 'Quasar' dried up. It's a keeper, and since P. umbilicata is blooming, I'll try to make P. umbilicata x P. tucamenensis alba.

Babies with P. umbilicata!

P. umbilicata has has plenty of buds on it since it finally reached the top of the pergola. But, those buds haven't exactly been cooperative with opening. They seem to get stuck and need a little coaxing to open fully. They're a very rich purple color, and mine seem to be mottled. I'm not sure if this is indicative, or if the partial opening and the mottling are connected and the plant is sick. It took me awhile to capture the proper color of P. umbilicata's petals and sepals, but it's definitely something different. I'm told that, although classified a Tacsonia, it is able to cross the subspecies lines. In fact, I know it can because I have a hybrid from a good friend that has P. umbilicata x P. tucumanensis in its lineage. My hope is that when my Astrophea bloom, I can cross P. umbilicata with those. That would be quite something.

One in the Palmeri...Sublanceolata

I woke up this morning for work, gazed out from the second story to see if any of my plants were in bloom. Particularly, I had noticed that there were shades of pink within the Passiflora palmeri bud the evening prior. From my vantage I could tell that the sepals were separating, but the flower wasn't in bloom yet. Throughout my morning I checked on its status, and little by little it peeled away it's layers until by the time I was ready to hop in the car, it was fully opened.

I took some pictures, enjoyed its rich pink petals and neat crown of purple speckled filaments, and then dabbed on some P. foetida pollen. We will wait and see if it's that easy.

Update: And now I've come to find that this species is no longer classified as P. palmeri. It's now P. sublanceolata, which doesn't make a good pun in the slightest.

Update 2: I have a nice lime sized fruit maturing! Unless it's "selfed", it should be P. palmeri var sublanceolata x P. foetida 'urbaniana'

Easy as Pie

My best friend and farmers' market fanatic decided to surprise me with a 1/2 pound of P. edulis fruit recently. What did she do with them? Turn them into pie (aka liquid cake)! I'm not sure what we did besides strain the pulp to extract the juice for the filling. I remember the buying the crust too, but I'm a miserable cook and just played sous chef where I could while she was making it. We had to add some passion fruit juice from a carton to yield enough liquid, but the result was a mostly fresh passion fruit pie that I devoured over the course of a few days with some mangos.

Another Day on the Penninsula

I went back to South Coast Botanical Garden again to see if any of the Decaloba in the greenhouse were in bloom. Answer: none. There were only a couple of P. 'Lavendar Lady' and the rest was all green and buds. Maybe in a month there will be flowers to see. It was a quick visit inside, and a slightly longer one outside the gates where the P. 'Blue-Eyed Susan' was in bloom by the bushels. The light was harsh, but I snapped a few shots before heading home.

Little Lady in the Leaves

A female Rufus hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus) decided to come to rest among the Passiflora Manta leaves today. She was huffing pretty hard when she came to land, but eventually calmed down, puffed out her feathers, flicked her tongue, and stretched her wings. Meanwhile I was sneaking up on her with my camera. I learned last summer that if I move very slowly, pause between steps, and use the camera body to cover my face, these little ones will let me get very close. Next time I hope there are some more flowers, and that there will be a shiny faced male glittering about.

Set Up for Summer

I can't believe I have 44 unique plants in 27 pots and in the ground. What's more is that I was able to compile the list from memory...apparently I spend a bunch of time outside poking my plants on the weekends and after work during the week. Most of my plants are in their first season, so there probably won't be a huge flower flourish this summer, but next season might be amazing. I have a many more Decaloba this year and a couple of Astrophea that will be really interesting in time. I hope my patience holds out, and that I can get all these plants established before the winter months come.

Container 1:

• P. holosericea 
• P. 'Manta' (xiikzodz × coriacea) 

Container 2: 

• P. × belotii (alata x caerulea) 

Container 3: 

• P. membranacea (Strybing variegated)

Container 4: 

• P. 'Sunburst' (gilbertiana × jorullensis) 

Container 5: 

• P. trisecta 

Container 6: 

• P. cirrhiflora 

Container 7: 

• P. membranacea 

Container 8: 

• P. serrato-digitata

Container 9: 

• P. macrocarpa

Container 10: 

• P. luzmarina x (? x ?)
• P. actinia x (? x ?)

Container 11

• P. glandulosa 

Container 12

• P. gritensis

Container 13

• P. 'Erl' (P. 'Blue-Eyed Susan' x P. 'Blue Bouquet')

Container 14

• P. discophora
• P. bogotensis

Container 15

• P. guatemalensis
• P. misera

Container 16

• P. karwinskii
• P. porphyretica var. angustata

Container 17

• P. tucumanensis

Container 18

• P. loefgrenii

Container 19

• P. nephrodes
• P. caerulea

Container 20

• P. pendulifora

Container 21

• P. New Hybrid 2

Container 22

• P. pittieri

Container 23

• P. lindeniana

Container 24

• P. tarminiana 'Bailadores'

Container 25

• P. x decaisneana
• P. nigradenia

Container 26

• P. stipulata
• P. sublanceolata (fmr. palmeri)

Container 27

• P. tulae
• P. malacophyla

Container 28

• P. umbilicata

In the Ground:

• P. edulis 'Flavicarpa'
• P. 'Blue Horizon' x P. gritensis
• (P. 'Pruney' x gritensis) x gritensis
• P. foetida 'urbaniana' 

Plants in 4" - 1 gal Pots: 

• P. New Hybrid 2
• P. aff gibertii
• P. lindeniana  
• P. nephrodes
• P. 'Blue-Eyed Susan' (incarnata × edulis) × (incarnata × cincinnata)
• P. 'Raspberries and Cream'
• P. umbilicata
• P. subrotunda

Smells of Cinnamon

P. porphyretica var. angustata fresh from the plant sale at South Coast Botanical Garden bloomed today. I can hardly take credit from raising it to bloom, but I can sure revel in sharing the image. It's only too bad that virtual smell technology has yet to be invented, because this little gem smells like cinnamon. I hope next season several flowers open at once so that I can have the smell wafting through my screen door.

Memorial Day Sale

My best friend and I went to the local botanical garden about 15 minutes south of where I live. I had been at Strybing earlier this month, and I already had the itch to go see more Passiflora. Having been to South Coast Botanical Garden once before, I knew there was a green house loaded with Decalobas and one rogue P. caerulea trying to choke out the intentional vegetation. But last time I was there, very little was in bloom. I wanted to see if this time of year would be different.

Just inside the front gate after checking in I noticed there were some plants for sale. Each had little placards with a picture and the name of the genus and species. The first one that I saw was P. trisecta. I remember saying something to the effect of, "oh hey, trisecta, I have that one." Then, as my eyes fell on more of the selection I realized that two folding tables were full of Passiflora! I don't think I said anything, but if I did it was probably something like, "look!"

Needless to say, I spent a good while checking every tag while I decided which lucky little plants would be coming home with me. My friend counted 19 species, and I purchased 6 of those, including:

• P. penduliflora
• P. karwinskii
• P. guatemalensis
• P. tucumanensis
• P. porphyretica var. angustata
• P. misera

Having checked out with my new additions, I purchased a membership, and regrouped to begin what we had come to the garden to do. But first! there were several gulf fritillary butterflies hovering around a bush near the main gate. If I ever get to hunt for species in the wild, I know to follow these buggers. They're notorious Passiflora pests. They seem to lay their eggs almost exclusively on the Passiflora greenery. In fact there was a little caterpillar on one of the plants that I purchased (that my best friend kindly returned to the garden). The butterflies were flirting with a vine that was coming up from an apparently extensive root system. I couldn't make out the species or cultivar from the wilted flowers, but one of the shoots found its way into my camera bag, so hopefully I'll find out eventually.

We eventually did make it into the garden a little later than we had planned. The greenhouse was the necessary stop, and we found it groomed since our last visit. But, there were only two Passiflora in bloom there: P. 'Amethyst' and P. capsularis. The rest were laden with buds, which means that I'll have to make good use of my new membership and revisit later this season when I think they're opening based on my own plants.

Made in (for) the Shade

I've had a shade cloth hung on some bamboo poles to keep my P. gritensis and P. bicuspidata from frying in the sun. It served the intended purpose, but it looked a little too ... rugged. So, I purchased some 1/2" diameter schedule 40 PVC pipe, a few connectors, some clamps, and constructed myself what looks like a misshapen hockey goal. But, it's properly tidy and removable after the sun retreats back to the south during the fall and winter months.

Farmer's Market Monster

My best friend went to the farmer's market last year (as she is prone to do), and picked up a few passion fruits. She knows that if she bumps into anything that is Passiflora related; buy it. We enjoyed the fruit and saved a number of the seeds. I decided to plant some, pick the strongest seedling, and let it climb up the block wall and fence behind my house.

That was last year. This year the P. edulis has grown over the fence and is growing monster leaves. There are no signs of buds for flowers and subsequently fruit, but I'm going to have to check both sides of the fence come late summer to make sure I can collect what deliciousness that may sprout. Three months of summer coming right up!

San Francisco Treats, Part 3

My first day in San Francisco was exhausting, but a total success. I had been teased about the pitiful number of plants that I had purchased; two, but the trip was more about meeting the people with whom I had been conversing with online. In that regard, day one was a complete success.

Day two started late. I slept in to rest my feet and legs and generally just recover from yesterday's whirlwind. After a slow start, I took a ride from downtown to Berkeley to visit a close friend's collection (and family). His space was a little larger than mine and his collection a lot more mature and numerous (albeit desiccated from a recent heat wave.) Open flowers weren't readily available, but the breadth of his collection was evident and impressive. At his home, I picked up a score of seeds before taking a quick road tour of the local plants.

A few fences were adorned with Tacsonias, but the most impressive stop was a home with a mature P. parritae covering the side yard. There weren't any buds to be seen, but imagining it full of blossoms was easy to do. But, after missing the P. parritae in Strybing as well, I knew I had to come back to see this species in bloom in person soon. Of course, there are also all of my new friends and their collections to visit too. I'll have to wait until next year.

San Francisco Treats, Part 2

After making my rounds inside the botanical garden, I headed out to where I found a small group of people lined up for the members only plant sale. I had a guest pass gifted to me by one of my new Passiflora friends. I was prepared to wait outside the gates with my sticker on my shirt until a pair of other Passiflora friends emerged from the adjacent building. They ushered me inside, handed me a plate of treats, and a plastic cup of red wine. I met the whole bunch of Passiflora fanatics and spent the whole hour prior to the sale talking about plants; in person!!

Once the doors to the sale started there was a mad dash. The cactus and succulent people headed to their table. The protea people headed to theirs. And, of course, I headed with my small group to the Passiflora table. The plants there were larger than I anticipate, but within the first minute I was able to snag a small P. antioquiensis. It looked like that was all that I would fly home to LAX from SFO with in my suitcase, but after speaking to one of the curators, I found myself holding another plant. One rare P. bicuspidata was more or less gifted to me. I'm not sure why I deserved it, but I was all too happy to accept the gift nonetheless.

After the sale, we stumbled through the wind back to our cars. One of my friends offered to store my plants in his while we went to dinner, and on our way I spotted something pink hanging in the roadside trees along the park. It was some Tacsonia that looked like P. tarminiana. I snapped off a length about 4 feet long and stored it my my purchased Passiflora in the car. Dinner was as loud as it was flavorful as we liberally discussed plants in a small reverberate room for a couple of hours.

After flying to San Francisco in the morning, walking Strybing Botanical Garden for hours, chatting and shopping, and a satisfying dinner, I was ready to end day one in Norcal.

San Francisco Treats, Part 1

This last weekend I spent in San Francisco. The trip was planned so that I could tour the San Francisco botanical garden in Golden Gate Park, purchase plants at the 47th annual garden sale, and meet some of the fantastic people that I've met through the Passiflora Online Facebook group. I flew up on the morning of Friday, May 2, took BART downtown, hopped in a Lyft driver's car, and paid my admission to the botanical garden.

I walked the grounds for 4 hours straight. I paid special attention to the fences where most of the Passiflora were located. I only had my point and shoot camera, so my pictures aren't the best, but it was fun to document all of my finds. Of particular interest was P. membranacea. There were two of those, once by the main gate, and one in the back of the garden climbing several stories up into the trees and showing blooms from a distance. P. matthewsii 'alba', P. x exoniensis, and P. tarminana were among the Tacsonia in bloom (including one outside the garden from which I snipped a cutting). P. x violacea, P. loefgrenii x P. caerulea, and one other yet undetermined Passiflora were also in blooming in curious locations on the grounds. Each time I "discovered" a Passiflora vine, I had spotted the leaves first. In fact, the only way I found the P. membranacea in the rear of the garden was from the fallen leaves underfoot.

There were plenty of other plants in bloom even though early May was clearly not "prime time" for flowers. However, the Rhododendrons, Peonies, Brugmansia, and Protea were all showing off. My legs and feet were plenty tired after four hours of wandering around, but there was more excitement to come...

Tribute to Beauty

I returned from a business trip today to find my second Epiphyllum in bloom. This one, called 'Tribute to Beauty' is larger and darker pink than the previous blooming cutting. Both this one and the last are little more than single stem cuttings with giant flowers on them. If these plants thrive in their new locations and continue to grow. I can't wait to see what the next round of flowers will look like.

First Epiphyllum Flower!

I have been monitoring the Epiphyllum cuttings outside my kitchen window lately. Remarkably, two of the rooted cuttings had sprouted buds, while the others were all setting new branches. I'm somewhat stunned that a single cutting without any new growth will bloom, but when I woke this morning, raised the curtain, and looked out, there it was!

Impromptu Up Pot 2

I evacuated the greenhouse today. It was scorching hot for March weather, so I decided it was a good day to up-pot all the plants. Originally, I had planned to make do with my ceramic pots, but I found some moderately attractive, light-weight, and inexpensive plastic pots that were perfectly sized for my needs. I bought 10 of those and was able to spread out my collection a bit. I ran out of soil before my ad hoc plan was finished, so I'll come back and update this post after I purchase more. I was also able to move my epiphyllum out of the greenhouse and into their planters which cap the cinder block wall behind my house. They look good so far. Hopefully the environment is good for them there.

Container 1:

• P. holosericea 
• P. 'Manta' (xiikzodz × coriacea) 
• P. foetida 'urbaniana' 

Container 2: 

• P. × belotii (alata x caerulea) 

Container 3: 

• P. x 'exoniensis' (antioquiensis × tripartita var. mollissima) 

Container 4: 

• P. 'Sunburst' (gilbertiana × jorullensis) 

Container 5: 

• P. trisecta 

Container 6: 

• P. cirrhiflora 

Container 7: 

• P. membranacea 

Container 8: 

• P. serrato-digitata
• P. glandulosa 

Container 9: 

• P. macrocarpa
• P. 'Mission Dolores' x P. anioquiensis

Container 10: 

• P. 'Erl' (P. 'Blue-Eyed Susan' x P. 'Blue Bouquet')
• P. luzmarina x (? x ?)
• P. actinia x (? x ?)

Container 11: 

• P. lindeniana

Container 12: 

• P. gritensis

Container 13: 

• P. New Hybrid 2

Container 14: 

• P. tarminiana 'alba'

Container 15: 

• P. x decaisneana  (alata × quadrangularis)
• P. nigradenia

Container 16: 

• P. caerulea
• P. nephrodes

Container 17: 

• P. umbilicata

Container 18: 

• P. tulae

Container 19: 

• P. racemosa 'buzios' 

Container 20: 

• P. bogotoensis 
• P. discophora 

Container 21: 

• P. stipulata 
• P. palmerii

Container 22: 

• P. loefgrenii

Container 23: 

• P. pittieri

In the Ground:

• P. edulis 'flavicarpa'
• P. racemosa 'buzios'
• P. umbilicata
• P. 'Cherry Tart' (cupraea x (yucatanensis and biflora))
• P. subrotunda

Seedlings and back-up plants: 

• P. New Hybrid 2
• P. gritensis 
• P. tarminiana 'alba' 
• P. lindeniana  
• P. morifolia
• P. membranacea "Strybing Variegated"
• P. sidifolia x (miersii x kermensia) 
• P. pinnastipula
• P. nephrodes
• P. 'Sapphire' (edulis × caerulea)
• P. 'Raspberries and Cream'
• P. umbilicata
• P. tulae
• P. caerulea

The March of Progress

It is a rainy day here in Redondo Beach and the LA basin as a whole. The region desperately needed the water, though it will cause some flooding and mud slides in the burn areas from recent fires. Nevertheless, it's a quick change from the sunny and warm weather than has caused my greenhouse to bulge with overgrowth. I've even taken to cutting some of the 4" pots back, which I almost never do for fear of hurting the juvenile plants. But today, as I noted, it is gray and cloudy. A day that I can't poke the flowers and do the rounds. So, instead I'm taking inventory and plotting my scheme for Spring.

In doing so, I recently pulled up a pot that just couldn't sustain its four original inhabitants. A more foolish and younger version of myself didn't realize how stunted the adult plants would become in this pot. So, with cuttings taken, rooted, and thriving in the greenhouse, I start from scratch on that pot and three others. One from the recently deceased P. parritae (which keeled over quite literally and suddenly), one from P. Raspberries and Cream which despite some flowers and fruit also met a composted fate, and one from P. Donna Brigham, which just didn't thrive where I had positioned it and wasn't a favorite to begin with. So, I have four empty pots...Oh, I have 5 if I count the small one.

There are a few jewels in my collection. I have a P. cirrhiflora doing quite well in the greenhouse. I have a P. membranacea doing just fine outdoors in a little pot. And, I have a couple of P. gritensis and P. lindeniana seedlings that are slowly maturing. With loefgrenii on the way (again) and a few other nice plants on the horizon, I need to strategize. First, what do I have occupied...

Oh wait, I recently put a few plants in the ground in the front yard. P. racemosa 'buzios', P. umbilicata, P. tulae, and P. caerulea are all enjoying the rain today. OK, back to the pots...

Container 1:

• P. holosericea 
• P. 'Manta' (xiikzodz × coriacea) 
• P. foetida 'urbaniana' 

Container 2: 

• P. racemosa 'buzios' 
• P. × belotii (alata x caerulea) 

Container 3: 

• P. x 'exoniensis' (antioquiensis × tripartita var. mollissima) 

Container 4: 

• P. 'Sunburst' (gilbertiana × jorullensis) 

Container 5: 

• P. trisecta 

Container 6: 

• P. cirrhiflora 

Container 7: 

• P. membranacea 

Container 8: 

• P. serrato-digitata
• P. glandulosa 

Container 9: 

• P. macrocarpa
• P. 'Mission Dolores' x P. anioquiensis

Container 10: 

• P. Erl (P. 'Blue-Eyed Susan' x P. 'Blue Bouquet')
• P. luzmarina x (? x ?)
• P. actinia x (? x ?)

In the Ground:

• P. edulis 'flavicarpa'
• P. racemosa 'buzios'
• P. umbilicata
• P. tulae
• P. caerulea
• P. 'Cherry Tart' (cupraea x (yucatanensis and biflora))
• P. subrotunda

Plants in 4" Pots: 

• P. New Hybrid 2
• P. gritensis 
• P. tarminiana 'alba' 
• P. lindeniana  
• P. morifolia
• P. membranacea "Strybing Variegated"
• P. sidifolia x (miersii x kermensia) 
• P. pinnastipula
• P. stipulata (April)
• P. loefgrenii (April)
• P. discophora (April)
• P. nephrodes
• P. x decaisneana (alata × quadrangularis)
• P. 'Blue-Eyed Susan' (incarnata × edulis) × (incarnata × cincinnata)
• P. 'Sapphire' (edulis × caerulea)
• P. 'Raspberries and Cream'
• P. nigradenia
• P. palmeri
• P. bogotoensis
• P. umbilicata
• P. tulae
• P. caerulea

That's a bunch of plants needing space to root. So here's the plan:

1. P. membranacea gets up-potted to the largest pot which formerly house P. parritae.
2. P. lindeniana gets P. membranacea's old pot and some black bamboo stakes.
3. P. gritensis and P. loefgrenii share one pot.
4. P. decaisneana and P. nigradenia share one pot.
5. P. bogotoensis, P. discophra and, P. morifolia share the last pot.
6. P. Blue-Eyed Susan and P. nephrodes will join P. Erl in its pot (extricating the other two).
7. P. tarminiana 'alba' and P. New Hybrid 2 will need a brand new pot