Hybrid

This natural hybrid of one of the classic South African bulb genera is endemic to Cape Province, and you'd be hard pressed to find it much further than that native range even in cultivation, luckily we have excellent connections like Michael Wickenden who generously shared it with us. Bladelike foliage, while nice, is unlikely to wow. The flowers however can grow in great spikes of up to 6 1/2 ft tall! Individual florets can come in red or pink and look rather similar to a more trumpeted Hesperantha, corollas flaring out to a star shaped opening. Prefers a Mediterranean climate and very well draining soil, can be pot-grown in a similarly draining mixture for those not living the riviera lifestyle.

We have not named many plants despite many opportunities to do so but this is one we are fairly puffed up about. We love Roscoea for their durability in the garden and their exotic, almost orchid-like flowers. We were pleased to offer the famed red-flowered Roscoea purpurea f. rubra known as 'Red Gurkha' for the first time in the US whose flowers are indeed luscious and our only quibble is that the plant is a bit short. We wanted to get the vibrant red tones of Red Gurkha carried on into a sizable flower on a taller plant with ideally some color to the foliage. We cranked up the in-house hybridizing using a number of parents and one cross in particular showed excellent promise.

The next year saw us focus on replicating that cross with good success and the resultant seedlings were lined out in our trial bed two years later. We were able to judge that bed with a dispassionate and calculating eye when every plant came into flower and the resultant evaluation received a positive check mark on the new category we had to create of Hell, Yeah!!! Vigorous plants with foliage variously shaded in coppery hues and flowers that defy easy description. The flowers in mid to late summer bewitch with prism jewel tones of ruby and amethyst which shimmer with an entrancing depth of color. This is a seedling group and not clonal so there is some small variation but pretty darned consistent. We hope to sell enough to defray chiropractic shoulder treatment from repetitive injuries stemming from patting ourselves on the back.