5” bloom, 32” tall
3-5 way branching / 15 buds
Tetralploid
Bloom season: mid
Reblooms reliably
Cristate 90 %
Foliage: semi-evergreen
(CAPTIVE TUNE x
DRIPPING WITH GOLD)
X CHARIOT OF CLOUDS
17T015
Petit Four a la Prairie’s Edge – Hunter 2024
The motive behind making the above cross was an attempt to fancy up a boring, sometimes ugly face on an incredibly robust plant with good branching. In hybridizing, sometimes you get what you’re hoping for, sometimes you get garbage, and sometimes you get a total surprise. I did indeed fancy up the boring face, but was shocked when this first bloomed, because I do not hybridize for the cristate form. I was even more shocked when it continued to show this form every year. I got the vigor and good branching that I was hoping for, but the cristate form and rebloom caused me to perform an embarrassing happy dance in the garden.
When it has a good hair day, the blooms resemble the dainty French cakes known as petits fours. When it has a bad hair day, it looks like someone had a sneezing fit while squeezing the icing tube.
The tepals of PETIT FOUR are burnt coral. The cristate tissue along the petal midribs is also burnt coral and is edged with cream. Cream edges the lightly ruffled petals. Sometimes it takes more than 1 day for the bloom to open all the way. Blooms are usually cristate, but inconsistent in the degree of cristation. The photos below illustrate this.
The consistency of the plant habit of this introduction is all I hoped for. It has rebloomed every year, even in drought, and always has nice branching. Because of the inconsistent form of the bloom, however, I am introducing PETIT FOUR as a hybridizer’s plant, rather than one to have by your front porch. It is fertile both ways, pod being more difficult.
$95 / double fan
VERY LIMITED
