Trouble in Threes

This looks like a banner year. A banner year for new offerings certainly, but unfortunately for mislabeled bulbs as well. Witness the latest triad of major mistaken identities.

Above is what was purchased as the elusive ‘Grand Cru.’ Truth be told, I knew there was a 99% chance it wouldn’t be the solid cherry red that is still not to be found in the hallowed space known in these parts as The Photo Library.

Since first purchasing ‘Grand Cru’ in 2008, it has always been substituted. I’ve seen in its stead the likes of ‘Ferrari’, Grand Diva’, and ‘Grand Prix’. At least they are all solid red types, and hey, two have the word ‘Grand’ in their names. Maybe that’s part of the grand deception seen in amaryllis marketing, a wholesaler’s inside joke. I knew that as soon as the buds began to pop out that they weren’t solid red, but they took me back a few years when I thought I had witnessed the most gorgeous of all amaryllis buds. Those buds of white with dramatic blushing,  lines and dots of red could only be Marko Penning’s fantastical ‘Showmaster’. Still breathtaking today, it is like greeting a favored old friend, though I was actually hoping to meet someone new.

Continuing the trend, here is another familiar face, a bright and cheery one at that. In this case, my Emaryllis spendthrift ways got the better of me. I had already ordered two ‘Daphne’ bulbs by mail order. They hadn’t yet arrived when I noticed a display box at a local nursery emblazoned with the deep raspberry and white image of ‘Daphne’. Not only are they here and now (a bird in the hand, beats two in the mail) but a few are showing scapes. I succumb. And now a few short weeks later, the intensely bright paprika shades of ‘Monaco’ cheerfully mock my every movement in the Casa de Emaryllis. Here’s hoping the other two (now potted and pushing scapes) were not a bad gamble.

And just to round things out, the rounded, un lily-like flowers of what was supposed to have been ‘Green Goddess’, a classic heirloom clone once better known as ‘Bianca’ in Europe. Last season, after several years of mislabeled examples, it seemed that ‘Green Goddess’ was ready to retake her rightful throne. That girl just got interrupted. All examples from one company sampled came consistently as this beautiful, but chunky character. Good performance was seen and it is a beauty (no certain name as yet, however), but a standard type large-flowered white amaryllis is hardly worth bowing and scraping for. Perhaps some other companies in the US got the real Goddess, I hope you did!