Poli wants a Freda

A couple of years ago, we made bi-generic crosses of the North American Manfreda maculosa and the naturally occurring hybrid Mexican tuberose, Polianthes x bundrantii ‘Mexican Firecracker’. These fascinating plants were still in full flower prior to our first hard freeze in the last few days. These are images of our top three clones, which we refer to as x Polifreda. Because we used the non-fragrant tuberose species, there is no noticeable aroma, but we opted for a much more diverse flower color range instead.

Hopefully, next year, we can use these to cross with agaves to create a new series of xHanseras. Pollen has been gathered and stored in the refrigerator in case bloom times don’t coincide next year.

x Polifreda - salmon in the trial garden
x Polifreda – salmon
x Polifreda - peachy/yellow in the trial garden
x Polifreda – peachy/yellow
Close up of x Polifreda - yellow/orange bicolor
x Polifreda – yellow/orange bicolor

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