Fritillaria 'Lentune Slate'

The true parentage of this plant is uncertain. I grew it from seed and planted the entire potful, as a clump, into an outside trough. After a few years it was the sole survivor in that part of the trough and the only nearby label suggested Fritillaria crassifolia kurdica. Having dug it out and potted it for the showbench I initially exhibited it as Fritillaria crassifolia kurdica hybrid but was not entirely convinced of any F. crassifolia kurdica influence. Apart from glaring morphological differences, this plant is a prolific 'rice maker' whilst (in my experience at least) Fritillaria crassifolia produces very little (if any) rice. I currently favour the notion that F. crassifolia kurdica may indeed be the seed parent and that Fritillaria whittallii may be the pollen parent. Both the flowers and the leaves of 'Lentune Slate' are intermediate between these two putative parents and in addition, F. whittallii is a 'rice maker' and so could have contributed this attribute to its offspring.

Fritillaria 'Lentune Slate' has won lots of red stickers at AGS shows over the last seven or eight years (under a variety of labels until I finally gave it a cultivar name) and more recently a few trophies.

The 'Slate' element in the name is reference to the slate coloured 'bloom' on the flowers.

Fritillaria 'Lentune Freckle'

The result of my deliberate backcrossing of Fritillaria (aurea x pinardii) with Fritillaria aurea. Resulting seed was sown in September 2007 and this clone was singled out in 2014.

Fritillaria 'Lentune Lapchick'

The result of my deliberate crossing of Fritillaria (aurea x pinardii) with Fritillaria crassifolia subsp. kurdica 'Talish Strain'. Resulting seed was sown in September 2012 and this clone was singled out in 2017. The seed parent was the same as that of 'Lentune Freckle' (see above). The pollen parent was a clone of F. crassifolia subsp. kurdica labelled 'Talish' but there seem to be several such named clones and so this is best labelled 'Talish Strain'. All three parent species are native to Turkey and so it's perhaps not too surprising this hybrid combination proved viable (indeed it has itself provided seed in 2018).

Fritillaria 'Lentune Laggard'

The result of pollinating Fritillaria (aurea x pinardii) with Fritillaria 'Lentune Slate'. The resulting seed was sown in September 2013 and this clone was singled out in 2019. The seed parent was the same as that of 'Lentune Freckle' (see above). The pollen parent is also described above.

Fritillaria 'Joker'

The result of pollinating Fritillaria (aurea x pinardii) with Fritillaria grandiflora. Resulting seed was sown in September 2013 and this clone first flowered in 2019.

Fritillaria 'Lentune Bluto'

This is the result of my deliberate (back)crossing of Fritillaria (aurea x pinardii) with F. pinardii. The resulting seed was sown in September 2011 and this clone was singled out in 2017. The seed parent was the same as that of 'Lentune Freckle' (see above). The pollen parent was a clone of F. pinardii sourced from Janis Ruksans whose notes say “My stock is coming from Bozkir in Turkey, where it was collected at 1640 m (RIGA-032)”. The flower shape of F. ‘Lentune Bluto’ is consistent with its 75% F. pinardii inheritance combined with the strong ‘freckled’ coloration of its seed parent.

This clone in turn provided seeds in 2018 and several germinated in 2019.

Corydalis 'Lentune Lipstick'

A foundling that my wife spotted on the spoil heap of old gritty compost from unsuccessful sowings and reject stock. I believe this is a hybrid between C. malkensis and C. solida, both of which are well represented in my potted collection and in the garden close to where 'Lipstick' was found. The bracts indicate that C. malkensis is very likely to be involved and the lip colour implicates C. solida. So Corydalis 'Lentune Lipstick' almost certainly represents C. malkensis x solida or perhaps the reverse cross C. solida x malkensis. Since the plant was a foundling not only are we uncertain of the parents but also we cannot know which was the seed parent and which the pollen parent. The monograph 'Corydalis' by Magnus Liden and Henrik Zetterlund tells us that "Being a tetraploid, C. malkensis will contribute two thirds of the genetic material in hybrids with diploid species and so hybrids will be very similar to the tetraploid parent".

The 'Lipstick' idea was an obvious one!

Corydalis 'Lentune Rouge'

This is a seedling from Corydalis kusnetzovii, harvested and sown in April 2009. At the time, neighbouring plants included Corydalis solida 'Craigton Red' and my own good red selection from the well known 'Penza Strain' of Corydalis solida. The pollen parent of Corydalis 'Lentune Rouge' is doubtless one of these two red forms of Corydalis solida.

Whilst C. kusnetzovii often sets seed and C. solida sets abundant seed, I've only ever found seed on Corydalis 'Lentune Rouge' on one occasion and this was a single seed - watch this space!

Bracts are important in corydalis taxonomy. C. kusnetzovii has entire bracts whilst the bracts on C. solida are incised. Corydalis 'Lentune Rouge' has entire bracts in common with its seed parent.

Corydalis 'Lentune Rouge' has won a number of red stickers at AGS shows during recent years under the label Corydalis kusnetzovii x solida. It was awarded a 'Preliminary Commendation' by the RHS Joint Rock Garden Plant Committee at the Loughborough AGS show and also the AGS Seed Distribution Award for the 'best plant in the seed raised classes' at the Joint AGS and SRGC Kendal show - both in March 2018.

Why 'Rouge'? It simply follows the trend set by 'Lipstick'.

Corydalis solida incisa 'Lentune Snow'

This is my best white seedling to date from Corydalis solida incisa 'Vermion Snow'. Sown in 2009 it has proved to be a good plant for the showbench and the tubers increase consistently year on year.

The seed parent 'Vermion Snow' originated from seed collected on Mt Vermion in North Central Greece. Seedlings have not all been white and those that were have not had the purity of colour displayed by 'Vermion Snow'.

Primula 'Lentune Laplace'; P. 'Lentune Lagrange' & P. 'Lentune Lovelace'

These are all seedlings from Primula 'Arduaine'. In all three cases, I used pollen from one of my plants of P. bhutanica (deriving from different sources)

'Laplace' and 'Lagrange' are sister seedlings from the same 2011 sowing and with the same (attempted) pollen parent. 'Lovelace' is the only surviving seedling from another 2011 sowing but deriving from a different pollen parent.

In spite of several references in the literature stating that 'Arduaine' does not set seed, I have propagated from seed on several occasions; although, to date, none of the seedlings has proved as easy to manage as the parent.

For more information about growing these petiolarid primulas see my article in the Alpine Garden Society journal (June 2014 Volume 82 No2 Page 154) and available here.

The Primula names

'Lagrange', 'Laplace' and 'Lovelace' were mathematicians during the latter part of the eighteenth and first half of the nineteenth centuries. The choice of such names reflects my own early fascination with numbers and hence my academic background.

Joseph-Louis Lagrange developed a number of important theories in various branches of mathematics and number theory

Pierre-Simon Laplace was an astronomer and mathematician

Ada Lovelace was an associate of Babbage during the very early period in the development of computers and computer programming