Thats a great cross Lisa, the DM leaves,and the Windii/DM inflorescence. Be proud,its a winner !
Did you plan this,or did both plants just happen to bloom for you to try this cross? [can you tell I like it?]
Bob

And a recent addition to my collection. Thank you Lisa via Michael's. A beaut!

Glad you like it, Bob! I checked the tag and it's 'Windii' x DM, rather than the other way around. Yeah, "the other right"...... ;-)

If you got yours from Michael's then it's not the same one, Gonzer. I'm not the only one who's done this cross, and there can be a fair amount of variation in the offspring, although the general theme remains the same. The one above is my #2 clone, and here is my #1:

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As I said, it's more prolific but not as showy. I like both, but foliage-wise they're not as striking as some of the other DM crosses I've done, and I've done a LOT of them. It's such a cool parent it's really hard to resist crossing it with everything that's blooming at the same time (no, I didn't plan any of these, Bob, I just took advantage of the opportunity). The trouble is they all start looking kind of similar, which makes it more difficult to come up with names for all of them.

I'm trying to get my brain to spit out some names though, because I've been talking to Michael about sending him some more stuff, and I promised him I'd do my best to name them first so that there won't be any confusion about which clone is which.

*sigh* I've got about a month to think about it........

Lisa, I got a clone of Don Beadle's Bill. Windii x DM several years ago from Tropiflora. It was subsequently registered as 'Deja Vu'. It's more or less intermediate between your two selections, perhaps more similar to clone #1. Although, ...curiously... it seems to lack any of the barring which tends to dominate a lot of the DM crosses. The photo below is a picture that I took when it bloomed for me in August '03.
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Your selected clone #2 is a real stunner! It is certainly distinctive with its densely packed bracts and flowers!

I've had DM in my collection for several years. I've gotten lots of pups over the years, but never any flowers. I started fertilizing a little more aggressively starting last year with the hope of promoting blooming, but no success so far. Any clues as to what conditons trigger flowering? (Well, I suppose I could try the ethylene gas treatment, but I'd rather not.) When does DM flower for anyone else?

If you've gotten lots of pups from your DM you're doing pretty good, Gonz! That thing is notoriously slow to pup for me, and I've heard the same thing from Beadle and Michael too.

As far as it blooming, I've never had any problem with that one, so I don't know why yours isn't doing it. I've gotten bloom at several times of the year, but always the heaviest overall Bill flush during the winter months, particularly January. It may have something to do with shorter day length. I have a number of other varieties that have never bloomed for me though, like 'Muriel Waterman', 'Fascinator', 'Gerda', and various others. Don't know why. Florel does work on them, but it seems like a bit much to do for such a flash-in-the-pan bloom.

I neglected to mention that even though I didn't trigger blooming to cross most of these, I have often used refrigerated pollen, so that increases your odds of being able to cross the ones you want. With the Neos I have often used Florel to synchronize blooming, though.