Beautiful Hans-Werner. Are you having a cool or warm summer?

Congrats, she's a beauty!

The main thing - it is the original flower color, good shape. Congratulations to Hans!

Thank you all for your interest!

These 4 bulbs originated from a bulb which I had purchased in spring 2005. The original "mother" bulb is gone, together with countless other bulbs which I lost due to limited space indoors: I would firstly move them outdoors as a resort, to secondly lose them to Mites/Red Blotch, while I thirdly had but little energy to cure them in due time bcz of my depressions, THEN.

The performance of the 4 bulbs which I am about to show, is imho due to a very long cultivation period of more than 12 months in my living room, under artificial light from a High Pressure Metal Halide Lamp and at elevated Substrate Temperature of 23°Celsius and even above, then relocating my whole crop (including the lamp) into the basement where it was somewhat cooler, then when new leaves emerged, I moved "Melusine" outside, in June, and when I noticed the first bud emerging I moved them to the windowsill of my bedroom. I have a hard time, responding to the question "was the early German summer warm or rather cold" - actually, it was generally mild and humid in NorthRhine-Westfalia, with some short cold and hot intervals though. We should keep in mind, that "Melusine" is a cultivar which does not require a "cool" period, in order to elongate the preformed buds within the bulb, in other words to produce bloom. I ACTUALLY obtained "consecutive bloom" from my first bulb, during 2005. I was thrilled by the appearance, although the sheer bloom was rather small in relation to the bulb and to the abundance of large leaves. (Which might be the reason that this cultivar was commercially "discontiued")

The best performance in 2005 - the leaves had already grown ridiculously long, so I simply cut them half:

Hans,

So very beautiful! I have given up on being able to get Melusine so it is especially wonderful to be able to see and enjoy yours! - J

Just lovely, definitely eye candy.....☺☺

Here we go:

Lovely indeed!

(I'm sure Hans you have told this before and I apologize for asking but) is Melusine included in your breeding programme?

insanely wonderful.

It's so beautiful!!

Thank you all! And no, I do not mind a question about my breeding projects. "Melusine"s shape is not extraordinary, it's just its color pattern which is appealing. HAD I another SPECKLED cultivar then I would consider something. Or, let's say, if I had some H.papilio in bloom at the same time, this would provide me with a tempting-, actually IRRESISTIBLE opportunity. On the other hand, I suspect that "Melusine" does not produce pollen which is fertile, since it is triploid - well, I admit, just according to a rumor - anyhow, it is consistently self-sterile.

hmm...

The one and only occasion I obtained seed from "Melusine" was when I pollinated from my "PapDon2" (which is "Donau" x H.papilio). I obtained several seedlings, for 2 examples:

Thank you Hans! Very interesting as always. How high do you regard these seedlings? To my amateur-eye they look beautiful, especially I like the one on the right.

I am endlessly fascinated by everything that touches breeding hippeastrums and enjoy reading about the topic immensely. Thank you Hans and all of you who care to share your experiences and know-how.

Nice. Very nicely grown.

Very appealing and beautiful flower!

New season, new bloom, outdoors:

Hans, even more beautiful than last year! Are the flowers larger this year. Regardless, both shape and color are wonderful. - J

There is no doubt, and I agree with you. Actually I now find that the floral segments of "Melusine" should bitteschoen be a little bit broader. As regards the size, yes the bloom is bigger - which is no surprise after forcing outdoors - but marginally.

Very beautiful indeed! Congratulations! I started my collection to late to find a Melusine. Hopefully RvR will be available next season...

Anja

In the past, I bought several bulbs labeled as Melusine and as expected, they turned out to be something else. So Hans-Werner's beautiful flowers are so nice to see; he's got the real one!! RvR is a great substitute and if they are available again next year I think I will get another as RvR also disappeared for years but... magically reappeared!!!!

Donna

Hi Jody,

This is Radha. I replied to your messages 2-3 times , but I am not sure if you checked them. Finally I found your cell no.and left you a message also. This is in regards to the new ( info about your neopardinum not being noepardinum) and the exchange I gave for it. (nelsonii and yungacense). Please check your message and I left my ph.no. so we can talk about what to do.. Thank you very much..

Best regards,