Sinningia 'Serenade'

Sinningia 'Serenade' was hybridized by Ruth Coulson of Balcolyn, Australia (north of Sydney).  Although she says she is unsatisfied with it, I think the floral color is very attractive.  Also striking is the variability: some flowers (such as two in the picture) are almost peloric, with the purple spread over all five lobes, while other flowers are more conventional (like the rightmost open flower) with the purple on only a single lobe.  Another, not shown in the picture, has purple on three lobes.  An unpredictable serenade!

After my indoor plant bloomed under lights in early spring 2008, I cut it back.  It began a second cycle of bloom in late June 2008, at a time when my outdoor plant was just showing flowerbuds.

Ruth says that it was the result of crossing S. conspicua with a hybrid which included S. cardinalis 'Skydiver' and S. bulbosa.

I crossed this plant with a couple of my own hybrids, both S. 'Texas Zebra' x 'Peninsula Belle'.  So far the results have been nothing special, but there are more which have not yet bloomed.

The main interest in these hybrid plants is that they contain (at least) the following seven species in their ancestry:

• S. bulbosa
• S. cardinalis
• S. conspicua
• S. eumorpha
• S. lineata
• S. reitzii
• S. striata

Flower variations

Sometimes the first flower is peloric.	These are normal flowers.

The Whole Plant

Feature table for Sinningia 'Serenade