RE: AB bloom in the Great White North

From: John Montgomery <monashee@junction.net>

While some of you are admiring your daffodils,  I am looking at several
arilbreds in bloom.  The story follows:

By the time we usually get plants from the ASI sale, it is late in the fall for
us.  As a result it has often been a crap shoot as to their survival come
spring.  A couple of years ago I began to put these late arrivals in pots and
left out until they have had several good frosts.  I then bring them in to a
root cellar to let them dry off in the pots.  At some point in January new
growth becomes obvious and they are then brought into a cool solarium.  During
the ensuing 4-6 weeks many of them will bloom.  About the end of March I plant
them to the garden where they then have a long season to revitalize themselves.

Over the past two years I have had no losses and have had the bonus of early
bloom in the house.

Right now we have JEHOSOPHAT"S RELIANCE,  KIOSK,  DESERT DOVE and ESTHER THE
QUEEN in bloom with JEWELLED VEIL & ONLOOKER in bud.

Question: DESERT DOVE appears to be correct in all ways except that it is an
awfully big stretch to describe the beard as orange.  Is it really orange?

Another question:  Are there two plants being sold as ESTHER THE QUEEN?  For
many years I grew what I assumed was E the Q when I matched characteristics to
the check list description.  In particular, the falls were a light pastel
greenish color.  A couple of years ago due to some bad management, I had to
replace it with a rhizome from the ASI.  What I got was quite different.  The
falls were muddy with blotchy brown streaks.  Following year I got a similar
plant from a commercial source.  What surprised me was that a friend who has
been growing ABs since the 50's told me that was the correct E the Q.  I was
not convinced because it didn't match the description as I interpreted it.  I
suspected that it may have been E the Q with a case of color breaking virus. 
The one which is in bloom currently looks like my old E the Q.

Cheers
John Montgomery
Vernon  BC  Canada Zone 5


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