Re: older forms of Cineraria - Pericallis (Senecio) cruenta

HEM Zaden, a commercial seed producer in The
Netherlands still offers a few strains of old-time
Cineraria.  I won't swear on it but I'll bet they sell
some of it to an American retail seed company.  You
might try these two best bets:

J.L. Hudson, Seedsman, Star Route 2, Box 337, La
Honda, CA 94020, no tel. orders; send catalog requests
to : J.L Hudson, Seedsman, PO Box1058, Redwood City,
CA 94064

DiGiorgi Seed, 6011 North Street, Omaha, NE 68117,
Phone: 402.731.3901, FAX: 403.731.8475

Good luck,
Joe
--- Sean O'Hara <sean@support.net> wrote:
> Hi folks -
> 
> One of my favorite winter/spring flowers is
> Cineraria, with its bright 
> magenta, clue, purple, and lavender daisies.  This
> Canary Island native 
> annual grows over our mild winters and flowers
> easily on heavy clay in 
> partial shade during this part of early spring.
> 
> Unfortunately, annual breeders seem to feel the best
> place for these plants 
> is not in the garden but in the flower shop and have
> breed them smaller and 
> more compact each year until they hardly resemble
> the loose, airy sprays of 
> delicate flowers we used to know.  Instead, these
> are little 'tuffets' of 
> leaves with a compact, low crown of flowers, usually
> strongly banded in 
> white, creating a very jarring (to my eye) effect.
> 
> Recently, I've had various inquiries from others who
> miss the 'old' plants 
> as I do.  I am wondering if anyone know of a seed
> strain still being 
> offered, perhaps by some heirloom seed company, of
> the taller and looser 
> Cineraria, and perhaps in the solid colored forms
> rather than this banded 
> type that has replaced it?  Yes, I still know of a
> few old gardens where 
> the Cineraria are still allowed to self-seed where I
> could possible gather 
> seed myself, but this would not necessarily help
> others in far ranging 
> areas.  And besides, it'd be nice to make sure
> someone is safe-guarding 
> this germ-plasm for the future!
> 
> Thanks in advance,
> Seán O.
> 
> No. Calif. Branch of the Mediterranean Garden
> Society
> Seán A. O'Hara - Branch co-chair
> (510) 987-0577; fax (707) 667-1173; sean@support.net
> 710 Jean Street, Oakland, California 94610-1459,
> U.S.A.
>
http://www.MediterraneanGardenSociety.org/branches_CANo.html
> 


=====
Joe Seals
Santa Maria, California --
where the weather is always perfect
and my garden always has something blooming
and birds galore

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