Star Dancer in bloom

I went out this evening to take photos of my 2 foot Star Dancer which has 4 open blooms ... first time it has bloomed for me. It has a nice fragrance – not very strong – might be stronger in summer. The flowers are not large when compared to others, but it more than makes up for that by a rarity — its skirt is split into 5 petals.

I am getting a cutting from a Star Dancer x ? seedling with yellow flowers from another DGer. I want to cross it back to Star Dancer.

I bought my Star Dancer from ViolaBird, who owns the orginal mother plant.

Here's a close-up of the split skirt:

A photo of the backside of the bloom.

Looking up into the bloom. The anthers are fused.

Two of the other 3 blooms don't show the wide split. Here's one of them.

This one shows very slight splits along the edge of the skirt.

This last photo shows the bloom with the split skirt to one of the other blooms for comparison. The petals have almost no tendrils at all.

ViolaBird has said she saw this growing in someone's yard so parents are unknown but she seems to have a lot of suaveolens characteristics in her as well as the long neck of versicolor.

Oh my she sure is pretty this has been on my wish list for a while..

I grew out seeds from Star dancer X ? A few are white and I have
one that bloomed yellow, it has a nice fragrance, Im looking forward
to seeing what the blooms look like next year.
Thank you for posting pictures, they are sure pretty!

Karen

Karen, please let me know how that yellow cross does next year. I'm interested in getting pollen from you from those blooms if it does well for you. We could exchange some pollen.

Veronica

Very nice Veronica, Now I know what to look forward too
When my star Dancer Blooms.

I Love the split Blooms on yours I think that's what make
your Looks so Unique.


Chocolate Brug

I sure will Veronica, trading pollen would be great!

Karen

Veronica.. I also have a Star Dancer I received from Vi... I planted her out in the garden last summer, and at only about 3' she had a gorgeous flush of about 23 blooms! I dug her up last week putting her in the green house, cause she has 12 seed pods! Never had that many on one brug! Sure hope the pods continue to grow and i don't lose them. I have a pic of her on the laptop... I'll post her in a bit so you can see

Mine is in a pot and suffered lots of grasshopper bites. So she is not that big. I put her in a bigger pot this fall. I plan to find a Bermuda patch (Yeah sure!), dig a shallow trench and place some Brug pots in it to allow the roots to grow through the bottom. It will mean having to do some digging next fall. I find it so much easier to keep them in pots and deal with the few that sit between the pavers and root. Some day soon I hope to have a permanent home for my Brugs.

Do you know who the pollen parent or parents of those seed pods are? I have a 3' Dorthea with six pods, maybe 8. Two are too small to tell if they will stick. I pollinated 4 with Jacayna, but the Sphinx moths took care of the rest. It could have been Rubirosa since she had a huge flush of over 30 blooms. I didn't try to pollinate my Star Dancer, but she could have 3 seedpods. They are still too small to tell if they will stick too. Pollen parent could have been Rubirosa (most likely), Dorthea, Audrey Hepburn or Wild and Crazy. I'm the only Brug owner for tens of miles around here so I don't think the pollen could have come from someone else's yard. I'd love to see a photo of your pregnant Star Dancer.

Mine suffered with grass hopper and stink bug type critters also.. I just let them have their way since i knew winter was coming and i would be cutting them back anyway ( I was lazy! ) I have no idea who the pod parent is either, but I like you think I am the only one around for miles, but i had many blooming at the same time. I was so amazed, because she didn't grow as fast as others I have yet was so prolific in blooms and seed pods!

I got her last fall, and she bloomed in the green house as a tiny thing.. that should have been my first inclination as to what she could do. I don't think the cutting was above the Y either!

here's a pic of her in bloom

I have been working with ATT for 2 hours trying to find out why my connection either wouldn't connect, or almost immediately knock me off..LOL..

I sent the other pic of the Star dancer with all the seed pods, but I see it didn't send so I'm sending it again. She could have been pollinated with Rhapsody,1st Belle,Monster White,Dr. Seuss, or a few noids that I had blooming near. I only planted my brugs out in the garden this March and the Star Dancer later in the summer, but I too was thinking about digging them all up because i liked the fact that I started having blooms in April, and i know it will be much later in the season if I rely on them coming back up next year from the roots. I decided instead to only dig the Star, and another NOID that was next to her, and they were very easy, since they weren't as large, but I would have hated to dig the others..lol.. they had gotten very large, so i decided to take cuttings all the way, almost.. to the ground. I also took Maggis and Kenboys advise on taking some .. they said 5'.. but i took 3-4' cuttings so I'd have a head start next spring.

Have you sown the brug seeds? i got my 1st seed pod and opened it today.. the seeds were brown, and I was wondering, if i should soak them, or just pot them up?? This wasn't off the Start Dancer, but right next to her, this one being a white NOID very similar to Monster White. Any help would be appreciated!!

sorry .. forgot the pic

Really fresh seed, such as yours, don't need to be soaked first. You can choose to peel off the cork or not. Some don't bother. I like to peel because I'll know how many seeds I have actually planted and whether to expect late germination. Some cork capsules don't have any seeds in them and you'd be waiting forever for them to germinate.

Don't bury the seed as they need light to germinate. Just press the seed firmly into the starting mix to get good seed/mix contact. Cover with clear plastic or place in baggie to provide more humidity and help the seedling push off the though seed coat.

My Star Dance seed pods are still less than an inch long. If they stick, I have a long wait. What a strange sight! Almost no leaves, but all those seedpods. I didn't remove the leaves off my Brugs before I put them in the greenhouse. Since I'm going to keep them growing, I left the leaves on. What leaves fall off because of the move, I'll sweep out later.

Yeah It does look funny with no leaves but last winter I had spider mites , and I thought I'd give them less to chew on and took nearly all the leaves off. I also did it thinking with me digging her up , maybe she'd put more energy into the seed pods, and they'd continue to grow. I think I also noticed that right as the flower was fading the stem would start curling downwards.. if it didn't , the little seed pod would stay straighter, and fall off! I noticed it with many pods, so I am thinking that might be a way to tell early, if it actually got pollinated or not.. OR I may be all wrong too!!..LOL

As far as your wait.. mine took about 4 months, but that was warmer temps than what we're having now.. once again I don't know if that will be a difference or not. I am so new to the brugs

I don't know why I am telling you this, cause on several occasions you have come to my aid to correct me..lol.. and please don't hesitate again!!..LOL.. we need to stick together, so we can "get it right"

Thanks for the info on sowing the seeds. I have read and read the brug forum, and I soon forget all I thought I knew, but your info reminded me. I stopped and peeled one of the seeds, just to see.. wow.. I have a seed!!..LOL..

Thanks!!