Got the first bloom today on one my Incense x caerulea hybrids (woo hoo!). It looks a lot lighter than Indigo Dream (also an Incense x caerulea), which makes me wonder if Indigo Dream is really Incense x caerulea. The pics I've seen of Indigo Dream look like they may have some amethystina in them. I'd be curious to see more pics of Indigo Dream if anyone has them. I've got about 7 more Incense x caerulea plants, but it will be a while before they bloom.
Mark
Nice bloom. May you get many blooms!
I have grown Indigo Dreams for 4-5 yrs. I love the flower BUT this hybrid makes few blooms,even on an old root. The vine is vigorus and pups.It is hardy in 8b. I decided to get rid of the plants since I want more flowers on my trellises.
Violette, similar to indigo dream, is a prettier flower and blooms well on a young vine. Unfortunately, it is tender here.
flicker, Covington, LA
That's a very attractive flower Mark. Here is a picture of the only 'Indigo Dreams' flower I have ever seen on my vine, which is about five years old. I agree with Flicker - it is not a very good bloomer. If it doesn't shape up this year I will toss it.
Erick
Thanks Flicker and Erick,
So far, my hybrid is putting out about a flower a day. Should do even better once it gets going. The plant, buds and flowers all look like a 50/50 cross of Incense and caerulea. The dark purple filaments of Indigo Dreams look great against the white petals, but I just don't see how that is an Incense x caerulea cross. It wouldn't surprise me if the breeder fibbed about the parentage to keep it a secret. It will be interesting to see what kind of flowers my other vines put out, but that will probably have to wait a couple of months as I nearly killed them over the winter.
Mark
Here's another one of the flowers:
Mark
Congrats on your new hybrid, Mark! That it blooms well is an added bonus - you might have something marketable on your hands ;-) As for doubting the parentage of 'Indigo Dreams', I'd like to offer a different view. While it's entirely possible that the original hybridizer fibbed, it's also possible that they selected the darkest clone from among dozens (or even hundreds, I don't know). Just look at P. 'Marijke' (http://www.passiflora.info/marijke1.htm) versus P. 'Miranda' (http://www.passiflora.info/miranda1.htm) -- both have an identical parentage, but look completely unlike one another. A similar case came up with two hybrids done by Henk Wouters -- the names escape me at the moment, but the same cross produced one plant that was vibrant hot pink AND another plant that had only very pale pink flowers. Go figure!
Have you decided on a name for your plant?
~Nicholas
Hi Nicholas,
I agree, it is certainly likely that Patrick Worley picked his Indigo Dreams from dozens or more hybrid Incense x caerulea plants. The cross isn't easy, but I got 11 fruits two years ago, and 5 last summer, so I'm sure a pro could get hundreds or thousands of seeds. And I've also seen the very different looking plants from the same cross. Still, every inventor and plant hybridizer knows that when they patent an invention or register a hybrid plant, the info is in the public domain. So if you really want to keep it a secret, you have a bit of a dilema. Some of the pics I've seen of Indigo Dreams were pretty impressive. I almost bought one a couple of years ago, but held off when I was successful with the same cross. I was hoping to get something very similar to Indigo Dreams, but so far no luck.
I don't think I am going to register this one--it just doesn't really impress me that much. Plus, I have another 6 Incense x caerulea plants that should bloom later this summer. Maybe one of those will be better, and I can decide then. It is fun to grow them out though. I have some other crosses in the works that I think may have some potential, but we'll have to wait and see with those.
Mark
Hello everyone,
I got a bloom today on my second Incense x caerulea plant. The first bloom on this plant didn't open fully, and I had to wait another week for this one to open. Its quite a bit different from the first plant, and seems to have more caerulea characteristics in the flower.
Here's a pic:
Mark
