Experience the Psychedelic ‘Fifth Dimension’

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis ‘Fifth Dimension’ came to Longwood’s research greenhouses back in the late 1990’s when we were working on improving the vigor of the hibiscus display in our Rose House.  I soon fell in love with this psychedelic plant!

At first, it amazed me with its showy yellow flowers with silver centers.  Seeing silver on a flower stopped me in my tracks immediately!  It was mind altering.  Closer observation of this plant expanded my awareness to an even more amazing dimension. One day I noticed that the newly opening flowers were not yellow with a silver throat, but orange with a bronze throat.  Around noon, the trippy flowers morph from orange/bronze to yellow/silver. How groovy is that? It’s like having two kinds of flowers on the same plant.

When I told my photographer friend, Matt, about this amazing transformation over time, he decided to do a time lapse photography shoot, to capture the color change.  He did an amazing job.  I hope you enjoy this video as much as I do.

You can experience the ‘Fifth Dimension‘ in person at Longwood. The plant is on display in the Rose House and blooms throughout the year.

On a side note, we were able to improve the vigor of the hibiscus in the Rose House by grafting all of our hibiscus cultivars onto the vigorous rootstock, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis ‘Pride Of Hankins’.  I will let you in on a little secret: if you look closely at the hibiscus plants in the Rose House, you can see the graft union near the base of the plants.  Sometimes it is a clear line across the trunk, and sometimes it is more subtle—with only bark texture designating that there are two different plants joined together.

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‘Longwood Debutante’ Ready for Debut

Clivia miniata 'Longwood Debutante'

After 35 years of clivia breeding, Longwood Gardens is releasing its first named clivia when the North American Clivia Society holds its International Symposium and Show at Longwood Gardens March 19 and 20, 2011.  Clivia enthusiasts from around the world will be in attendance when ‘Longwood Debutante’ makes her debut into Clivia Society in the elegant Longwood Ballroom.  Scarlet O’Hara would be jealous!

Inside the research greenhouses

Back in 1976 when the breeding program started, clivias were commonly orange. The yellow flowers existing at the time were not impressive and rare, so Longwood decided to initiate a breeding program to produce a superior yellow clivia.  ‘Longwood Debutante’ has achieved the goal of the breeding program with its luminous yellow flowers that rise above the dark green foliage.  Her flowers are slightly fragrant with petals that overlap to produce a beautiful floral display.  This is the first release in a series of Longwood clivia cultivars.

Clivia berries containing seeds

Cliva seeds removed from the berry

Why did it take so long to release the first plant?  Thirty five years is a long time to wait. A good number of current students and employees  at Longwood were not even alive when the program started! One factor that slowed the program was the extended time it takes for a clivia seedling to mature.  Seedlings can take up to eight years to bloom from the time the seed is planted, so patience is needed.  Longwood speeds up the process in our research greenhouses by keeping the seedlings actively growing all year long, rather than allowing them to go dormant in the winter. The trick is to get the seedling to mature quickly—and maturity occurs when the plant produces 13 leaves.  Once the plant has 13 leaves, it is ready to produce a flower.  Then, when you finally have a blooming plant, the plants are slow to multiply.  It can take years for the parent plant to produce offsets. Results are slow in clivia breeding!

While breeding for the superior yellow flower, interesting mutations began to occur.  Both yellow and orange flowers began to exhibit a raised area, or keel, in some petals.  The term “keeling” refers the shape of the keel of the boat. The keeling petals add extra depth and interest to the flowers. We decided that the breeding program would also focus on accentuating the keel, in hopes of producing a multi-petal flower.  The normal number of petals on a clivia flower is six, but if the keel separates from the petals, a flower with nine petals can result.  Keeling flowers are interesting by themselves even if they don’t have extra petals. We now have some potential keeling cultivars in the works in our research greenhouses.

Longwood decided that a perfect venue for the release of ‘Longwood Debutante’ would be at the North American Clivia Society Show and Symposium. We have lined up an international cast of speakers including: Ken Smith from Australia, who manages the clivia registry; James Abel from South Africa, who is an expert on clivia in the wild; Harold Koopowitz, who literally wrote the book on clivia; Jim Comstock, who dazzles with a 3D clivia slide show; and Dr. Robert Armstrong, who started the clivia breeding program at Longwood.

Longwood’s visitors can enjoy the clivia show March 19 & 20 in the Exhibition Hall, as well as a special display of ‘Longwood Debutante’ in front of the Music Room. Everyone can register for the conference—you don’t have to be a member of a Clivia Society.  Conference attendees are invited to a dinner and auction of rare clivia plants on March 19. You can enter your plant into the show, too! This is your chance to show off your clivia plant.  A limited number of ‘Longwood Debutante’ will be available for sale in the Gardens Shop starting on March 20. We will also have orange and yellow bi-colored clivias for sale. You can own your own piece of Longwood history!

Clivia miniata 'Longwood Debutante'

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The Art of Cascade Chrysanthemums at Longwood Gardens

Some of the forms currently being grown for Longwood's 2010 Chrysanthemum Festival

Cascade chrysanthemums have long been at the heart of Longwood Gardens’ annual Chrysanthemum Festival.  Longwood grows specialty mums (Chrysanthemum x moriflorum) that originated in China and Japan and are selected for their ability to create beautiful and lasting forms.  Over the years, Longwood’s amazing show of form and color has been continually modified and refined.  Guests marvel at the captivating shapes and often ask us how we create these wonderful pieces of horticulture.  The following is meant to highlight a little behind-the-scenes action and hint at some of the spectacular forms you will see this November in our Conservatory.

Newly potted chrysanthemum cuttings in January, 2010

At two months old the mums are ready to begin training.

Beginning 15 months before the display date, the design team, in conjunction with the grower, makes final chrysanthemum cultivar choices for the following year.  Stock plants—from which we take all of our final plants—are created in order to bulk up on material.  In mid-December the final plants are started as small cuttings.  We begin heavy

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“Canna” We Save the Canna???

Cannas on the center walk in Longwood's Conservatory

Our cannas are being threatened! Plants all around the world are being infected by viruses that can affect the beauty of the plants, and can eventually lead to death.  Unchecked, this could lead to the end of cannas.  Do I have your attention?  Well, don’t panic because here at Longwood we have some projects underway that will hopefully give new life to the beautiful canna!

Seedling cannas in Longwood's Research Department

Canna x generalis is a staple in the summer garden, adding color, texture, and a tropical feel, and at Longwood they provide critical height in the borders and conservatory. The beauty of the canna inspired Longwood to begin a breeding program in the 1970s. Our program has produced more than 18 named cultivars that have been released into the trade and used here at Longwood.  Some of the cultivars are named after Philadelphia area towns, rivers, and themes such as ‘Lenape’, ‘Conestoga’, and ‘Freedom’.  These plants are compact with flowers that have a self cleaning quality (meaning that the dead flowers fall to the ground instead of hanging on the plant).  In addition to terrestrial varieties, we have also introduced several aquatic varieties.

Aquatic cannas in Longwood's Waterlily Display

The Longwood cannas have been used in our Gardens for many years and have even won awards in England.  Unfortunately, they are not immune to viruses.  Most of Longwood’s cannas have been infected from outside stock that was brought into the Gardens.  This led to the focused effort here at Longwood to produce virus-free cannas.

Three viruses that affect cannas include bean yellow mosaic virus and canna yellow streak vrus, which are members of the potyvirus group, and canna yellow mottle virus, which is a badnavirus.  Potyviruses should not be passed from the parent plant through seeds, and plants grown from seed of potyvirus-infected plants should be free of potyvirus. The canna yellow mottle virus is of special concern because it may pass from parent to seed, which is unusual for viruses.  The symptoms of virus infections in cannas include necrotic veins in the leaves, and streaks of  lighter colors on the petals (instead of a solid-colored healthy petal, the infected petals will look like someone painted them with lighter watercolors).  Eventually, more and more necrotic veins will appear. The leaves will also appear chlorotic. The plant will lose vigor and approach death.  Plants that appear to have a virus should be rogued out and destroyed.

A canna leaf with virus symptoms

A canna Flower with Virus Symptoms

Since most of our Longwood stock had contracted one virus or another, we decided to grow a population of plants from seed in hopes of creating virus-free plants.  A total of about 500 canna seedlings were grown from open-pollinated seeds collected from canna stock on Longwood property.   From this population, we selected ten superior seedlings in 2008 for use and further study.   All selected 2008 seedlings tested negative for virus. These plants were propagated, and we began the process of establishing them in tissue culture. You can see two of these cannas now in the Conservatory: canna #9 is a beautiful medium pink and is planted around the perfume bottle in the center walk of the Orangery; canna #10 is dark pink and is planted in the North East corner of the Orangery.  Canna #9 has been established in tissue culture and is growing nicely.  However, canna #10 is being more difficult or, some may say, stubborn.  It does not grow and multiply in tissue culture as readily.

Another  twelve superior seedlings were selected from the seedling population in 2009. Unfortunately some of these seedlings tested positive for canna yellow mottle virus, which lends evidence that the virus is transmitted through seeds.  We placed the clean plants in the same house with the clean plants from 2008, while the virus-infected plants were isolated. The clean plants will also be established in tissue culture.  Once clean stock is established in tissue culture, it will remain clean.  It can then act as a source of clean plant material in the future.

Canna Isolation

Cannas in general have proven to be finicky about their media in tissue culture—one media does not work for every canna.  When establishing them in culture, each cultivar is placed in several different types of media in hope that they will be happy with at least one of them.  The process itself can take years.  Chrysanthemums can be established and multiplied in culture in a few months.  Cannas can take two years to establish and multiply—only after you find the correct media! If you don’t find the correct media, they may not grow at all. Oh, the patience you must have with cannas!

Canna in tissue culture box

When our selected plants have multiplied sufficiently in tissue culture, we plan to use them here at Longwood.  We also hope that some will be available for purchase at your local garden center, and the canna can be given a second chance.  Currently we have five virus free varieties growing happily in test tubes.  This stock gives us the capability of continuously producing clean crops of cannas.  Many more test tubes hold cannas in various stages of development that may or may not yield clean stock.  The canna cleanup process will take a lot of time and effort, but I think we “canna” save the canna.

If you are interested in learning more about our canna breeding program, come to Longwood on September 7, 2010, when you can join a special tour of our Canna Breeding Program. The tour begins at 1:00 pm and meets at the Exhibition Hall Clock in the Conservatory.

Cannas currently on display in Longwood's Conservatory

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A Passion for Camellias at the International Camellia Congress in Japan

Camellia blossom

Kurume, Japan was the 2010 host city of the biannual meeting of The International Camellia Society.  Kurume is a small town in Kyushu, which is the southern most of the four main islands of Japan.  I attended the meeting to present information on Longwood Gardens’ camellia breeding program and to network with other camellia researchers.

On the first day of the meeting we traveled to a camellia fair at the Ishibashi Cultural Center. There we enjoyed a camellia bonsai exhibit, a large camellia garden, an art museum, a stage with performances and vendors selling plants, food and other goods such as camellia oil. There are two main types of camellia oil; Camellia oleifera oil, which is used for cooking and soaps, and Camellia japonica oil, which is used for skin and hair products.

300 year old camellia tree

After the Ishibashi Cultural Center we visited an azalea center, a school, a plant nursery, a camellia show, a camellia garden, a cemetery, a tree farm AND a temple…..phew that was a lot of walking.  We saw ten different places in a four hour period! One of the most impressive sites was a camellia tree that was about 300 years old.  The picture shows my wife Elizabeth standing next to the trunk.

The following day was the first of three mornings of presentations. The presentations covered camellia history and culture and featured speakers from the USA, UK, Belgium, Spain, Japan and Germany.

Tiered podocarpus

In the afternoon we visited a large commercial nursery, which had a potpourri of plants scattered around in no particular order. There were remarkable podocarpus and Japanese black pines that were pruned using Japanese techniques to create a tiered effect.

Following the trip to the Nursery, we went on a residential garden tour where we saw some amazing two to three hundred year old camellia trees. Many of the older camellias were C. japonica, which is said to be native to Japan. However, there is a controversy around the nativity of C. japonica (which I will discuss later). That said, these plants were thriving in the climate of southern Japan.

The second morning of talks covered camellia environment, biodiversity and conservation, and featured speakers from Japan and China.  I was excited to hear about C. chuangtsoensis, which is a newly discovered ever-blooming yellow camellia.  I discussed the possibility of getting one of these plants from scientists working with this species, and they said it might be possible if I could come visit them in China… my fingers are crossed.

In the afternoon, we visited Kumamoto Castle, which was built in 1607.  The castle was hosting a Higo camellia Bonsai show.  Higo camellias are distinguished by their stamens that flare out from the center, creating a firework-like appearance. The bonsais were created with nontraditional techniques: large stumps of camellias are excavated from the ground and cut down to size; they are then placed in a bucket of water in order to produce a fibrous root system.  This stump is then planted into a bonsai pot and Higo camellia scions are grafted onto the top of the stump.  The scions are trained using metal wire. The bonsais are completed in a much shorter time than with traditional techniques.  See pictures of the process below.

Higo camellia bonsai process

The last day of talks covered molecular biology of camellias.  I was one of the speakers, and the title of my presentation was “Somatic embryogenesis and embryo germination of C. azalea × C. japonica ‘Maiden of Great Promise’.”  For more information on this topic, please to the upcoming issue of the International Camellia Journal.

Two of the other talks touched on the evolution or nativity of C. japonica, the primary ornamental species of camellia. This is where the controversy comes in.  Camellias are held in high regard by both Japanese and Chinese cultures.  Apparently, both the Japanese and Chinese want to claim this plant as native in their respective countries.  It is unlikely that the true nativity of camellias will ever be proven, so it seems this debate will ensue into the unforeseeable future.

The last day of tours we visited a tea plantation. For those of you who don’t know, tea is made from Camellia sinensis.  So every time you have a cup of tea you are tasting camellias.  At the plantation we saw the tea fields, visited the processing plant and tasted tea grown on-site.  This facility only produced green tea, the most popular type of tea in Japan.

Tea Plantation

The 2010 Camellia Congress gave me the opportunity to see some unbelievable camellias and make connections with some of the other camellia lovers and researchers of the world.  Longwood Gardens’ research department will be attempting the bonsai techniques observed at Kumamoto Castle.  If successful, these plants will eventually be on display in the bonsai house.

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