Plant Answers

Greg Grant PLANT INTRODUCTIONS
(revised June 1, 1999)

Aquilegia x puryearana 'Blazing Stars' (Blazing Stars Columbine): A seed propagated hybrid between the Texas natives, Aquilegia canadensis and Aquilegia chrysantha hinkleyana . Red and yellow flowers with large blooms. Named for friend Pam Puryear of Navasota where the cross first occurred. Ten years of selection for desired form and color. Introduced by Color Spot in 1999.

Bignonia capreoplata 'Helen Fredel' (Orange Cross Vine): A unique crossvine from 95 year old Helen Fredel's garden in College Station, Texas. Flower color is something between 'Atrosanguinea' and 'Tangerine Beauty'*red-orange with a yellow throat. Flower size is larger than both however. Originally on an old two-story house in her neighborhood. Worth comparing.

Cynodon dactylon 'Bermuda Ghost' (Variegated Bermudagrass): A white variegated sport with pick tinges that I found while mowing the roadside in front of my parents house in Arcadia. Destined to be rare or extinct.

Ipomoea battatas 'Summer Frost' (Summer Frost Sweet Potato): A crinkled leafed, white variegated sweet potato. Occurred as a sport in my cousin Rueben's sweet potato patch in Arcadia. Destined to be rare or extinct.

Lantana camara 'Greg Grant' (Variegated Lantana): An unstable yellow variegated sport of old fashioned lantana with pink and yellow flowers that I found at a New Braunfels Church beneath a shrine to the Virgin Mary. Named and introduced by Glasshouse Works. Destined to be rare or extinct. Lantana montevidensis 'Imperial Purple' (Purple Trailing Lantana): Purple flowered, white eyed sport of trailing lavender lantana from plants obtained from Joe Toquigny in Seguin. Introduced by Lone Star Growers.

Lonicera x 'Pam's Pink' (Pam's Pink Honeysuckle): A bushy, pink and cream flowered honeysuckle from Pam Puryear's grandmother in Navasota. Like 'Gold Flame' without the gold or the mildew. Possibly Lonicera x americana, one of the parents of Lonicera x heckrottii. Also sent around as 'Navasota' and 'Welch', which both trace their origins back to the cuttings Pam gave me while I worked with Lone Star in San Antonio. A 2003 TAMU CEMAP promotion.

Lupinus texensis 'Texas Maroon' (Maroon Bluebonnet): An Aggie Maroon strain of the Texas State Flower. Took years of selection from original blue tinges on pink flowers in a field of pink bluebonnets in LaPryor. A joint introduction with Dr. Jerry Parsons. Introduced by Wildseed. A 2000 TAMU CEMAP promotion.

Oxalis crassipes 'Snowflake' (White Snowflake Oxalis): A white flowered oxalis with irregularly divided petals. Looks like shredded coconut. Seedling from a neighbor's yard in Arcadia. Propagated by division.

Pentas lanceolata 'Stars and Stripes' (Variegated Pentas): Green and white variegated leaves with red flowers. A sport of 'Ruby Glow' from my trials at Lone Star Growers. Best variegation in full sun. Introduced by Peterson Brothers.

Petunia violacea 'Jade' (Variegated Petunia): A crinkled gray-green variegated sport of a 'VIP' seedling, with violet flowers. Destined to be rare or extinct.

Petunia violacea (P. integrifolia) 'VIP' (VIP Petunia): A vegetatively propagated, small flowered, heat tolerant petunia with violet colored flowers. A selection from seed collected in Stuttgart, Germany. Introduced by Lone Star Growers. A 1999 TAMU CEMAP promotion.

Petunia x violacea 'Laura Bush' (Laura Bush Petunia): A seed propagated, heat tolerant, reseeding petunia that occurred as a cross between Petunia violacea and a block of old fashioned petunias (Petunia x hybrida). Introduced by Peterson Brothers. A joint introduction with Dr. Jerry Parsons, with the TAEX in San Antonio. A 2002 TAMU CEMAP promotion.

Phlox paniculata 'John Fanick' (John Fanick Phlox): A heat tolerant compact phlox with light pink flowers and darker eyes. Found it in a ladies yard on Rigsby street in San Antonio. Named for deceased good friend and nurseryman, John Fanick. Photinia x 'Carolyn' (Red Tip Photinia): A big leafed "Chinese Type" photinia seedling with red new leaves. Disease resistance unknown. A joint introduction with Dr. Jerry Parsons. Named for his first wife. Trial only.

Photinia x 'Oneita' (Dwarf Red Tip): A dwarf, narrow leafed red tip photinia seedling. Disease resistance unknown. A joint introduction with Dr. Jerry Parsons. Named for his deceased mother in Tennessee. Trial only.

Plectranthus colieodes 'Lime Light' (Tricolored Iboza): A sport of marginatus with three and sometimes four colors of variegation (green, white, cream, and grey-green).

Portulaca x 'Hula Girl' (Hula Girl Purslane): A chimeral sport off of a Yubi with large hot pink flowers splashed with red-orange.

Rosa chinensis 'Speedy Gonzales' (Climbing Martha Gonzales): A climbing sport of 'Martha Gonzales' that I found in a San Antonio hospital parking lot while Jerry Parsons was dying. Very vigorous with maroon new growth. Heavy spring bloom with scattered repeat. Introduced by King's Nursery.

Rosa gallica 'Canary Island' (Canary Island Rose): A once blooming, fragrant, dark pink European rose from an old specimen in San Antonio. Brought over from the Canary Islands. Introduced by the Antique Rose Emporium.

Rosa x odorata 'Big Mamma's Blush' (Blush Tea Rose): A pink quartered old tea rose from my great grandmother, Miss Dee (Big Momma) in Arcadia. Very close to the extinct original tea rose, Hume's Blush Tea Scented China.

Rosa x odorata 'Lemon Tea' (Yellow Tea Rose): A thornless, upright, pale yellow tea rose from a 65 year old specimen in San Antonio.

Rosa x polyantha 'Marie Daly' (Marie Daly Rose): A fragrant, pink flowered sport of the popular polyantha, 'Marie Pavie' from my mom's back yard in Arcadia. Color is pinker in cooler weather and on newly opened flowered. Mostly thornless and grown on it's own roots from cuttings. Propagate from thornless shoots only. Named after one of my dearest (deceased) friends whose yard I mowed as a kid. Introduced by King's Nursery. A 2003 TAMU CEMAP promotion.

Ruellia brittoniana 'Colobe Pink' (Dwarf Pink Ruellia): A dwarf pink flowered Mexican Petunia. A cross of Ruellia brittoniana and Ruellia brittoniana 'Chi Chi' from my yard in San Antonio. Plant patented and introduced by Color Spot Nurseries.

Salvia greggii 'Rachel' (Variegated Autumn Sage): A yellow variegated sport of Salvia greggii with white flowers. Destined to be rare or extinct. Named after Rachel Emrick because it's blonde and odd.

Tecoma stans 'Gold Star' (Gold Star Esperanza): A precocious, prolific flowering "yellow bells" selected from a private residence in southwest San Antonio. Introduced by Lone Star Growers. A 1999 TAMU CEMAP promotion.

Verbena x hybrida 'Blue Princess' (Blue Princess Verbena): A prolific, heat tolerant, perennial verbena that I obtained from the Royal Horticultural Society's nursery at Wisley, in England, on a trip with J.C. Raulston. Introduced by Lone Star Growers. A 1998 TAMU CEMAP promotion.

Verbena x hybrida 'Pinwheel Princess' (Pinwheel Princess Verbena): A blue and white pinwheel striped sport of 'Blue Princess' from the SFA Arboretum's former Hibiscus bed in Phase I. What appears to be an identical sport found by former SFA grad Matt Welch in North Carolina. We'll make it a joint introduction if they are the same.

Verbena x hybrida 'Snow Princess' (White Princess Verbena): A dwarf, white flowered seedling of 'Blue Princess' Verbena from my mom's yard in Arcadia. New flowers tinged violet-blue in cool weather. Destined to be rare or extinct.

Verbena x hybrida 'Tiger Rose' (Tiger Rose Verbena): The most vigorous of any perennial verbena. Has gaudy magenta flowers with purple stripes. Possibly the virus-free version of 'Fiesta'. From my Great Aunt's yard in Arcadia. The most common old verbena in East Texas.

Vitex agnus-castus 'Lecompte' (Blue Chaste Tree): Most beautiful vitex I ever saw. Long sapphire-blue flower spikes. From a little old yard in Lecompte, Louisiana.

Vitex agnus castus 'Salinas Pink' (Pink Chaste Tree): Pinkest vitex I ever saw. Light pink flower spikes. From Mrs. Salinas' yard in San Antonio. Planted by her mother.