Hi Fred,

A few years ago, I ordered 'Orange Rascal' from another company. Before the order was shipped, there was an unfortunate crop failure, and a substituation of unlabeled sonatinis from the breeder was sent. I remember that one is yellow, another is wine colored, one is a double white, and another is an attractive pink. I haven't seen 'Orange Rascal' offered anywhere since then.

Last year, I ordered several 'Bordeaux Rascal' bulbs from RC. Apparently there was a mix-up because I received 'Balentino' instead, which I already had. It looks like many other folks got this mislabel too. Hopefully, we will have better luck this year.

-Blanca

Hola Blanca,

So did the replacement sonatini's behave as advertised? Did they keep their cute mini demeanor? I was looking at Bordeaux rascal and I think the color is absolutely stunning. I'm thinking of hydridizing it with some of the smaller growing species to breed for the smaller growing feature.

Con Carino,
Fred

Hola Fred,

All the sonatinis (both from Hadeco in South Africa and those produced by Dutch breeders) have maintained their sweet, diminutive size and attributes.

Years ago, when many of us desired these small jewels and they were unavailable to us, we started to attempt to create our own.

I wish you the best of luck with your hybridization plans.

Cheers,

Blanca

Hi Fred,
I ordered two types of Sonatinis last season, Helios and Bordeaux Rascal. BR turned out to be Balentino. But as stated above this happened to others too, for example to Mr. Emaryllis (www.emaryllis.com)...

Flowers were lovely but I was very disappointed with the leaves, they were floppy giving the plant an untidy look. I grow my hippies inside the house, maybe these Sonatinis would perform better grown outside, but then, I do have many hippies with excellent foliage so I think it's strait-connected. But the flowers were indeed sweet and lovely and I'm definitely keeping them both...

Good luck with Bordeaux Rascal & others!

Hi Blanca & Lenanen,

Thank you for your feedback and stay tuned. As my sonatini's and species hippies flower, I will be saving their pollen and storing it in labeled gelatin caps and in the fridge for later use. I have used this storage method for Clivia pollen and it seems to have worked in the past. So, it may take a while but I'm patient and I would be more than happy to share my progeny with the group.

Warm Regards,
Fred

P.S. I wish you all a blessed and peaceful Thanksgiving.