Hans, Thanks, interesting answer. As the theme of hybridization and seeds, I have a question about variety Santa Cruz. His pedigree I could not figure out. I know that he "one of progeny of the late Fred Mayer work". One parent is certainly a garden hybrid. But the second seems to species, but which one? In Santa Cruz, the flowers are small, but it has a strong aroma. I tried to use his pollen, but seeds did not receive.I assume that he has a triple set of chromosomes, but these varieties, though with difficulty but sometimes the seeds are given. I would like to find out what is known about the origin of Santa Cruz, on the number of chromosomes, and ability to obtain seeds from him.

There is a paper by Meerow on "New trends in amaryllis breeding". If that paper doesn't help you, it at least provides possible links to what dept to contact at FL State where research in this field is ongoing. I'd bet someone in their dept of horticulture or botany could help you. K

You can happily grow a single citrus tree and it will produce fruit. Most varieties are self-fertile, and many do not need any pollination at all. They are botanically called 'parthenocarpic'. Often, cross-pollination will simply increase the seed count in the fruit. I enjoyed looking at your garden web-site. The last plant photo (right front garden) is of an Echium. A biennial, and hardy only in the mildest parts of the UK. I am growing one in a pot - it was given to me by the gardener in Preston Park, Brighton where they seed freely from their tall, blue flower spikes.

Hi Birdinthepalm, Is that bird in the palm tree, or bird in the palm of your hand? Cute handle, either way. I hope someone more expert than I will respond to your question, but I'll give you my 2 cents worth. I, too, have read about the difficulties with self incompatibility, failure to flower and fruit. This fall, with some trepidation, and having never before grown Passiflora, I ordered a Passiflora incarnata from www.gardenvines.com, and emailed them with pretty much your same questions. The person there, (Dan, I think it was), assured me that the P. incarnata they offer is self-fertile, and that if the plant likes its growing conditions, should produce flowers and fruit without a second plant as pollinator. Although he would certainly be biased in favor of his stock, I take him at his word. However, from what I've read on this forum, at least some incarnata are not self fertile, and would need an unrelated pollinator to produce fruit. I'm choosing to keep my fingers crossed and will assume that the strain I bought is self-fertile, although perhaps other species or individuals are not. These differences in species, and strains within a species might account for the differing reports. Growing a plant from a cutting would offer more certainty about its characteristics, as opposed to growing it from a seed. That's probably why you had more success with your cutting grown plants. Still, I can't see why a seed grown plant couldn't be as self-fertile as one from a cutting, it would just be dicier because you would be somewhat less certain about its parentage. I can say nothing about other species of Passiflora, and hope that someone with more knowledge and first hand experience will give you a better response than I.