Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Malephora crocea; I originally and incorrectly identified this as Delosperma 'Red Mountain'

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Be sure to read the comments on this one. I originally and incorrectly called this Delosperma 'Red Mountain'.

Here's another bit of brilliant color.  I purchased it last weekend at a small nursery in western Virginia. It was in a tray of Delosperma nubigenum, the only one of its kind.

A bit of Googling suggests that it might be the new cultivar 'Red Mountain'. Whatever it is, I'm glad to have it. The color and its intensity are hard to describe: the copper-red of the upper petal surface is wonderful to see. Turn the petal over and you'll see that it's purple-red. If this one settles in to be a good garden plant I'll be very happy.

3 comments:

Panayoti Kelaidis said...

I don't think it's Red Mountain. In fact, I don't think it's a delosperma at all..

But it's very pretty!

McWort said...

Welcome to My Virtual Maryland Garden, Panayoti. For those of you who don’t know, “Acantholimon” is none other than Panayoti Kelaidis. That’s particularly relevant here because, if he’s not pulling my leg, he better than anyone should know what is and what is not ‘Red Mountain’ – he introduced it!
But Panayoti, there are a lot of images out there which strongly suggest that this IS a Delosperma, and probably ‘Red Mountain’. I would send a piece to you later this year, but a local rabbit found it very tasty and returned over and over until the plant had been nibbled down to a lifeless stub.
And if this is not ‘Red Mountain’, there is another red-flowered Delosperma-like succulent out there being mass propagated and providing strong competition for our attention. And if that’s the case, I’ll want both: so please tell us the difference!

Panayoti Kelaidis said...

I think what you have is actually Malephora crocea: it is commonly grown in parts of the Southwest and has been marginally hardy in Albuquerque, say: It is not hardy for us in Denver, but we like to grow it anyway!

Love your blog!