Acquiring Cephalotus cultivars?

[jpyerry]

I am going to ask a question that I imagine has been asked a few times.

I am a fan of Cephalotus follicularis, I have had a modicum of success in growing them, I killed one or two of them initially but I have learned from my mistakes and I seem to be doing much better with this species (I haven't killed one in over a year at this point . Currently I have a typical cultivar, 'Hummer's Giant', and 'German Giant'.

By reading literature, I have found that two official cultivars exist, 'Hummer's Giant', and 'Eden Black'. And many other unofficial cultivars exist.

Now to my question, after scouring the internet for quite some time, I have been unable to find a single vendor dealing with the 'Eden Black' cultivar. I would love to have the two official cultivars in my collection. Am I just looking in the wrong places? Is it the wrong time of year? Or, is this cultivar just plain unavailable?

Any information that might shed some light on this perplexing issue would be appreciated. After seeing pictures of this plant, I must admit it is incredibly beautiful.

Yours,
Justin

[bouncingwatermelon]

I'm not a Cephalotus expert, but it seems that the cultivar is not circulated in large amounts.

www.cpukforum.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=25165

You might want to contact the person who made the cultivar directly and try to negotiate some way to procure one yourself.

I like the cultivar too, but I am not good at cultivating Cephalotus.

[gardenofeden]

Hi,
I am the person who bred and published the cultivar 'Eden Black'. BWM is correct in that it is not widely circulated. Until a few years ago there was only one plant. I have been distributing rooted leaf cuttings for a few years now and have to date distributed 18 plants, mostly "free" for a donation to the CPUK conservation fund. Apart from 1 or 2 exceptions, I have the only adult plants, although some of the early distributions must be nearly there! There is a waiting list of several years, although the list is now closed as it got a bit silly. I took a lot of cuttings this year and should be able to make quite a few people happy over the next year or 2. It will hopefully be in tissue culture soon. Despite some claims I do not believe it is in the US. This year I distributed quite a lot of seed, self pollinated, so although this will not give the cultivar it may give some nice dark clones...see this link

I have no spare plants or seeds so please no messages or emails, sorry.

[jpyerry]

Hi gardenofeden,

I am impressed that you took the time to respond to my question, thank you. I am saddened that the plant has such a small circulation, like I said, I think it is a beautiful and magnificent plant. I am glad that I have received a definitive answer on the subject, I have been pulling my hair out trying to find this plant and periodically checking auction sites, etc. The fact that it is going into tissue culture makes me happy, and if it does I will get one then, hopefully it won't be too much longer.

Again, thanks for taking the time to answer my question.

Yours,
Justin Yerry