Anthurium ("Michelle" x "Zara") x 'Amy'

("Michelle" x "Zara") x 'Amy'

The seed parent here is the inverse of one of Dr. Block's more widely traded mass-releases, picked up at a roadside nursery off Krome Ave in Miami, summer 2023, tucked in among the orchids and platycerium like nobody wanted it. It still had the old 'Nurturing Nature' tag on it, QR code and all, now leading nowhere. A cast-off from the generic Doc Block era of the mid-COVID plant boom, and yet it's stunning: deep red-pink emergents and lovely veination, both traceable back to Tim Anderson's 'Wonder Boy' sitting likely-selfed on both sides of its parentage.

The pollen parent is 'Amy', named for my mother, and approved by the IAS Cultivar Committee for her strong primary venation against a dark green lamina and those distinctly undulate margins. She's proof that you shouldn't write off pedestrian-looking plants too quickly - her own parents, (crystallinum x magnificum) x (magnificum x nigrolaminum "Gigi"), are handsome enough but nothing you'd pick out of a lineup, and yet here she is. A cast-off crossed with a naturally occurring selection. I like this batch already for the story alone.