Anthurium ['Tim's Black' x ("Greige" x red crystal)] x carlablackiae "Tropicarla"

['Tim's Black' x ("Greige" x red crystal)] x carlablackiae "Tropicarla"

The seed parent is one of my favorites from Phil Iloo, and it earned that spot honestly, taking on 'Tim's Black' almost perfectly with a spade-shaped leaf. Cooler months coax out the bright reds we're all chasing in the emergent, while warmer months stifle that only a bit, helping deeper greens, beiges, and oranges take over instead. It's an impressive gradient to watch through the seasons, if you're patient enough to pay attention.

The pollen parent is Anthurium carlablackiae "Tropicarla," a name I'm still proud of. I bought the plant from an Ecuadorian nursery at the end of a show, told it was seed grown, and once I got it home and actually looked, it was clearly divided at the stem instead. Not enough there to make any bigger claim about it, wild-collected or otherwise, but I stayed a little suspicious anyway. The name came to me one night in the greenhouse listening to a Rays broadcast, the announcer mentioning Tropicana Field one too many times. Tropicarla. Possibly my best naming work to date, for whatever that's worth.

Put the two together and the seedling is a much more intelligible expression of everything I just tried to explain. Enjoy it, and whatever it goes on to produce.