[(carlablackiae x antolakii) x "Big Black Block"] x ("Michelle" x "Zara")

((carlablackiae x antolakii) x "Big Black Block") x ("Michelle" x "Zara")

The seed parent is a Paul Marcellini cross that I bought as a seedling for no better reason than BBB is fun to say out loud. Turned out to be a handsome plant regardless of my shallow reasoning - blue-green emergents, venation that holds your attention a beat longer than it needs to.

The pollen parent has a better story. It's the inverse of the more widely traded of Dr. Block's earlier mass-releases, and I found it at a roadside nursery off Krome Ave in Miami, summer 2023, wedged in among the orchids and platycerium like nobody wanted it. Still wore the old 'Nurturing Nature' tag, the kind with the QR code that doesn't go anywhere anymore, a relic from before the colorized branded tags took over. A cast-off from the generic 'Doc Block' era of the mid-COVID plant craze, which is its own kind of charm.