How can such a cool cultivar be 30 years old? I had assumed it was a modern intro before I looked. With a green throat and such interesting coloration, rose veining and ruffles, it is groovy in the pretty-face-department alone. But the plant habit is impressive too. Good increase and check out this rebloom scape that started blooming Aug 1st, '22:
The plant had been in the ground for almost 2 years and was really strutting its stuff, so I took lots of pictures of the rebloom. In my garden, rebloom scapes on many plants are significantly taller than the initial ones, and this one is no exception. Spring temps had been harsh earlier in the year, perhaps stimulating the plant to delay using full resources until rebloom. All one scape- just with wide branching:
Smoky Mountain Autumn (the pod parent) is a bud-builder. I suspect this one is too. I'll try to remember to watch. Also, mom is dormant and reportedly rust-resistant. This plant shows some hardiness. Mountain Almond, a sibling by a different hybridizer, is a SEV. Aug 4th- look at all those buds! I wish I had taken the time to count them. Also note the fresh green throat.
Sept 1:
Sometimes more pink is evident, especially in the sepals, making the cultivar almost bicolor. Another child out of Smoky Mountain Autumn, Smoky Mountain Bell, shows this same tendency to switch base color from peach-apricot to rosy pink day-to-day, except even more interesting in this bloom with the multihued details.
Sept 5:
Fertile both ways, fairly easily. It surprises me that we don't see more kids yet, but perhaps that connects with Nan's point: it may not be widely distributed. It deserves more acclaim.
Sept 10:
With some smalls in an end-of-August pollen round-up...