H. 'Captain's Adventure'

When I first spotted a picture of this exciting new 'Captain Kirk' sport I knew I had to have it. I mail-ordered 2 of them, which arrived April 26th 2011, just before I left for work that day. Needless to say they were planted before I left for the airport. It looks to be a cultivar that goes through a number of colour changes over the course of the season, so I expect to be taking -and posting- lots of pictures of it. Here we see one of them the day after it was potted up. Obviously nothing much to see yet, heck, it hasn't even greened up.

Let's jump ahead by a couple of months, to 8th of June, 2011. They both have leafed out quite nicely, and are starting to show hints of what's to come.

In both plants you can see the first stages of the lightening up of the center of the leaves.

A month later, 7th of July, and they look quite different, though not quite yet like what the picture showed in the catalogue that prompted me to purchase it in the first place.

Just for fun, and comparison, follow this link for a few additional pictures. The first one in that gallery is what really caught my attention initially.

Close scrutiny of one the leaves on this one of mine is giving me cause for concern. We'll have to wait and see how it progresses, but in the edge margin of one of the leaves I'm starting to see what looks like faint signs of the ink bleeding and tissue collapse associated with HVX. Time will tell, but apparently I'm not the only one to express that concern, judging by some of the internet chatter.

The difference between the 2 plants in terms of lightening of the center leaf portion can be explained by the difference in direct light exposure. The potted one -above- sees a lot more direct light than this one in the holding planter.

2012 was not what I'd call a banner year for these two plants. We had a very wet winter and spring and neither of them came up looking anything like what they're supposed to. On top of that they both suffered from a spell of what I suspect was botrytis and they looked like hell for most of the growing season. By the time the second flush of leaves had mostly unfurled in late August, there were some leaves on one of them that look promising. I suspect the pattern that drew me to this cultivar in the first place may either not develop at all until the second flush and/or it may not show up until the plant is more mature. I'll persevere with them one more year before I make the call as to whether they're keepers or not.

By mid-May 2013 this one shows clear signs of cupping, or so-called 'drawstring effect'. This is caused by the white edge not growing as fast as the green center.

Come late June it's finally starting to show the pattern and colours that drew me to it originally. It's certainly proven to be a vigorous grower, like you would expect out of a Hyacinthina family member.