Peninsula Belle

Sinningia 'Peninsula Belle'

Sinningia 'Peninsula Belle' is one of my first hybrids. I made it back in the early 1980s, not long after I started growing sinningias. It is S. lineata x reitzii. I got the reitzii (then known as Sinningia "New Zealand") from the late Addison Campbell. The lineata I grew from AGGS Seed Fund seed (the seed was under the name S. macropoda). So from two misnamed plants I got a plant I have grown ever since, and eventually named and registered (my first).

Lineata has orange-red flowers with narrow tubes and slightly flaring lobes. Reitzii has dark red flowers with narrow tubes and slightly flaring lobes. So 'Peninsula Belle' has magenta flowers with a wider tube and lobes flaring widely to create an almost flat face. Hybridizing is so predictable.

Further hybridization

I have done crosses with S. 'Peninsula Belle' also. For pictures and a discussion, click here.

See also the results of crossing it with Dale Martens's hybrid S. 'Texas Zebra'.

I also obtained some interesting flowers by crossing it with S. piresiana.

Feature table for Sinningia 'Peninsula Belle'

Plant Description
Attribute	Information
Growth	Indeterminate
Habit	Stems upright, losing the lower leaves with age.
Leaves	Heart-shaped, dark green on top. Reverse is dark red in low light, green or red-tinged in higher light.
Dormancy	Stems persistent even in winter, bases not deciduous even when stem is chopped
Flowering
Attribute	Information
Inflorescence	axillary cymes, several to many flowers per axil.
Flowering	Late summer through late autumn
Flower	Purple-magenta, tubular with flaring lobes, dark streaks on narrow white stripe along bottom of corolla tube.
Horticultural Aspects
Attribute	Information
Hardiness	Tubers have survived 26 F (-3 C) in my back yard.
Recommended?	Yes. Blooms for several months in the autumn and early winter.
Botany
Attribute	Information
Taxonomic group	It is a cross between two species in the Dircaea clade.