Cryfield Harmony

Fred Wilson introduced Cryfield Harmony in 2008 and the ADS classifies it 3009. The Cryfield prefix belongs to a British breeding line, and the variety carries the classification ambiguity that often follows plants across the Atlantic: American registry sources file it as a formal decorative, while British listings and Heirloom Soul both read it as a ball. Neither camp is careless. The bloom is round and tightly formed enough to invite the ball reading, and the two classification traditions do not draw the boundary in the same place.

Cryfield Harmony is a production plant first and a pretty one second, and the grower testimony on that point is unusually specific: Heirloom Soul says six plants in their field is more than enough, because it chugs out blooms at an enormous rate. That is the sort of detail worth planning around, since ordering a dozen of something this productive wastes bed space. Blooms are recorded at 4 to 6 inches by the ADS class and at 3 inches by Heirloom Soul, so expect a smaller flower than the class implies. Height runs 3.5 to 5 feet across sources. Pinch at 12 inches. The catch is in storage rather than the field: Idlewild reports the tubers are thin and store soft, so lift carefully, cure properly, and check them through the winter rather than assuming they will keep.