Open Hearth (Lambert 1976)

Dormant        26” tall      9” bloom      Mid season       Diploid

This is a real fun picture of Open Hearth. Normally OH should have 3 petals and 3 sepals, but OH commonly blooms as a polytepal (a polytepal bloom has extra segments so instead of 3 petals and 3 sepals it may have 4 & 4 or even 5 & 5). In fact the bloom in this picture is actually a fused bloom with 2 blooms joined like Siamese twins resulting in 6 petals, 6 sepals and 12 stamens and 2 pistils. Even when OH doesn’t do unusual things it is a gorgeous bloom. Bright and showy, red with yellow throat & well separated segments. Sometimes blooms open flat other times pinched. 1st choice for drawing attention to itself.