Hybrids allow more collectors the opportunity to select plants for desired traits. Seen here is a select Anthurium papillilaminum ‘Ft Sherman’ x self I call SHERM, a select dark Anthurium Curandero (sp. nov. X papillilaminum ‘Ft Sherman’), and Anthurium Red Crystallinum. I fell in love with each of these plants for a different reason as seedlings and now they reward me with views like this on the regular. Every plant here is US-produced seed grown material.

Hybrids and their value to this hobby is something I touched on in my Hybrid Hype Man note, so I’ll limit the lines spent here confessing my undying love for the magical names, dark leaves, and shimmer of contrasting veins in the moonlight…. Okay I’ll stop.. but there is no denying the diversity provided for collectors by the endless hybrids on the market. This variety of foliage anthuriums means that a new hobbyist has far more options than ever before and this allows more collectors to be selective. When I first started collecting anthuriums in 2018 there were very few sources for quality plants. Everyone I knew back then was importing from Ecuador and Indonesia and praying their plants even survived transit, much less our amateur attempts at indoor cultivation. The only hobbyists with access, and thus the ability to even be selective at all, were those with personal ties to experienced private OG-breeders. These reclusive plant collectors with private collections established enough to produce quality material were few and far between. The hybrids that were on the market back then were almost strictly limited to crystal mags and nobody I knew was able to see past the excitement of just growing these exotic and temperamental things as “houseplants” to even think about selecting for specific traits… honestly I was just trying to not kill more plants than I could afford.

Then 2020 happens. The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic trapped people indoors, and the longing for Mother Nature lead to many new members of the foliage-Anthurium community. This flood of new admirers to the velvet underground meant that there was new incentives and opportunities for material to be created. This has lead to a wealth of new and better information in regards to breeding/cultivation of these exotic treasures. This new knowledge and experience has culminated in a flourishing foliage Anthurium community.

Fast forward to 2023 and now hobbyists are using high tech grow labs to produce new and better grown hybrids on the regular. Collectors today can go from never having grown an Anthurium to producing their own hybrids within a calendar year. This abundance is great for collectors looking to add a special plant to their collection. Five years ago you’d have had to be personal friends with one of a handful of collectors producing hybrids to have these kind of preferences, today you can just browse the internet and select the plant the speaks to you.

What to select for? Well, that’s truly up to you. Leaf morphology is the most common set of traits one is looking for: black dark velvet, round, huge, shocking venation patterns, reptilian texture, dramatic sinus structure, intense chiropteran lobes, take your pick there’s probably an Anthurium leaf that has it. Some collectors also chose to select for things like growth habit, ease of cultivation/hardiness, pedigree (I put this last in today’s hobby), or just a super dope name. Personally I like to select for all of those reasons when it comes to selecting plants for the Ready To Ship section here, but for my personal collection I normally just take the easiest growing seedling with some of those qualities or that is a total oddball. I never select the tiny seedlings with most pronounced traits because too many times those turn out to be dramatic toddlers (3-6 leaf stage), and I find it harder to develop them to their full potential if they give me a lot of headaches at a young age. For me it is more about the relationship you develop with that plant over the time you spend together that will determine what kind of adult plant it matures into. The plants seen in the images here were all selected with ease of growth AND phenotypical expression in mind. If a plant grows easy for me I can be far more cavalier with the kind of conditions I subject it to. A healthy and happy plant grown under optimal conditions and given the proper energy can produce outstanding results.

Those with commercial inclinations have often overlooked the collection of anthurium hybrids as they assume only wild origin material will be of value with breeding programs. Turns out that with the right care and discernment in the seedling selection process a collector can take seed grown material and produce killer plants. Not all wild origin material is going to be representative of the traits most collectors are hoping for anyways. Plants are alive; and diverse organisms so wild origin material has always been a roll of the dice. Ripping 50 dressleri from the Rio Guanche is not going to yield 50 black dressleri that everyone wants. Maybe none will. This is a fact overlooked by the shortsighted and morally challenged. It is not a name that makes a beautiful adult plant.

So if you are new to collecting anthuriums or new to collecting hybrids then it is a great time to be involved with this community. The wealth of plant material and cultivation knowledge out there ensures that a good foundation is in place for your Anthurium love. Select plants that speak to you and watch them grow to be truly remarkable living things in your care. Don’t be afraid to purchase that hybrid you can turn it into a masterpiece with the right energy.