‘𝐎𝐞𝐫𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐢 × 𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐏 𝐁𝐥𝐮𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭’: the hardiest perennial leek crossed with a purple leek!

This hybrid line was created by Telsing Andrews and was selected for its ability to overwinter in Ontario, Canada.
It is highly heterogeneous but, overall, combines the qualities of both parents quite well: the pseudostems are as thick as those of “classic” leeks, the foliage of some individuals can take on purple hues in cold weather, and it is perennial!
Considerable diversity in bulb shape can be observed: the majority produce two cloves, while some have inherited Oerprei’s artichoke-shaped bulb or variations of it, others produce a ring of cloves, and a few still show a biennial tendency.

Although most often regarded as a simple “Oerprei × Saint Victor”, the parent was actually far more refined.

Telsing Andrews used leeks from the Long Island Seed Project (LISP), resulting from crosses between ‘Saint Victor’ and old European cultivars.
She had selected them for their purple coloration and winter hardiness, before focusing on individuals capable of becoming perennial, which she selected for four years.
She named them ‘LISP Blue Select’, and in 2013 obtained hybrids with Oerprei.

Then, in 2019, Marek Kvapil, owner of Permasemínka in the Czech Republic, began offering his own selection under the name ‘Zelenomodrý grex’ (literally “blue-green grex”), selected for its perenniality and overall resistance and vigor, while deliberately maintaining a high level of genetic diversity.
It was in this form that I obtained this population in 2023.

𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍:
The population consisted of 68.3% plants with green foliage and 31.7% with purple foliage.

17.2% of the plants were non-bulbous, while 53.3% showed insufficient bulb development or poor storage ability; all of these were therefore eliminated.

Among the 29.5% of plants retained for further selection in 2026:
- 5.7% had green foliage with two large cloves.
- 9.0% had green foliage with more than two cloves.

- 4.1% had slightly purple foliage with two well-formed cloves.
- 10.7% had more intensely purple foliage with two or more well-formed cloves.

The seeds offered are produced from these selected individuals.
I have begun a first stage of selection by separating the seeds produced by individuals with green foliage from those produced by individuals with purple foliage.
However, keep in mind that the plants were open-pollinated alongside the entire original population.