Anthurium "Circus Peanuts"

Anthurium ‘Circus Peanuts’, also known as ‘Mike’s Goliath’, is an incredible hybrid originally created by Mike Bush at Selby Gardens in 1981.

According to the International Aroid Society’s Aroid Cultivar Registry, the cross was made using Anthurium dressleri as the seed parent and Anthurium versicolor/leucostachyum as the pollen parent.

The name Circus Peanuts came from the smell of the inflorescence which has a smell similar the candy Circus Peanuts.

This is an impressive plant that gets really big, with leaves reaching over two feet, and it is a statement every single time I walk into the tent. I acquired my plant from Daniel Anderson as a single node over five years ago, and Daniel originally got his plant from Rory Antolakii.

Over the years, I’ve made some amazing crosses with it and have found that its genetics pass down really well into its offspring. It also makes up one of the parents of Anthurium ‘Uduka’ [LINK TO UDUKA], which is one of my favorite hybrids that I’ve made and named as its own cultivar.

The downside is that I’ve found Circus Peanuts isn’t the best seed parent. Even when successfully pollinated, I generally only get around 10 to 20 seeds from it. Despite the relatively low seed count, the quality of the offspring and the traits it passes down make it an incredibly valuable breeding plant for me, and purely as a specimen, its size and presence make it one of the standouts in my collection.