David Thompson Streptocarpus from eBay, Black Streptocarpus 'DS Gotika' and more!

 Walter has a little surprise for you today.... he has been on eBay and found something that really made him happy. He found a BLACK flower that matches himself. He was pretty excited about it and figured out how to hack into the Pay Pal account.

*sigh

 First off though (to build excitement), this is Streptocarpus 'Victorian Lace'. It's not a Thompson hybrid but it's available on some of D. Thompson's eBay auctions.

This is a really beautiful hybrid that I hope more people grow!

Now HERE IS THE BLACKEST of the Streptocarpus currently available, - or so it's claimed. As you can see it really does show up as quite "black" although it's a deep indigo purple color. This is called Streptocarpus 'Gotika' which translates out to 'Gothic'.

This was introduced in Russia by Pavel Enikeev.

 It's very showy especially against other lighter Streps like the one directly under it which is Thompson's 'Morning Edition'. Unlike many other eBay sellers, Thompson sends plants that are in bud or in bloom which really sort of enhances the experience of getting that box in the mail. You get instant satisfaction and you don't have to wait to long to see what the flower looks like.

Sometimes the plants, although expertly packed (from all the sellers I've tried) suffer a little from the stress of getting beaten up thoroughly by the shipping services.

 This is another Strep. by Thompson called Saturn. It's got some 'Fleischle Roulette Cherry' heritage in there plus 'Night Beacon'. I think that this will be really showy when grown out as well.

This is a shot of the baby tray with one more variety showing up in the lower left corner of the photo, Azure Giant.

When this plant is a little older the flowers on Azure Giant will easily get to be over FOUR inches across. This is a cool plant!

Even if you are not interested in purchasing plants from eBay, it's very interesting to see what is out there to purchase. Many genus and hybrids that are not available commercially are to be found periodically. I've been trying to get some of Dale Marten' intergeneric hybrids. Changing your search slightly (by adding an 's' to make your word plural for example) can significantly change the results you get. Try out words like 'gesneriad', African violet kin, etc and see what you find.

Comments??? Questions????

Smithiantha multiflora from seed

 Here are the first blooms from my seedlings of Smithiantha multiflora!

Wooooooooot! I can't be any happier with them. The blooms even have a pleasant scent some of the day.

Here's a nice close shot of the flower. It's got a great clear white with the yellow in the throat, the foliage appears to be staying nice and dark giving it an over all lovely contrast. The plant seems like a winner!



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Feeling Red Today.... or... What's Bloomin' in the old plant room now.

 This is Streptocarpus 'Dale's Scarlet Macaw'. It's got the species dunnii in the ancestry which gives it its really good red color. The plant is quite slow growing at some points though and a bit of patience is required.

This plant produces numerous flowers per bloom stalk and it makes an interesting parent in hybridization. Dale Martens is the hybridizer and it's just one of her many, many cool  hybrids!

 In keeping with the red theme, this looked like a nice flower to add to the post. It's got the slightly lighter pink edges on the flower and that makes the flower really stand out.

 Much to my shame, it's an unnamed Kohleria. Somewhere along the line labels get up in the middle of the night and go missing. Whoopsie.

Even though you don't get the right name, it's still pretty nice to look at on a rainy day.

I got this Strep. at a local garden center (Tonkadale) and it has a really interesting red veining pattern over the hot magenta petal color. The point being that some garden centers and other retail outlets are finding out about the charms of Streptocarpus and hopefully more and more people will start growing them. With the recent explosion of hybridization taking place with Streps there have been some major advancements in pattern and color combinations. It'll be fun to see when they become as popular as petunias!

Comments??? Questions???

Microchirita species, Thailand Phuket, Kohleria Napoleon V and Rattlesnake, Smithiantha multiflora and more are blooming today!

 This is Primulina (Chirita) species (Phuket). How about this for a cute plant?

The person that passed these around to the club started them from seed from the Gesneriad Society Seed Fund! A great place to get seed from for members, and a good reason to join and become a member.

 This little plant bloomed while quite small, as you can see. It's supposed to be an annual, so if you are enjoying it this year, be sure to let it set some seed so that you can replant and enjoy it again and again. It also requires very high humidity. Keep this one in an enclosure or spot where it won't dry out.

 This is Kohleria 'Napoleon V'. I really like the color contrast and the nice "gesneriad hair" this one has. It's blooming on a very small plant too.

 This Kohleria 'Rattlesnake" is also a nicely colored flower with the top two petals having the darker coloration.

Kohleria like quite a bit of light to stay short and sturdy and they also can be pinched to encourage branching. This allows them to become a nicely shaped plant.

 I'm pretty excited about this one. It's Smithiantha multiflora. It will have white blooms with yellow centers and it's just a seedling but already setting flowers. While Smithiantha can get to be tall, the spikes of flowers are sure to be very worth the "tall" factor.

 This little Episcia 'Jim's Daphane's Choice' is a really good, clear yellow. I'm hoping that something cool will happen with the Alsobia 'Chiapas' pollen I pollinated it with too. Perhaps they are closely enough related to do something interesting.

How about a miniature Sinningia 'Maiden's Blush'?? These are from seed also and blooming all over the place. It's a small plant but pretty nice and compact with the light and blush colored blooms.

So... that's what's blooming in the ole' plant room today. What about yours??? Send a photo and we'll post it so that everyone can share the fun of seeing what's bloomin'.

Comments???

Walter the Gardening Cat makes a Terririum

 This is Walter... and oh, is he bored. Nothing to do, and his plant room maintenance slave (me) is just not up to anything fun.

 He's SO BORED that even stretching out in the middle of everything and politely throwing things on the floor is no fun.

What to do? What to doooo????

 A lightbulb goes on! There are terrariums for the upcoming show to make. Certainly a gardening cat can put together a little something that will win prizes and ribbons (which are good to play with and shred) and this will certainly alleviate the boredom!

 If I only had a video camera... this would be so much more funny.

After each time I reached into the terrarium to pull out something or to arrange something, Walter the Gardening Cat politely took his turn and helped.

First he would look inside very carefully before inserting a paw.

 The paw would go in and out would come just a little something like when I would bring out my hand.

There would be more looking....

 And there would be another paw going in to see what should be arranged much more attractively.

Sometimes we would recline to get a better angle on things,

 And sometimes we would have to be sitting up so we could reach better.

 There was a lot of looking in between to contemplate what was looking good and looking like it needed to be removed.

 Finally, after much consideration and careful planning it was decided that the violet in the terrarium was just not looking good.

Some of the leaves were spotted and not up to the standards of the discerning gardening cat.

 You will note that out came a violet leaf. Ever so carefully was it removed and even more carefully was each bit inspected.

A very new development has come upon the scene. Walter the Gardening Cat might have a gardening helper. He's not too keen on the idea right here, but I would imagine over time that he will be glad to show another apprentice how to be most helpful and efficient in the arts of gardening and growing under artificial lighting. The "plant room maintenance slave" (me) is not sure about this decision either.  *sigh

But... the final project did turn out okie dokie, and Walter is very proud of the ribbon he gets to shred. He thinks that ribbons are really fun... especially if they have extra little strings on them......

Sinningia speciosa, not just for the geriatric anymore!

 Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates that sort of thing, and Happy Day to those that don't.

Here is a nice 'surprise' Sinningia speciosa. A bit of a story here... our chapter discovered to our dismay that no one besides a tried and true plant geek knows what a "gesneriad" is. We even got the comments, and no joke here, that it must be for the elderly... equating gesneriad with geriatric.  So, to improve our "cool factor" we were thinking up how to sound much more awesome than something for only the aged when we advertised for shows and events etc.

We found ourselves going back to the days when the national organization was the Gloxinia AND Gesneriad Society, using the Gloxinia as a recognizable flower most people knew. So here's our plot... which no one in the club knows about just yet, but they WILL!

We're going to get all our members to grow a couple of Gloxinias so that when we get a chance to show off our stuff we can advertise that there will be LOTS of Gloxinias and "rare gesneriads" there to marvel at! We'll see how that flies... lol.

Anyway, when at the Linder's Garden Center there were nice healthy looking 'Gloxinias' there just waiting to go home with someone that would think that they were special. A fellow member and I got a couple that weren't in flower, just because that would mean it would be a surprise when they opened and showed off their color! It really doesn't matter what color a Gloxie is, they are all really cool! So, here is MY Easter colored Gloxina which opened just in time to show off it's pretty purple colors. Now if I can figure out how to pollinate something a bit smaller with this one, we might have another experiment in the works.