Primulina longangensis, P. spadiciformis, P. 'Vietnam', Diastema vexans and a random Codonanthe

 Primulina longangensis has a nice purple/lavender flower. the plant is getting a little sprawly, but it put on a  nice show of flowers just recently!

 You might be able to see the little white flowers on this Codonanthe. It's doing a good job of just hanging around and growing. I like plants that just hang around and grow without a lot of fussing and bothering. It's one that doesn't seem to require a lot, it never drops leaves and from time to time it has these neat little blooms.

If you don't have a Codonanthe, you probably need to go out and find one! It's likely a C. devosiana but I'm not sure.

 Hello little Diastema vexans! This is a cute thing with flowers that have spots. They don't last long but they are pretty sweet and tiny and worth growing the plant. I think I need more light on my plant, it seems to be leggy, but otherwise, with enough humidity, they are very attractive and fun to grow.

 This is a Primulina spadiciformis. The plant itself isn't much to look at, but the flowers are large and nicely colored. I am pretty sure I'm the problem with the plant looking just so so.

Some of the Primulinas grow so perfectly even for the plant-challenged (me) so I am hopeful with a little more effort this one will shape up too.

OK, the best for last for now. This is what was labeled as a Primulina 'Vietnam'. This thing is awesome. I took the last bloom stem off for it's picture but it grows perfectly, sometimes makes an offset like you might notice to the left side of the picture and it's really cute!

The plant is about 6 or 7 inches across and that is all the bigger it will get. It's easy, did I mention that??? You need one, YOU REALLY DO!

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A little product placement, the Pocket Hose!

 So... when this Pocket Hose product was on one of those tedious tv ads, my kids had a hilarious time deciding who would be stupid enough to buy one.


I bought one and love it!

I water in five different rooms in a split level house.  I use a fair amount of water and to put it into gallon jugs takes a tremendous amount of time. One day I tried a coil hose and it worked pretty well, but it wanted to recoil and would sometimes knock down plants springing back into place.

I also tried an outdoor hose, it was much too stiff and was a disaster.

When I got this I was expecting shoddy materials and cheap fixture hookups. I WAS WRONG! The ends hook up easily to my bathroom faucet with NO leaking. The watering-end shuts off with no leaking on the wood floor. I'm also pretty happy with the fire-hose materials the hose is made of.

When I'm done I put the hose in the tub to drain and shrink back to it's original size. I hold up the hose to facilitate drainage. It's much lighter than a normal outdoor hose, it's much more flexible and it doesn't leak and it's not annoying. How's that for praise???

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Kohleria Ryskan

 This is Kohleria Ryskan. (One other post has a typo, so if you are looking up this variety, it's not spelled with a "t")

The fuzzzzzzzy buds are too awesome to describe in words. I like the Gesneriad habit of having hairy blooms and stems and this Kohleria is one of the coolest.

 I like everything about this flower... the color contrast, the very, very red stems.....

The bud expands as it's maturing to look more like most other Kohleria varieties, but it's still got some interesting color and texture.

It opens into a nice, bright flower too!

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Gloxinia perennis

This first photo is property of the Gesneriad Reference Web.  http://www.gesneriads.ca/

I have a cool flower blooming in my plant room this week and it so happens that the Ges. Reference Web has some interesting commentary on this flower. I quote from them: "Gloxinia perennis is a rare example of a "perfume flower".  The perfume droplets produced by the flower at the base of the corolla are collected by male bees, and used to mark swarm areas and attract females.  During the course of collecting the perfume the bees effect pollination of the flowers.  While rare in the Gesneriaceae, numerous orchids use similar mechanisms for attraction of pollinators."

 My plant, which seems to be a robust grower, is just coming into bloom now this fall. The blooms are simply glorious because of their fuzz and their size!

 As you can see the flower is handsomely large and a cool shade of lavender!

If I were a bee I'm sure I would really like the season these are in bloom. I've not detected the scent yet, but I understand that it is sort of like spearmint.

I look forward to seeing if I can detect the fragrance soon from my flowers.

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African Violets 'Yukako', 'Frozen in Time', Harmony's 'Lil Stinker' and Streptocarpus 'Tutti Frutti'

 These are the "treasures" I brought back from the WI Chapter's African Violet growers show in Madison, WI last weekend at the Olbrich Conservatory.

The blooms are a bit travel weary but still, they are awesome flowers and I can't wait to see them growing at my house.

This is the very interesting African violet 'Yukako' with the green chimera stripe!

Another on the green theme... African violet 'Frozen in Time' which I think is just awesomely cool.

 A new Streptocarpus introduction by Nancy Braun called 'Tutti Frutti'. This might be my single favorite color combination on a Strep. ever. Again, the blossom is a bit abused by being stuffed into a closed box for a 400 mile drive, but 'ya know', it is still very lovely!

 This is Harmony's 'Little Stinker'. The variegation on the leaves is said to be chimera variegation. This is very interesting and only a few cultivars seem to have this type of leaf patterning. I was told by the grower of this plant that it needs to be kept cool. I will give that my best shot but I'm a little worried that all the variegation will go away.

Did you know that temperature affects the amount of variegation that shows up on the leaves???

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Mystery Tubers From Seed

I'm always intrigued when I go into the plant room. Almost every visit provides something interesting to look at or find that I wasn't necessarily expecting. This time was no different!

I mat water in my trays and I haven't changed the mat as often as I usually do because I was seeing some seedlings growing on the moist surface. (You might have noticed that...)

 I was curious to see if I could get the seedlings parted from the mat without tearing off all the roots. When the plants were very small I didn't have much success so I waited a little longer thinking that with a little more top growth, I might just be able to separate them.

I came to find a sweet little surprise!

The baby plantlets in this tray all have tubers. You  can see the small, tan, rounded little lumps where the roots start? Those are in fact the small tubers forming already.

I've put a few of what I extracted into Solo cups and they seemed to take the transition with grace. I'll grow them out and see what it is that I actually got. Surprise!  

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State Fair Show 2013

Can you believe it's the Great Minnesota State Fair time again???


Here are some gesneriads on display at the Fair in the Horticulture Building on Thurs. and Friday Aug. 22-23, 2013!

 This is pretty cool, and HOW DO YOU GET THE PLANT IN THE BOTTLE??

 A Streptocarpus or two for your approval!

Nice plants!

 It's a sign that says:

Join us at our first spring show on April 26-27, 2014!

Our first in at least 20 years that is... we're going to dazzle and amaze and you wouldn't want to miss that, would you?

 Here's a little slice of a "hot" dish!

Well, it's hot enough to win best design!

More fun with Gesneriads

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PS: Thanks to Sharon J. for the pix for this and the NSAVCTC blog! Thank you!

What's Bloomin', Achimenes mexicana, xSmithicodonia 'Heartland's Joy', Sinningia defoliata and More

This is one of my favorite flowers this summer. It's Achimenes mexicana. This rhizomatous plant produces flowers an inch and a half wide and the color contrast between the flower and the foliage is really striking.

This one should be grown by everyone!

 I got a Streptocarpella 'white'. It's not the whole name but it is what was on the label. This thing is always covered with flowers and it's a show-off. The plant down to the lower right is a Str. saxorum.

 The next two pix are of a nice Kohleria that I really like the color of. It's Kohleria 'Beltane'.

The pink tubes and the spotted lime green face make it a pretty cool flower to grow.

 I also like the buds. They are as good as the flower, fading from dark green to yellow to orange.

The plant seems to be one of those that should be pinched to keep it a little less leggy. Oh, it's so easy to forget to pinch some of these things... lol.

 Meet xSmithicodonia 'Heartland's Joy'. This is a baby that is already blooming. The day that Dale Martens got to do the Happy Hybridizer's Dance for this one was truly a really great day!

 Achimenes 'Ambroise Verschaffelt' must have danced about his flower too. It doesn't show up anywhere near as cool in the photograph as it does in person.

It took some patience, but after a couple of years waiting, the Sinningia defoliata is getting it's large leaves. They look like Streptocarpus leaves and I was fooled when I was thinking I put a Strep in the wrong tray. I haven't had the plant bloom yet, but I'm waiting.

I know it's not a Streptocarpus though, it is a Sinningia because of the tubers it's making. This was started from seed from the Seed Fund. 

 I've also had the revelation that I like Eucodonias a whole lot! They bloom and almost never have any troubles. They do their thing, die down, make plenty of rhizomes and then start all over again after you've shared some of the rhizomes.

This one is Eucodonia 'Makie'. I really like the contrast in the flower color with the dark purple edge and the very white center. And, the veining on the leaves is nice too. I only have a baby, but this one will definitely be one that I continue to grow and enjoy.

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Hosta Convention Winner!

 We have another Gesneriad Society member to celebrate with! Member Rita M. is also part of the Hosta Society and was recently at the Midwest Regional Hosta Society show and convention near Chicago.

She entered some of her plants in various divisions and won!

This artistic arrangement named 'Skyline' is stunning. 

Rita also won the grand champion of the 'cut leaf' portion of the show plus the educational display portion which we don't have a photo of right now.

Congrats to Rita!

Many of the Gesneriad Society members are also members of other plant organizations like the Hosta Society, Orchid Society, Rose Society, Carnivorous Plant Society, Mushroom Society, African Violet Society and more! There's a lot to love about getting into a plant group!

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Growing Gesneriads Outdoors in Minnesota

Here are a few Gesneriads that summer outdoors in Minnesota. They seem to do very well and require almost no care.

In fact compared to the indoor ones, they need much less fussing and tending to than the ones growing in the rather warm plant room.

This is one of my all time favorite gesneriads and if you have a little room to grow one out, you can't find an easier or better one that gives a ton of color.

This is Aeschynanthus splendidus.

The orange is fabulous! It will bloom in the window in the winter too.

 I don't remember which "lipstick" this one is but it blooms at the tips like the A. splendidus and it's bright red. A nice contrast with the green leaves.

 If you think we're being Aeschynanthus snobs, then how about a Nematanthus 'Tropicana'? If you're careful about how much direct sun it gets, it will tolerate quite a lot but not burn the leaves.

The "hanging Gesneriads" don't seem to like hot sunlight in any case though.

The gesneriads hang with the other more "ornamental outdoor hanging baskets" like Impatiens, so they mix and match with ease. They get much fuller than they would indoors too. So, if you have a few that are a bit lacking after winter, remember to put them out to rejuvenate themselves in the summer.


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Petrocosmea rossetifolia, holy cow!

Gesneriad society member Bill M. sent us a couple of rather impressive shots of this Petrocosmea rosettifolia. Grown by Julie H., it's a wonderfully large and perfectly grown specimen.

You can see by the ruler that it's over 6 1/2 inches across the top surface too!

There is a mathematical relationship to how the plant's leaves are positioned. You might note that it reminds you of how pine cones look also.

These are very interesting plants to grow. They require cooler temps. than some gesenriads and very good drainage. They can be propagated by leaves like an African violet too. That makes it easy to get more to share with friends!

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Art Exhibition!

Congratulations to one of our own!

Gilvanete S. has an art exhibit at the Oakdale Nature Center from now through the end of June.

 The address is Oakdale Discovery Center and Nature Preserve 4444 Hadley Ave. N. Oakdale, MN 55128.




Stop on by and ENJOY! A great way to spend an afternoon!

Thanks to Gil for sharing!!!!!