Ok, this was a really interesting accidental happening. I was taking the Aeschynanthus splendidus down from the hook so I could water it. The flower clusters you can see opened between the last time I took the flower down for a thorough watering and when they were just getting to be good size buds.
The photos can't show this incident well at all, but I found that the tubes of the flowers were all filled with liquid!I accidently spilled most of it out the day prior to taking this photo, and to take a picture of your own hand with sticky water dripping down is a bit of a trick, but here it is!
The flowers didn't just have a drop or two in them, they were full of nectar. It tasted very good too. A humming bird would have been very thrilled and excited. Here are some pictures of something I was interested in for a long time. This is xSinvana 'Heartland's Mavrick'. It's a cross between another xSinvana 'Mount Magazine" and a mini Sinningia 'Los Angeles".
A xSinvana is a cross between a Sinningia and a Paliavana.
The flowers are big and held up well by the stem. My little plant started out about 6 months ago from a small cutting that, after being sent in the mail, was pretty limp and sad. The tube is nice and long and has the Gesneriad fuzzy flower thing going, as you can see. And I have found with a few Gesneriad flowers that the very bottom will have a stripe of a different shade or color. The bottom of this one has the white stripe. A curious thing...And this is Sinningia guttata. I love the spots! I also am very interested that the flower has the spotting at the base by the calyx and then goes pretty solid-color until you get to the flower's face. It's a very nice contrast in color.
Now.... what if you crossed a Sinvana with a guttata? Would you get a Sinvanatta?
Questions? Comments????
Well, how's this for brightening a rainy day? This is Sinningia speciosa 'Cabo Frio'.
What a spectacular plant. The leaves span over 17" across and the flowers themselves are 1 7/8" long. Grower Terry K. got the seed from a place you (as gesneriad enthusiast) will want to support: Mauro Peixots's Brazil Plants. http://www.brazilplants.com/ Congratulations on the lovely plant Terry!
Another site to interest the Sinningia lover is http://www.burwur.net/sinns/sinns.htm
Sinningias are tuber forming plants that will grow under fluorescent lights, even from seed. And as you can see from the photos, make a spectacular display. If you haven't tried these out yet, it's something that should be on your list. If you don't have room for a plant that gets 17 inches across, there are hundreds if not thousands of smaller Sinningias both miniature and micro-miniature too. This is a goose looking for an appropriate nesting site for himself and his mate. It's nice to note that it's April 14th, 2013 and the average high temperatres for the day should be well into the upper 50's.
What happened to spring?
