Some pictures of S. leucotricha to show the flowers on a mature specimen.

Showing the whole plant in a 6 inch pot. There were 7 stems with flowers open.
Click on a picture and open in a new window or tab, the larger image above has one flower in focus so you can see the hairs on the flower. The one below shows the hairs on the leaves.


This plant stayed in bloom for two months, from first flower until the last ones faded.
It is at least 5 years old. For the last several it has been in a greenhouse and had spent some summers out on my balcony behind a 40% shade cloth. The balcony gets full sun from around 10 am until 2 pm. In the greenhouse it gets about 50% of full sun in summer. It blooms about twice a year.
See the next post to see seedlings and a tuber being repotted.

December 23, 2010
Chas

I received three comments, here are the
Replies:
I took the photos. Please ask permission to use them. I'm thinking of printing one for an exhibit, to show what the species can do. Hopefully the seedlings will be on the sales table this spring.
I'd like to make this species available for everyone who wants one.
There also may be seedlings of S. reitzii and iarae.

My sinningia potting mix starts with the usual gesneriad mix of equal parts perlite, vermiculite and good Canadian peat moss. I add one part or more perlite and/or turkey grit for drainage, and a little charcoal for good luck. I use both the small and the coarse perlite, it all seems to work.
I put extra drainage material in the bottom of the pot, and sometimes use an orchid pot for the extra drainage holes.
I see the roots growing better in the faster draining mix. Clear pots are just so I can see the root system growing. Clay pots dry faster than plastic.
I prefer to use a pot 1 inch wider than the old pot. When I've gone from a 4 inch to a 6, or a 6 to an 8 inch pot, some of the tubers have rotted. The new soil stays wet a long time, and it takes a few months for the roots to fill the new soil. Once they do, the plant is fine.
That is one reason not to repot until the tuber fills the pot. We water heavily and often, so overwatering is always a risk. If you water only as the pot is starting to dry, you can use a more moisture retentive mix and repot before the tuber is pushing out the sides of the pot.
As always, what works in your growing conditions is best.

RO water has almost all the minerals removed. Jerry Fischer at Orchids Limited tells us to add 10% tap water to add back enough calcium, magnesium and trace minerals. Or add a little fertilizer - he sells his excellent blend as Green Jungle. U of Michigan formulas for RO water are fine. I can wait much longer to repot plants when using RO water. Also you can put a little agricultural lime or dolomitic lime in the soil mix.
I found the species sinningias grew fine with tap water in St Paul or with the RO water. If you're using tap water, I would flush the pot with plain tap water every couple months to remove mineral build-up.

More about macrostachya

This Sinningia is at the CBS greenhouse in a bright spot, the whitewash on the glass roof filtering the light to about half of full sun. The first photo shows the whole plant. Hard to get into a single photo, it always has leaves- thick, slightly fuzzy with strong petioles. Can be quite a mound. Sometimes you can't see the tuber. This summer it is a bit thin. It was in too much shade in May until sometime in June. That's its best growing leaves season. This species needs lots of light to grow short stems and flower well.
The orange flowers in the background are an Aeschynanthus- more on that one in another post.

The flowers are small, about an inch long, and screaming orange. A spike can have more than a dozen open at once, and blooms for a month or so.
A great specimen for a greenhouse. Don't do this at home. In the house, it puts out one or two long weak stems that grow all the way to a window in a desperate search for full sun. In nature, it becomes a great mound of leaves.

This plant has had 20 or more spikes open at once, and well over 200 flowers open.

The last photo shows the 11 inch tuber, which almost fills the pot. Forgot to rotate the photo, so its on its side. May fix this later.
It is at least 10 years old. The tuber will grow rapidly when outdoors or in a bright greenhouse. I have summered this one outside, and another about the same size.
The stems do not dry up and fall off, like most sinningias, but remain for several years and become woody on the outside [still green inside]. They are rather brittle, like many sinningias. I trim the back as needed to keep the plant to about 3 feet across. The new shoots from the tuber can be seen in this photo.
Strong sunlight is needed to get a large tuber. This one grew 3 pot sizes, from 4 to 6 to 8 inch pots in about 4 years, going outside a couple of those summers. It was shaded there during the middle of the day.
This was grown by several members of the local GS. I got them when their owners sought a brighter home for them. Lots of gesneriads at the greenhouse came from the GS members.

Some other species of Sinningias need a lot of light to produce a large tuber- leucotricha, iarae, insularis, curtiflora, leopoldii, calcaria and many others take full sun in nature. Thick, dark leaves suggests tolerance of strong light and heat. A very bright spot will help them grow rapidly.
Others like bright light but shelter from the mid-day sun- cardinalis, speciosa, eumorpha, guttata, conspicua, richii and reitzii- a thinner leaf suggests less light, less heat tolerance.

**** KID IN A CANDY STORE ****

Ok, so this is going to be the first of a few posts that originate from the U of M CBS greenhouse tour.

Cola and Chocolate (Cacao) plants. Click to enlarge the photos.
How much fun can you have if you are a plant geek??? The answer is "more fun than is usually legal in 28 states!!!!" If you missed this event, we have to feel sorry for you! It was a wonderful chance to really take some time and look at all sorts of plants that you read about but have never seen in person. When's the last time you felt dangerous and gathered a Water Hemlock, Curare, and an Oleander all in the same room? How about Coffee, Cacao and Cola? (All delicious at lunch and somewhat "stimulating"!)  Or, if you like the more exotic, carrion flowers and corpse flowers (in multiple flavors) all gathered for you amusement????

Curare and Hemlock photos. Click to enlarge them.

Well.... we saw them all and many more really intriguing things. There were gesneriads too! More photos and posts to follow. But now it's time "roll the credits"! This entire experience was only possible due to the generosity and time of one person ... a large thanks to Charles for letting us have the run of "plant nirvana central"!!!

What did any one else find that was their favorite to look at? Comment away!