Sinningia 'Diva', xPhinastema 'California Dreaming', African violet 'Neverfloris', Kohleria 'Tom Thumb', S. 'Magic Moment', xSinvana 'Mt. Magazine', S. 'Amizade', Strep. 'Watermellon Wine', rhizomes, S. 'Stone's Yulia'

HELLO! 
Now that I'm not quite so busy with other club stuff for the Twin Cities Chapter of the Gesneriad Society, I can post more fun stuff on the blog.

Here are some pix of what's blooming right now in the ole' plant room.

 This handsome thing is Sinningia 'Diva'. It's an example of a corola that has changed into "extra petals" to give the flower a double look. You will not see the sepals at the base of the flower. The flowers are large and it's quite showy!

 This year I finally got xPhinastema 'California Dreaming' to grow into something! Mine is still small but it's got big plans.

The plant is rhizomatous and comes back year to year from its rhizomes. You will like the very dark, almost black leaves with the electric pink flowers. This plant stays petite and grows great under lights. You want it!

African violet 'Neverfloris' just gets buds and no flowers open. Weird. It does indeed have the charm of growing into a nicely shaped show plant (not that you can tell from my violet efforts) but you can believe me. LOL

 Kohleria 'Tom Thumb' does stay smaller than the 3 foot cousins that I seem to get off of ebay. Nice flowers and a more reasonable size.

 The flash (which wasn't supposed to flash) highlighted the white hair on the outside of the Sinningia 'Magic Moment' blooms so nicely I let it happen.

What a nice plant this is... You want one of these too.

 Ok, I'm in love!

This is xSinvana 'Mount Magazine'. The xSinvanas are awesome! The flowers are large and pretty and stay on the plant a long time.

I was unlucky and lost xSin. 'Mt. Nebo' but hope to find it again this fall on ebay. The are pretty cool plants!

This is a gift. It's labeled Sinningia 'Amizade'. The foliage is a different color from the description but it's beautiful and it's healthy. I'm excited to see it flower.

 Streptocarpus 'Watermelon Wine' is a stunning flower. It's really this red and stays nicely on the plant. My plant is only a baby but I'm looking forward to seeing multiple flowers on the plant. I got this from an auction on eBay from plant_maniac in Iowa. Nice stufffffff!

 I got a lovely Smithiantha 'Jimi Hendrix' from Gary's and it bloomed and then died back. I was hoping I hadn't done anything awful to it, but it was healthy and had rhizomes in the pot! All of the rhizomes from two different plants of 'Jimi' have pink on one end and the light green on the other. Curious!

 I started a baby plant of Vanhouttea lanata. I can't seem to get the big one to routinely flower, but the foot long baby is happily making flowers. 

The are about an inch long and very pretty with their spots.

 Ok, YOU WANT THIS ONE. This is a Sinningia 'Stone's Yulia'.

it's got the sexy stripe on the bottom of the flower and it's a very compact, polite and lovely plant with the dark foliage.

This one is a keeper! I've recently switched to keeping Sinningias in bonsai soil mix. 1-1-1 poultry grit, NAPA floor dry (DE in just the right size) and bark chips/bits.

I am surely loosing less tubers to rot now. You do have to water relatively consistantly, but it seems to be worth it!

Comments??? 
Questions????

Beyond Awesome, Medellin Columbia Wild Kohleria

 I just about can't get any more excited by a travel photograph sent to me personally!

Look at what you can find if you walk around a few miles outside of the city of Medellin, Columbia part way up the Andes mountains!

Apparently there are all sorts of things that look similar to this and even come in pink. I'm not perfectly sure that this IS a Kohleria, but from extensive conversations about things like this, I'm pretty sure it is.

It's got soft leaves with "fuzz" and you can see the "hariy" flowers for yourself. It's got five petals and you can see the calyx to the left side has five "divisions". I wish I could maginify the photo just a little more to see what the stamen look like.

Pretty cool, eh?

Achimenes 'Golden Jubilee', Alsobia sp 'Chiapias', Kohleria and a Rhipsalis eliptica For Good Measure!

 Let's start out this with a really lovely Kohleria. These are a couple of beauties from the Janice O. collection!

Kohleria are a rhizomatous plant which is defined by "TheFreeDictionary" as rhi·zome (r z m ). n. A horizontal, usually underground stem that often sends out roots and shoots from its nodes.

You will note that the flowers are wonderfully fuzzy!

 This is a rather newly found Alsobia called Alsobia sp 'Chiapas'. Ron Myhr's Gesneriad Reference Web (which is a phenomenal reference tool) says:

Plants in the genus Alsobia are considered by some botanists to belong to the genus Episcia, and this is the preference of the Smithsonian.  I have placed it in Alsobia for consistency with the rest of the site, and because this has become the typical practice.  

This particularly newly introduced species has not yet been assigned a specific name, but is similar to Alsobia punctata.  Some have referred to it as Alsobia sp. 'Chiapas', after the location where it was found, but it is best referred to by its accession number, USBRG 1994-005. 

The fimbriate lip on this species is also characteristic of some other species, like Paradrymonia ciliosa, while the frilly edges to all lobes is found in Alsobia dianthiflora.

 How about this Achimenes 'Golden Jubilee'??? Always bright, large flowers on compact and fairly upright growing foliage.

 Now this, although not a gesneriad is pretty cool too. It's a Rhipsalis elliptica. It's a member of the Cactaceae family native to Brazil.

It's just starting to come into bloom now!


Questions and comments????

Gesneriads and Poison Dart Frogs!

 I almost never see gesneriads outside of club meetings and fellow enthusiast's collections. I was pleasantly surprised when I was going through Como Conservatory's display for children about various types of frogs. This display highlighted the colorful frogs which are listed with their photos above the display case in the top photo.

When I was looking for the frogs I saw a familiar looking blossom and sure enough it was a little blooming Kohleria of some sort!

I just thought other gesneriad "people" should know and be on the lookout for other uses for the world's best family of plants!

Kohleria 'Lemon Demon'

 This is a rather interesting flower. Kohleria 'Lemon Demon' is what this plant was labeled and there is some question to it's validity. But whatever the name, the picture is pretty curious.

There is a plant at the CBS greenhouse that should be in bloom again soon and a nice photo of fresh blossoms will follow.

The June Meeting, Kohleria 'Lemon Demon' and Other Awesome Things

The June meeting was full of great 'show and tell' plants brought in by members!!! This is Sinningia micans! The big leaves and striking color of the flowers are impressive!
The flower stem was much more upright when Sue put it in her car. This is a 6 inch pot.

Because of the bright background light this Columnea purpurevittata doesn't show up to it's potential at all. With apologies, it will be properly photographed for everyone's enjoyment soon!

This is a delightful Achimenes 'Emma Lawn' named after the hybridizer's mother. What striking flowers!

This is an unnamed seedling Strep. that comes from a self of a cross of Iceberg Blues x Guidelines. Most of the offspring were purple, but this little one showed off and came up with lots of bright white flowers!

Again with the photo not showing off the plant well, this is not Sylvia but a very distinct bright and rich colored Russian hybrid called Versace.

How about this?? The flower didn't fade after the usual few days but has stayed fresh while the pollination took place and the seed pod formed. The flower is approximately three months old already? Weird!

The program for the evening was really excellent. Mauro Peixoto of Mauro Peixoto's Brazilian Plants put together a PowerPoint presentation on Sinningia species. The photos were excellent.

This is a Kohleria 'Lemon Demon' showing off the yellow on the face of the flower, with purple spots and a vibrant violet tube. The plants makes lots of flower.

This was hybridized by Jon Dixon, past president of the Gesneriad Society. He gav e me a plant when I visited him a couple of years ago, and we have been getting just violet flowers. Time to ask Jon if this is the real Lemon Demon.
And we have great news! Patrick Worley joined us last night. We had lots of fun and we are delighted to meet him at last. Patrick was a member of the Twin Cities chapter back in the 70's. He is looking for gesneriads plants, especially rhizomatous ones. Janice brought in a large rambling xSmithicodonia "Heartland's Joy' hybridized by Dale Martens, in bloom with lovely large growing purple flowers. It went home with Patrick.
Welcome back.

Kohleria eriantha

Now THIS is a Kohleria! The large flowers are about the size of a quarter across and you can see from the photo that it produces an abundance of them.

 Grown in ample light it will stay reasonably compact. The green leaves with red edges show a bit of a silvery color which contrasts nicely with the fuzzy orange flowers with the yellow face dotted with more orange spots.

The closeup shows the fine little hairs on the flower, some still holding on to moisture from the last watering.

What's in a Name?

This plant assures me it is called 'Lono'. It argued with me about it.... it  showed me it's birth certificate (stake) but when I compared this (whose color is pretty true to actual) it doesn't LOOK like any 'Lono' I see photos of.

Make me happy and identify the suspicious character in my yard please.

Kohleria 'Lono' or ???