June Meeting Minutes

The June 22nd meeting started with 10 members present. We started out the evening by talking about the Titan arum at the CBS greenhouses and the one at Gustavus. We hope to go visit Perry (they named the Gustavus Titan) for a field trip at some point in the coming year when it blooms. A side field trip to visit a very plant-based and related manufacturing plant in New Ulm was also discussed.

The show and tell portion of the meeting featured S. J.'s Sinningia with large yellow blooms. Some discussion as to just which Sinningia it was is still being considered. It was not reitzii but could be conspicua or another. C. H. had a S. reitzii in bloom (which has been in bloom for over three years), a S. Leucotricha with the auxiliary set of leaves growing, a S. iarae seedling cup with the babies growing nicely and orchids featuring the yellow Promenaea xanthina.

Ax Man had head mounted magnifiers for only $8.00. Those were cool. Out business meeting then started about 7:08 p.m.

Two hard copies of the minutes, which were also posted on the blog, were ok'ed. The treasurer stated the amount in the treasury (which is available to members and not posted on the internet.) There was some discussion about awards to be given out at shows for prize winning gesneriad entries. Although we haven't given a State Fair Show award in the past, we motioned and seconded an award of $25.00 this year because there will be no judged show at Northtown in October. The prize will be for a "Best Foliage" gesneriad.

There was an amendment to that award discussion. We will talk to J. N. and the executive committee will have the authority to amend or adjust the award as appropriate for that show. The amendment was approved, and then the original motion was approved.

As an affiliate we will have a "club table" at the Fair. It will be staffed by volunteers similar to past years. K. L. will have a light stand and directions for it's construction there also. Members are asked to bring along some plant material when they volunteer so that they have "hands-on" material to show the public. Volunteers can talk about whatever gesneriad related topic they like.

We had a thorough discussion about the need to have printed promotional material at the State Fair and other shows. We could use updated brochures and possibly business cards along with new signage and acrylic stands to display things at the shows. There was a motion and second to allocate up to $75.00 for new promotional materials such as printed material, the stands to display such material and other related expenses. The vote passed. Members volunteered to look into updating materials and preparing various needed signs etc.

We are the Twin Cities Chapter of the Gesneriad Society. The meeting was done at 7:52 p.m.

Mauro's seeds were ordererd and we have some Sinningia coming, as well as N. gregarius, Streptocarpus lilliputiana, and a Gesneria of some sort. We thanked D. for the delicious dessert!!!

Our program featured Niphea oblonga. We had supurb examples brought by J. O. and C. H. from the greenhouse. J. O. grows them in very high light, close to the fluorescent bulbs with lights on at least 12 hours a day. The plants can be a little brittle and should be staked, if the grower wants an upright growth habit, when the plants are young. They bloom with a nice white blossom that is very reminiscent of an African violet.

Episcias were discussed. To get the most bloom remove the stolons and grow as a single crown plant. These can be staked also. 'Pink Panther' was shown and to get the pink colored flowers a blue E. lilacina type and a red cupreata are crossed.

Episcias need fresh soil to thrive. They like moisture but with a LIGHT mix or sphagnum and nothing that packs down tightly. They have delicate and long roots. They need to be grown warm, over 55 deg. F. and some types prefer very high humidity.

May 25th Meeting Minutes

The meeting of the Twin City chapter of the Gesneriad club was a stunning success as usual. We had 12 folks drop by with one guest whom we would love to invite to come and join us as a member!

We had some fun show and tell plants brought in. One was a "whisk" fern which is a very old type plant - older than the ferns. We had a "Snake Skin" Kohleria from Janice which, as always, was perfectly grown. Clay had two streps that he hybridized. One was a kin to Showy Lady which has a fragrance and pink flowers... see blog photo from previous post. One was a purple flower with a delicate striping in the throat. Also, see blog photo.

Charles had a couple of fun things as usual! One was a species Episcia cupreata which comes from Central America. We had a succulent that I can't come up with the name of but whose photo is on the blog also. We had a Lycaste orchid which was large and wonderful. Check photo on the previous blog post.


The official meeting started at 6:55 pm and lasted till 7:15 pm. The treasury was noted and will be available to members offline. The checking now only has two names associated with it.

We motioned and seconded a plan to renew our affiliate membership with AVSM. A check will go to their treasurer (T.K.) We also made the motion and second to send the Gesneriad Society 2010 convention award like we have done in the past. Forty dollars will go to their treasurer J.M..

Old business included discussion of the fact that we donated to the church for use of the meeting space at Christmas time. ($50.00) We also talked about the plan to buy the 2006 convention CD for the club. It has at least three programs worth of information for our use. It's $15.00 which was motioned and seconded and passed.

There were nominations for officers. C. H. is nominated for president. No one is willing at this time to take the vice president's spot which means all will have to share with the planning of programs for the coming year. Secretary and treasurer will potentially stay the same next year. It was moved and seconded for a white paper vote for the positions.

Mark A. of Linder's emailed with a request for our club's information and membership contact material to be sent to their web resources site. We would be among other groups listed showing different community plant clubs and information sources. We were trying to track down a pamphlet to use to send material to Mark. ( As a side note, Mark was contacted, but hasn't responded to the email yet.)

Treats for June will be brought by Bob. Thank you Bob.

April Meeting Minutes

The April meeting had many wonderful slides of Sinningia. Some of the various Sinningia named were discussed and their differing horticultural needs pointed out.

Examples of the Sinningia we saw were, S. leopolidd, S.canescens, S. leutoricha, S. iarae, S. polyantha - (which humming birds like), S.calcaria, S. magnifica - (which looks like a cardinalis but is bigger), S. glazioviana - (which Clay uses in some crosses), S. hatschbachii, S. reitzii - (which used to be called Rechsteinaria), S. 
douglasii, S. insularis, S. rupicola, S. macropoda and S. laterita. Other crosses were discussed like S. "Bewitched" x S. calcaria which Mike brought to display.













The next photo is of S. iarae x a peloric red Sinningia. The crossis on the right side.

















The show and tell portion of the meeting had lots of wonderful Kohleria that were in bloom. A particularly large blooming variety is "Red Rider" that has very large blooms.

Here are two other photos.....

The business meeting started at 8:13 pm. There was no treasury report. Discussion about the fact that there were too many people still able to sign the checkbook would be looked into. There was discussion about the nomination of officers and who would be willing to fill various positions. The president can only serve one repeat term and we'll discuss this more at the May meeting. The secretary stays the same and so does treasurer for the coming year.

We made a motion to send $60.00 to Mauro and it was passed. We looked at the thank you notes from the show. The club events, such as the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden trip and Art in Bloom, times and locations were given.

No old business was brought up. We talked about the Friends sale at the State Fair grounds and noted times and dates of the sale. Clay would be working in the rare plant section on Friday. Sue was going to bring treats for the May meeting.

While we had the great pleasure of welcoming a new member, Dennis, from "down south" we also were very sad to hear that long time member Janet would no longer be coming regularly to meetings. She will have to come visit though!

The meeting was done at 8:35 pm.

March Meeting Minutes

The March 23, 2010 meeting was all about chocolate. We started out the meeting in the usual way with some show and tell and interesting plants. Stephanie brought a Crassula of some type that can overwinter outdoors. It came from the U of M greenhouses in approximately 1976. Clay shared a strep, MN Fireworks. It's magenta with a white throat and spots and really pretty.

The business meeting portion started at 6:50 pm. We had some talk about the new blog and have some interest in having members contribute to the blog by making posts of photos, comments, articles etc.

There was no old business and with 11 people attending we closed the meeting at 6:58 pm to get ready for the really interesting part of the program which was the CHOCOLATE!!!!!! Samples, of course, included!!!

The host for next month's meeting is either Janice with Baked Alaska for all or in lieu of that, Bob graciously said he would bring some treats.

Charles gave a WONDERFUL presentation on chocolate which will be written up on the blog by me. When Charles has a chance we'll update that blog post to make it more complete.