Bringing in the Gesneriads from their summer outdoors! And, who knew that Sinningias made tubers so quickly outdoors?

 Here are some pots of gesneriads that went outdoors for the summer.

I had heard quite a few times that gesneriads, especially Sinningias, grow very well outside. Here in Minnesota the season is short and it was especially hot this year but they did seem to grow well.

 Here's a shot of the pots with a Sinningia macrostachya hanging down and if you will notice at the very bottom, blooming with the red tubular flowers.

 The Sinningia that just got popped out of the ground was looking good, note the size of the tuber on this one.

 Ok, so the post is mostly about the tubers! I was getting a kick out of the fact that most were filling the pot from side to side.

If you can see it the tuber starts at the left and goes to the very right side of the pot.

 Yep.... more tubers. This one made multiple tubers from a Sinningia reitzii.











Couldn't resist this shot... you can see the plastic pot distorting right before it pops.

Like this pot... it popped right open and this is what was inside of this Sinningia tubiflora.

Apparently it makes a roundish tuber plus underground stems of some sort also. I don't quite know if you can take these apart now or if you have to let this make more of a colony of plants.











Here's a shot of the tubers which can be separated from each other. They were laying side by side like garlic cloves do.

The outdoor collection is waiting to get into some trays for bringing back inside. They've been treated with Imidacloprid, let's hope it works.

These gesneriads do not seem to get any bug pests or get eaten by such terrors as Japanese beetles, which even tasted the Voo Doo lilies this year... blech!!!!

 Although it looks a lot like Sinningia tubiflora (which it probably has in the ancestry, it is Sinningia 'Apricot Bouquet'. It made a great tuber from only the cutting that got placed outdoors in June.

 The Sinningia macrostachya got long and will probably be trimmed. This Sinningia is especially forgiving and will root easily from cuttings, make giant tubers and won't rot when many other Sinningias seem to.

And lastly (for now) but not least-ly.... a Sinningia cardinalis cutting that went outdoors and managed to bloom! It's in nice shape and will look great under the lights!


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Sinningia 'Diva', Scampering Kittens, African violets outdoors, and Columnea 'Red Skelton'

 This is Sinningia 'Diva' that was given to me by Patrick Worley.  I don't know where he got it or it's background, but it's very lovely and has a good double effect.

The plant is medium in height and not too sprawly!

 Winston is trying his best to look innocent while hiding his sister who is frolicking behind him... note the tail and ears....

This is Ivy. She's wondering why some weirdo human is screaming and shouting and jumping around like the chipmunks do outside. She's confused.

 This is Walter the Gardening Cat. He knows that it takes a more subtle approach to be a gardening cat. First you have to lull the unsuspecting "humans"into a false sense of calm before proceeding to "garden". He knows that if he's very cute and in his box... he'll be all but ignored while he's actually trying to "help" with the gardening.

 This is the dish garden from the spring show. It sits outside in the rain and wind and dappled shade and the African violet grows just fine, thank-you-very-much! So much for the superstition about ever getting any water on the leaves or changes in temperatures... they do just fine as an outside plant as long as they don't have too much direct sun.

The blooms also seem to be a brighter intensity of color. The one drawback is the little chipmunk bites out of the front two leaves however.... oh well....

 I was so excited to see some orange in one of the trays yesterday. It is Columnea 'Red Skelton' which seems to have HUGE blooms on a small plant.

Not bad, eh???


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Diastema 'Red Falls' sp., Saintpaulia shumensis, S. Raspberry Drizzle, Columnea scheideana, Kohleria 'Rattle Snake, Kohleria 'Plum Pudding'

 This is something new and different. It's one of the very recently discovered gesneriads. I don't have a lot of info. on this plant but I believe it's like all the rest of the new and exciting gesneriads... it's found growing on limestone rocks near a stream in a southern local, perhaps Ecuador.

It needs high humidity and growing it in an enclosure in necessary.

The plant is small growing and the flowers only about 1/2" long. They are electric red though and quite showy.

It is not widely in circulation, although in 2009 it was shown at the Gesneriad Society flower show.

Always nice to see that new things are being discovered, even now.... which makes the point about needing to be very conscious about conserving habitat not only for animals but for plants as well.

 From another continent entirely, this is a species violet. Saintpaulia shumensis is a very sweet plant that has the two tone flowers that seem to be borne in pairs on the stem.

This one is new to me also and I'll try not to kill it.

 The bloom is quite light unlike some of the other species violets. I wonder if it was used in any of the modern hybrid crosses? Most of the modern hybrids have ionantha in them but this one is nicely rosette shaped and the flowers are very attractive.

 For all you miniature Sinningia fanciers... this is Sinningia 'Raspberry Drizzle'. The flowers are lovely and the foliage compact.

This one would make a nice addition for even those with a limited amount of space.

 I'm still hooked on this Columnea herthae (formerly lehmannii). The blooms are fuzzy and yellow and really... you need this one too. Rob's usually has it available.

 An old friend and a species too. This big dude is Columnea scheideana. The blooms are someone muted and tend to hang under the foliage but the flower itself is about 3" long and nicely patterned. Worth the trouble to find it a spot. I find that it does better under a dome than out in the open though, but that might just be my house.

 This is the flower of Kohleria 'Rattle Snake'. I was really charmed by the color combination of the flowers and the fact that the plant blooms at a reasonable size. It seems to stay pretty compact and doesn't get too floppy like some Kohlerias do.

And last but not least in the "what's blooming today" list... this is Kohleria 'Texas Plum Pudding'. I didn't give this one enough light and it flops all over but the bloom count and size of the flower make up for all of that. I think with a good amount of light it would make a great plant.

This one has the slightly re-curved petals and it's a great magenta color.


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Pearcea v. Eduador, cobananthus calochlamys, Sinningia 'Prudence Risley' and more.

This is the flower from Pearcea v. Ecuador. It's got great contrast between the yellow and the bright red tones in the flower.

The plant has dark leaves covered with redish hairs and it grows well with lots of humidity.

I have it in a domed tray and it's really quite happy and blooming at a pretty young age.

To keep it reasonably compact, higher light is required.

This is a great little Columnea that is called Sundancer. Bright yellow blooms and it's still a very small plant. Probably in the same pot it came in from Rob's in the spring.

Nice polite leaves and form and the flowers are such a great shade of yellow. You probably need this one too.

This thing is quite the plant. It's a Cobananthus calochlamys. I've tried four of them and I finally have some success. The description in the catalog says it can be a windowsill plant and that might be my problem. I might have kept them too moist.

Currently this one is in a terrarium however because I don't want it to accidentally go totally dry.

The calyx is a bright orange and comes out a long time before the bloom.

The bloom is nicely fuzzy and the opening is reasonably tiny making me think that something with a long tongue must be it's pollinator. Maybe butterflies like this plant.

The fish are done and gone. The 55 gallon tank is now a terrarium again. It was a viquarium, an aquarium and now.... ta da.... it's a terrarium. It and four other tanks are now up and humidity filled. Hopefully many of the weirder species will enjoy this sort of environment.

And finally for part 1 of "What's blooming today", a Sinningia 'Prudence Risley is having a good time being red.

You really do want to order one of these from Kartuz. They are pretty nice plants. A medium size and only a little floppy (which might be my fault).

Questions, comments????

We've Got a Community Education Class!

Hot off the presses! We have a community ed. class in October!

I was pretty excited to see the class offerings book come in the mail yesterday. Now if anyone signs up for the class we're going to have us some old tyme Gesneriad fun! (I wonder if that has any old-tyme music associated with that?)

Let's hope people DO like African violets and blooming house plants in the south metro area.


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Nematanthus albus 'Santa Theresa' and Eucodonia andrieuxii?

 This is Nematanthus albus 'Santa Theresa'. WOW! As you can see this is a bit of an upright grower and not quite as much of a trailer as I was expecting.

The flower is simply huge and it has an incredible fragrance that strikes me as citrus and a little Lemon Pledge.

 The flower has really pretty markings in the throat that apparently attracts Euglossine bees.

 I've got this particular plant under a dome with quite a high humidity and constant moisture. I am a bit hesitant to take it out of the high humidity and see if it is comfortable in ordinary house humidity and temperature.

 I'm pretty enthusiastic about this plant and Kartuz has offered it in the past. I'm not sure if it's also offered by either Rob's or Lyon's, but it would be worth looking around for this one I think.

 Also blooming was a really sweet Eucodonia which I think is andrieuxii but I'm not quite sure of the specific species. It's got the small flowers (compared to something like 'Adele' and it's not nearly as red or fuzzy as one like Woolly Morrion.

This is a close up of the flowers. Note the little landing strip of nice dots that will undoubtedly guide a pollinator to the "good stuff" in the middle of the Oreo (or in this case the middle of the Eucodonia).

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POND TOUR!

How about one of these in the back yard?

The Minnesota Water Garden Society is having the annual Pond and Garden Tour!

Check it out in the Minneapolis Startribune  Lifestyle section by clicking on the link.

One of the featured ponds is this one in New Brighton owned by Sue and Tom Chorn. There is a drop of 22 feet from the top of the waterfall down to a 1000 gallon pond filled with fish and plants. Wow! Get more information about tickets for self guided tours by clicking on the link.

Questions??? Comments?