Interesting Stuff

This is pretty cool.... it's a Sinningia 'Polka Punch'. After only 15 days from when the cutting was inserted into a half perlite, half vermiculite mixture, a small tuber is already forming on the cut end of this stem.

This is even cooler. When taking home a new plant from the Sept. meeting a part of this Eucodonia broke off. Not having a spare pot at the time, it got stuck into another's pot and was left there for approximately 60 days. It recently got moved into a home of it's own and in that short amount of time it rooted, produced these rather good looking rhizomes and if you look a bit further up the stems, it also made some propagules. Plants are pretty good at making sure they survive.

xGloximannia 'She's Dancing' hybrid by Dale Martens

These are posts to Gesneriphiles about a new hybrid by Dale Martens.
John Boggan grew plants of xGloximannia 'She's Dancing' outdoors, and sent in photos.
You can go to his pictures on Flickr. The link is in his second post.
Dale grew hers indoors, and other GS members have grown this one.
It produces rhizomes, like its parents. All three species in this hybrid used to be in Gloxinnia.
Perhaps we will find rhizomes in the spring.

We can share some of the best of Gesneriphiles through this blog. Questions and comments would be great.
Charles, Twin Cities GS Chapter

From: John Boggan
To: Gesneriphiles
Date: Thu, 28 Oct 2010 16:38:20 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: [Gphiles] xGloximannia 'She's Dancing'

Just over a year ago, at the 2009 Gesneriad Society convention in Silver Spring, Dale Martens gave me a tiny rhizome of her new intergeneric, xGloximannia 'She's Dancing'. The plant took a long time to get established--largely due to neglect on my part--but eventually grew into a plant with handsome, glossy dark green foliage and an ever-elongating stem with large purple flowers with darker purple spots. By the time it finally went dormant in mid-winter it had produced three very large rhizomes and several smaller ones. This spring, I planted the three largest rhizomes together in one large pot to grow outdoors on my deck, and the smaller rhizomes individually to grow indoors under lights. The difference between the two groups of plants is amazing. The indoor plants grew much like the one I grew last year, and started to bloom in late summer. But the outdoor plants, which were grown in direct morning sun with very bright indirect light the rest of the day, grew bigger, and bigger, and bigger, and didn't start setting buds until about the same time the indoor plants were already blooming. The outdoor plants have now been blooming for about 3 weeks. Here is the first of two photos of the outdoor plant; for more (and bigger) photos go to my Flickr album, http://www.flickr.com/photos/dctropics. Dale can tell us more about the parentage and background of this plant. xGloximannia is an intergeneric cross between Gloxinia and Seemannia; so far, the only Gloxinia parent that has been used for such crosses (that I know of) is G. perennis, although in theory one should be able to cross either G. (formerly Koellikeria) erinoides or G. (formerly Anodiscus) xanthophylla with Seemannia. John Boggan Washington, DC

Subject: [Gphiles] xGloximannia 'She's Dancing', second photo

Chas says: right click on this photo and open in new tab or window, you will get a much sharper copy of this picture than it appears above. also it's fun

Second of two photos. For larger versions and more views, go to my Flickr album at http://www.flickr.com/photos/dctropics. John Boggan Washington, DC

From Dale Martens:

Thank you, John, for sharing those photos!

I'm no longer growing that hybrid as I goofed and must have given all the rhizomes away. When I grew it on my stand with four, T-8 lights, I doubt it was taller than 12 inches. But that was the first time it grew and flowered. Since then I've heard it can be over 3 feet when grown outdoors or in a greenhouse. Dariane Joshlin entered it at a show and got a blue ribbon for it. Looking at her photo, it looks tall, but perhaps under two feet.

I had to double check my records on that cross as initially I recalled that Gloxinia perennis was the seed parent. It turns out I only got seeds on the (S. gymnostoma x S. purpurascens) x G. perennis cross, although I also made the reverse cross.

The attached photo shows the seed parent of my intergeneric which was a cross between Seemannia gymnostoma x S. purpurascens. The S. purpurascens was the "purple lip" one not the green one. I didn't keep that hybrid because I didn't think it was tremendously exciting. Well, I got several seedlings, all with various intensities of purplish color and shapes and didn't keep any.

For those who don't know what S. gymnostoma looks like, see the photo on Ron Myhr's Gesneriad Reference Web site:
http://www.gesneriads.ca/seemannia01.htm

Gloxinia perennis, the pollen parent, has large, scented flowers:
http://www.gesneriads.ca/gloxin14.htm I wanted the sort of minty scent of the Gloxinia perennis to come through to the seedling, but it didn't, unless John can smell it on his flowers.

My latest adventure is that I have seedlings from crossing S. gymnostoma x Gloxinella lindeniana unless it's an accidental selfing of the S. gymnostoma.

Dale doing the Happy Hybridizer's Dance in cold and windy Illinois

Sinningia bullata

Ok, this is the coolest!

This is Sinningia bullata that has it all... It features the wonderful furry stuff and it's ORANGE which gets it extra points and it has the bumpy leaves.











Summing it up, is is pretty much the perfect Sinningia.

Now the questions remain. What is the function of the furry stuff? What is the fluff made out of? (Leaf cells modified?) Why the extreme bumpy leaf surface on such a reasonably non-succulent feeling leaf?

See? Many questions and no comments yet. Hit the little link on the bottom that has the word "comments" and it will direct you how to leave your opinions. Thanks for trying it... it's fun.

September Meeting Notes

 The meeting started out with some interesting show and tell. There was a Columnea ‘California Gold’ brought that was blooming although potted in a quite small 2” container. Columneas will bloom from a very young starter plant. Petrocosmea ‘Momo’ and another Petroscomea was brought to show how they could produce a large abundance of bloom. It was suggested that stress (such as under watering) may increase their “desire” to bloom. The two Sinningia reitzii, one from Mauro and one from another local showed differing patterns of coloration on the leaves. One had a much more striped and red colored appearance. It was suggested that they be crossed (in both directions) when they were both in bloom and that was possible.

All the reitzii will lose the colorful markings after a few years, they all go to the mostly green leaf pattern after three years or so. Give this plant plenty of light and don’t let it get too dry. It was stated that the plant never goes dormant and always has flowers year round. E.O. says it does indeed go dormant for a long time. She gives it sun directly in an east window. She cut the top back and rooted it. They will fill out and get full, but more of a windowsill plant than a light garden plant. It seems to prefer to be potbound and when repotting it, only move up one pot size at a time.

C.A. brought a rather newly identified plant called a Chautemsia calcicola. This plant is featured on the current issue of Gesneriads. It is a small plant, which won’t grow much larger than a mini Sinningia. It was stated that if any of the club members getting this plant would be so kind as to try to set seed on it to send to the seed fund. This plant apparently self pollinates, so it should be easy to get pods?

The seed pods lie flat and then split open across the top surface, remaining this way for quite a long time. C.A. took this pod from the plant and dried it. the article in Gesneriads say that this plant comes from a forest situation that varies during the year from being very lush and dense and wet, to very dry and barren. The plants, who originate in Brazil, sit on limestone outcroppings where there is little humidity. Both dry and wet conditions are present depending on the season. This population was spotted with their tubular white corollas and yellow throats above a care entrance with dripping water nearby, but growing out on the surface of the limestone rocks. It seems that this plant would like “perfect” drainage. It is apparently rhizomatous.

This plant was planted in a series of three soil/soil-less mixes to see what it preferred. One mix was the sphagnum, one was the usual gesneriad soil mix and one was in what it was originally growing on. It seems that the plant preferred the sphagnum. We thought about whether the plant would follow it’s seasonal pattern based on it’s geographic location south of the equator or if it would switch if grown north of the equator.

We then had more group discussion about using RO water on our new Chautemsia calcicola plants, which is what C.A. uses on them. R.E. had “pregnant onions” for distribution and stated that Episcia cupreata simply doesn’t do well outdoors if the temperature falls below 50 degrees. Fahrenheit. It is apparently quite deceased.

We looked a S. pusilla from J.O. which turned out to be very nicely grown featuring only one tuber. E.O. described how to take the leaves off and get the plant to restart it’s growing of foliage (and hopefully flowers) when the original foliage starts to decline.

More discussion of this Sinningia found that it did indeed have a large tuber for the size of this micro-mini plant.

We had a lovely presentation about starting Streptocarpus by S.J. First it was noted that hot summer temperatures are very hard for streps as they prefer cooler conditions.

S.J. grows all her streps in a 3 parts Sphagnum, 2 parts perlite, 2 parts vermiculite mix. She makes her own and is quite particular about the size of the vermiculite, noting that the very small powdered sort stunts the plants growth. This was also confirmed by a chat with Dale Martens who does a lot of hybridizing of Streptocarpus.

She also wicks all the streps no matter what stage of life they’re at. The amount of water picked up will depend on the thickness of the wick. Finding the perfect wicking material, is difficult but S. J. found a large quantity, which along with a lifetime supply of Rapid Grow, will happily be the only types of these two materials she uses. S. J. also uses one drop of Superthrive to one gallon of water. It was stated that Lino Lakes has water that is alkaline and streps like their pH to be on the alkaline side. R.E stated that Streptocarpus don’t seem to grow if you do not water them at all.
TO READ THE REST CLICK ON THE LINK

It was brought up that noted columnist for the AVSA magazine, Jeff Smith, say s to water them when they show signs of wilting. We aren’t sure of his reasoning behind this argument, but the consensus of the club is that actually wilting the plant causes too much stress on it. Water just before the plant starts to wilt.

We all learned how to use a scrapbooking shears to make the edges of a strep look natural after trimming away dried portions. Using the juice of a cut portion of another leaf rubbed on the edge of the shears will stop the leaf edge from browning. It could be an effect of something called P-Protiens or perhaps a latex substance in the leaf’s natural sap.

When starting new streps from a leaf there was discussion about removal of the midrib and setting the cut leaf sections down so that the veins are in contact with the soil’s surface. Small plantlets will start all along the leaf section where each of the leaf’s veins are in the soil. This produces an abundance of babies, where as starting the leaf in a way more like starting an African violet leaf seems easier but yields fewer starter plants.

The starter plants are grown in covered boxes that are placed about 8 to 10 inches below the fluorescent tubes. This terrarium like condition seems to work for the plants. Grower David Thompson, hybridizer of amazing plants, says to move the small streps right into a 4 inch pot. Everyone in the club seems to feel that this is bad advice as over wet soil will definitely kill a strep.

Old strep, plants unlike old African violets, do not seem to thrive after about three years and are hard to “split” or divide by usual methods. S. J. likes to re-root and pot newly acquired plants in her own mix. Other growers feel that this is hard on the plant and do not follow that advice.

When asked about which varieties grew best or were favorites, Rob’s ‘Party Girl” was mentioned as the easiest to grow with leaves that don’t burn and which bloomed well. This was noted as a bad year for spider mite on plants (streps) as well as other outdoor plants including dandilions.

Other interesting comments include the fact that furnace air exchangers are difficult to work with with regards to growing African violets and their companions. That tomato fertilizer really makes banana plants and Bird of Paradise plants grow well.

And finally, when growing out all the Streptocarpus babies or other types of plants for propagation, save only three of any one variety. One for the show, one for the sale, and a spare one. Grow for at least three months to see what effect any particular newly added routine does to the growth and look of the plant.

The club also talked about getting noted hybridizer, Dale Martens, to come to the Twin Cities for a seminar/program and lecture. The club is very excited to have her come in the reasonably near future, perhaps sometime as early as next July. She is the hybridizer of ‘Gator’s Tail’, a rather heat and drought tolerant strep. Leaves and leaf sections of ‘Gator’s Tail were offered at the sales table.

One more interesting show and tell was passed around which was an Alsobia
‘Cygnet” growing in a very, very chunky mix of chips, sponge rock and perlite. The new plants were thriving. After all this the official business meeting took place, as noted above.

Aeschynanthus speciosus

The Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison, WI has a lovely "little" gesneriad that was in the entrance to the conservatory.

Of the 10,000 square feet of tropical goodness, 80 families are represented there with over 500 different species of plants to see.

This Aeschynanthus was spectacular. The photo doesn't do it the proper justice.














The individual blooms were particularly showy with the sun shining on them. What sort of pollinator do you suppose pollinates this?

Comments won't harm you... try one, they're fun.

Amorphophallus konjac

This is a cousin to "Perry from Gustavus". This is Barry.... as he also comes from a berry. Most of the smaller plants around his base are also voo doo's of one sort or other either more Amorphophallus konjac or Sauromatum venosum.    


Barry is over 6 feet tall.

Straight from the fine folks at Wikipedia and we quote:
"Corms can form many small cormlets called cormels, from the basal areas of the new growing corms, especially when the main growing point is damaged. They are used to propagate corm forming plants. Corms of a number of species of plants are replaced every year by the plant with growth of a new corm; this process starts after the shoot has developed fully expanded leaves. The new corm forms at the shoot base just above the old corm. As the new corm is growing, short stolons are produced that end with the newly growing small cormels. As the plants grow and flower, the old corm is used up and shrivels away. The new corm that replaces the old corm grows in size, especially after flowering is done.
The old corm produces the greatest number of cormels when it is close to the soil surface. The small cormels normally take one or two more years of growth before they are large enough to flower.

The gooey part on the bottom is the old corm.

The pieces at the bottom of the picture are apparently short stolons that are going to form more cormels at their ends. They break off when taking the big corm out of the ground. They're quite brittle.


All the pieces will happily make more "Barry-s"

Perry Made Berries!

This photo is taken directly from Dr. O'Brien's blog from Gustavus College. The link to see the rest of the blog post will follow.

This was an unexpected turn of events for Perry! They weren't sure that any pollination would take place because apparently the flowers aren't all that self fertile. But.... they had a surprise, and I'll let you read about it from Dr. O'Brien himself...
http://arboretum.blog.gustavus.edu/2010/09/13/perrys-berries-the-corpse-flowers-fabulous-fly-blown-fecundity/

Go back a few posts to see the Titan in bloom. It's the world's largest flower!

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