This is our second baby!!! Perhaps to be named something like Fluffy Flamingo! Gott'a love the nice ruffles and the color. The petals are a pinkish red with darker veining, the throat is red with darker wine color lines. I should also add that this is a seed from a DIFFERENT pod than the photo just prior to this that is claimed as our first seedling.

This one is the second one that we got from the two pods that were put down in March of 08'. We perhaps could have had blooms faster, but this has been quite the experiment to see what does and what does not work when trying to get streptocarpus seeds to grow.

We would like to try several more crosses in the near future and see for ourselves which of the various traits are the most likely to be dominate. This just gets more and more fun as the babies are starting to produce their first flowers. Would anyone like to see (with photos) how to pollinate a streptocarpus flower?

First Seedling!

This is the very first baby from the self-crossing of the peloric strep flower.

The flower is quite large (although it is the very first time the plant bloomed) and it's quite symetric, but it's not the same as the parent flower. The "mother" flower had all petals the same with the pink striping coming out from the center equally on all petals. This included the upper petals which on this flower don't have the colored striping.

It's a thrill to see the first of any experiment though. I can't wait to show you more.

Back Again

Isn't this a good looking gesneriad. It's a Drymonia pendulina which was on display at the Shelby Gardens in Tampa. The photo is from the gesneriphile list which you can suscribe to. What a wonderful plant to have in a hanging basket.

Time for the summer doldrums to be over and everyone to get excited about their indoor light/window gardening again.

The blog is back and this season we'll try to have more tips on growing and keeping the plants that you have looking good. Plus, more photos of interesting gesneriads for you to check out, perhaps order and grow in your own home.

The first of the events for the year will be at Bachman's on Lyndale on Saturday October 25, 2008 during store hours. Come and see our display and plan on having some fun chatting about violets and gesneriads.

Sail On

The Niagara and the Pride of Baltimore! Both of these tall ships are right out of the days long past. With real working cannons and just the right wind, these historical ships made history come back alive as they sailed within 30 feet of the expectant crowds in Duluth.

Awesome!

The streps that are outside are actually not suffering too much in the days of 90+ degree heat. Perhaps that there has been enough of a breeze to keep the air flowing. The Sinningia 'Apricot Bouquet' might get big enough to see without a magnifying glass by the time it has to go back inside for the summer, and to my absolute horror..... I found out that chipmunks actually are very fond of digging up and EATING florist's Gloxinias. My double-flowering tuber is no more, along with about 4 others. Sigh.

Summer Streps

This is where the streptocarpus plants are living outside for the summer. Most are putting out a few blooms although I am not so sure that there is really enough bright light to get them to bloom well.

Direct sun seems to burn mine, but this works to get them growing and filling out. There aren't many insect problems this way either. I will however, spray them with the Imidacloprid before they come inside for the winter.

July in the Garden

Stuff has really grown. The tomatoes are showing just a little pink. The kale you see in the front of the bed is more than knee high.

The lettuce is about done for the spring crop, but the zinnias are at their best and the chard is wild. Now if the bunnies would leave the beans alone, things would be great.

The gesneriad are also doing well this summer. The streps are enjoying their time outside under the trees but, the chipmunks dug up all three of the gloxinia bulbs and made them disappear. The two sinningias were also dumped out of their pots and flung to the ground. The interesting thing is that the streps and the orchids are all being left entirely alone.

July First

Wow, what a change a couple of weeks brings. As you can see, the grass in the background is very dry. We could use some more rain for more favorable conditions, but the gardens are being watered and even on the 90 degree F. days, the vegetables and flowers don't suffer too much wilting.

The streps are all outside under a big, dense maple tree and hoping for cool breezes. With some regular fertilization, they should grow well for the summer out under the shade of the trees.

The flowers in the photos from the community garden are zinnias. Magellan series.

More on the Garden

Wow... a little sun and the things grow. Who knew????

The streps are outside and the orchids too. One of the semi-dormant larger sinningias is starting to show some growth too. Let's hope we don't get any hail to spoil the pretty, lush growth.

Growth

Nothing has been growing as fast as it should for a typical year. The cold spring weather and sporadic rains have made planting tricky but finally I'm not the only one to put out their vegetables. The garden will be fun this year if the peas and beans grow up the trellises like they are supposed to. The front flowers are all zinnias! I can only hope that they are a huge success and I get enough for cut flowers.

The streps at my house are now outside on shelves and looking a little bewildered. Hopefully, they will start to actually grow. There have been quite a few garden centers that have featured streptocarpus as hanging baskets and single plants as fillers for containers. Go streps!!!!

The sinningias are also outside, but only recently. They need a few days to get used to the brighter light and perhaps then they can go out in some partial sun. I'm going to put some kohleria out as an experiment too.... something has to make them stay a little shorter and not so leggy.

What are YOU going to plant outside from the ye 'ole gesneriad collection???? Send a photo and we'll compare outdoor growing to indoor culture in a couple of months.

Spring.... finally.

Finally, a little spring to add to the blog. Not much going on with the gesneriads right now. With the unusually cold spring it was time to focus on getting outside and really trying to get the annual plants in and the perennial gardens cleaned and ready for the season.

I'm thinking of putting some of the sinningias outside this year to see if more light will make them grow well.

I put out 5 kinds of voo doo lilies this year and we'll see how they do. The rabbit ate the top off the bud coming out of the one mellon size corm that I have. I suspect that the plants are poisonous.... and since they only produce ONE leaf.... I suspect mine will be sort of mutated. Oh well..... Happy May.