December Photos and Chit Chat

Thanks Eileen!

Here's the deal with micros: You'll wind up overpotting them because they don't make much of a root system even as a mature plant. Literally a thimble would do and I have seen show plants in thimbles - not thimble pots.

Three or five seedlings per cup is fine. Seven will fit as well. They don't mind repotting one bit in my experience. So, if the pot gets too crowded, just separate them.

As long as you keep them moist, pretty much any standard mix will do. Straight LFS, Violet mix out of the bag with some additional Perlite, straight Perlite - they seem to be able to cope with pretty much everything you throw at them.

They don't need much, if any, fertilizer and if you stick them into a fish tank, you only water them every once in a while.

Particularly S. muscicola is a battle horse. This little plant survived triple digit temps unenclosed and drying out on more than one occasion. It has three crowns and just keeps going and going. I bought the plant in March and these are still the original crowns - dozens of flowers and seed pods later... Well, now it looks pretty ratty and I will restart the tuber very soon. However, the three crowns will go down for propagation and knowing these little weeds, will take in no time and make some more plants for the Round Robin! :)

Sinningia 'HCY's Taurus'. Six petals on this flower... :)

Does anyone grow Sinningia speciosa (florist gloxinias). I thought it would be fun to try some so I bought some seeds on ebay. I am not sure how long they take to sprout but I am told that they are easy to grow.

PatM.

Hey zozzl!

Couldn't be easier than growing Sinningia speciosa from seed.

They germinate within a few days if the seed is fresh and take a little longer when it's a little older.

Growth rate is fast. They only take a few months from seed to first bloom.

General care is pretty much the same as for Violets. The difference is that Sinningias are tuberous and may go dormant for a few weeks up to a few months. In that case, cut back on watering and just wait until new shoots start emerging from the tuber.

The one on the left is a large, pink slipper and the one on the right is a darker pink peloric one.

Olaf


I started a few last year in December and the three that I kept are getting ready for their second bloom.

Primulina ("Chirita") sp. USBRG 98-083.

Sinningia eumorpha "Saltao". This is the plant that got me started growing Sinningias and it's blooming again almost exactly a year after its first flower opened. :)

Just beautiful!!!

Thank you!

Well here I am again. I wanted to post an updated photo of AV 'Canadian Sunset' after the flower "matured". The ruffled edges and the veining is more evident now.

And here is AV 'Victorian Flirt' sport. I would love to have a regular Victorian Flirt which is a chimera but I love this one just as much.

And the whole plant. It's a semi mini or so I was told but if it happens to be a standard I've got the space for it. It's growing on a 3 oz solo cup

Those are some beautiful Violets!

Achimenes erecta 'Tiny Red'

Sinningia pusilla

Sinningia concinna

Sinningia cardinalis

Roly, very pretty violets. i especially like Canadian Sunset. Very pretty colors.

Sinningia eumorpha "Saltao"

Sinningia 'HCY's Taurus'

Olaf, I love all your sinningia. That achimenes is cute too. I'll have to try some of those.

Thanks Eileen!

I hope that the Achimenes is going to make enough rhizomes to share in the Round Robin... :)

That would be great news.

Thanks Eileen and Olaf !!! I absolutely love them. I think that I'm getting myself in a lot of trouble. I want some of those Sinningias. Love the flower shape and the electric colors. Would the grow well down here with the AVs??

Roly: Sinningias are easily grown side by side with Violets. Particularly the minis. Some of the species definitely need more light than you would give a Violet and some can take quite a bit of direct sunlight.

A good place to start is any of the minis, just pick a color you like. Much as in Violets, there's pretty much everything but pure yellow. Only one Sinningia species really has yellow flowers (S. richii) but no hybrids have been reported with this plant. It also has a reputation of being somwhat of a diva...

Of the larger growing hybrids (about 12-18" tall, some even taller than that), good ones to start with are 'Seminole', 'Texas Zebra', 'California Gold' and many, many more...

Of the species, good ones to start with are eumorpha, cardinalis, leucotricha, linearis, guttata, reitzii, araneosa, bullata and quite a few more.

The micro minis need constant moisture and high humidity as a rule of thumb but I have no problems growing some of them unenclosed and/or on a pebble tray.

Most Sinningias have tubers and many of them have a well defined dormancy period where the plant dies back and the tuber needs to be kept almost completely dry until new shoots emerge. Under lights, a lot of Sinningias don't go dormant for longer than maybe a few weeks or not at all.

Overall, Sinningias are easy to grow. Give them pretty much the same care, maybe a little less, as you would give a Violet and they'll thrive for you.

Thanks Olaf,

My speciosa have not come up yet and I planted them on 12/06 so I guess the seed was old. Hopefully they would become up soon.

Pat

Hey Pat!

That's still totally within the expected time frame for germination. You'll probably see them pop up one by one starting in the next few days. :)

Olaf

Olaf and Roly, just beautiful pictures!! It makes one want more!! LOL!!

Melanie

Ok so I definitely want some Sinningias and if possible the minis. I know that Rob's Violets if the to go place for AVs so who is the Sinningia person???

Dave's Violets and Kartuz have a nice variety of Sinningias, Rob's has some as well. Spring is a good time to find tubers for a reasonable price on ebay.

Also, many Sinningias aren't hard to start from cuttings. Leaves work for S. speciosa and some others but this process can take several months until you actually have a tuber that produces a new shoot.

If you can wait until Spring, I should have some ready to go and I can send you a few to try... :)

Olaf

My Alsobia dianthiflora bloomed nicely in summer but what a surprize it was to find a few seed pods maturing, nice and fat. Anyone had any experience with the seeds? I wonder is it worth trying them.

Rolando,it's so great too see you back! We have missed you and your plants are great!
Great poctures Olaf.
Maria,your Alsobia is adorable.

Lynn

Thank you Lynn, It's good to be back. I am soo looking forward to all of the blooms to share with you all and to the next Bingo game. That was a lot of fun and I missed the last one. In the meantime I'll keep looking at what other plants to get.

I've got a list of plants from Dave's Violets that I want. I would like to get the expert opinion as to which ones are a must and which ones are harder or if all of them are good. Here is the list.


Sinningia Bright Eye
Sinningia Amizade
Sinningia Cindy
Sinningia Country Bumpkin
Sinningia Country Tiger
Sinningia Eileen
Sinningia Flair
Sinningia Evening Star
Sinningia Los Angeles
Sinningia Piglet
Sinningia Plum It
Sinningia Yes
Sinningia Country Prayer
Sinningia Danielle
Sinningia Ozark Fireworks
Sinningia Ozark Rosey Freckles
Sinningia Ozark Red Lightning
Sinningia Ozark Jumbo Sundae

Well, generally all of the minis are good growers and bloomers. However, it's hard to say which one will be particularly well suited for your environment.

The 'Ozarks' are usually small growers and good bloomers. They may take a while to get real floriferous but give them a while and they'll be gorgeous.

The 'Countrys' are generally a little bit bigger and also good growers and bloomers.

'Flair' is a classic and a good grower but can be a bit stingy with her blooms. Once started, however, she's pretty much unstoppable.

'Bright Eyes' is a micro mini and given high humidity and good warmth and moisture, is an easy grower and prolific bloomer.

'Amizade' is the easy growing and blooming offpring of two fussy (and fuzzy) Sinningia species (S. hirsuta and S. kautskyi) and one of my favorite compact Sinningias.

My best recommendation would be to choose a few different colors and just give them a try. Don't get all pinks, for example, because they might turn out to look very similar.

I hope that helped.

Olaf

Thank you Olaf for your explanation. It really comes in handy to have the advise from the expert growers. I would be able to give them humidity and warmth with no problem. And about the colors I agree with you. I actually placed an order today with Kartuz for some of their minis and hopefully will be able to some more from Dave's come spring.

I'm NOT an expert in regards to Sinningias... LOL I just started growing them about a year and a half ago. However, they have quickly become my favorites and have turned out to be very cooperative plants in general.

Southern Florida should be pretty much perfect for, at least, the majority of the species and cultivars. A lot of them should grow happily outdoors all year in zone 10b. The one thing you will have to experiment with is sun exposure but even if you should scorch a few leaves or even an entire crown, the tuber will usually resprout in a few weeks. :)

Here's a good introduction to the genus:

http://www.burwur.net/sinns/sinns.htm

Olaf

Sinningia cardinalis. First flower.

SInningia cardinalis. And from the front.

Sinningia bullata. First buds. :)

Olaf or someone else please chime in. How do you start mini-sinningia seed? I received a few today and would like to get them started.

Thanks,
Melanie

Hey Melanie!

No problem. I use 1:1 Perlite/Vermiculite, slightly moistened and sprinkle the seed on top. Then I cover with plastic or put the pot(s) into a prop box. Germination usually takes anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.

Have fun!

Olaf