I have a little baby Pink Princess that I got in a trade from RainGazer. It is such a slow grower. I can't wait for it to get to the size of that one of Cindy's! Especially if it will look that great! Mine doesn't have much color to the leaves yet.
Feel free to upload your new blooms - Part III
welcome new pics from Cindy!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great pictures Cindy, Gwen is beautiful as is you view out to the water, loved the climbing monkeys too! LOL Did I understand right and you said you bought that pink strep at the grocery store?? What a find that would be, at least for me!! Glad your DH helped you out so you could share!
~Brenda
Ok, look what I just found blooming!
Chirita 'Tamiana'
I know this sounds silly, but my heart skips a beat when I look at your chirita in one day!!!!!!!! Those blooms really egg us on don't they? She is great looking, Lin..................that is what I am transplanting today into solo cups..........starting all my seedlings................what a mess I have in the kitchen right now............
Sinningia 'Rio das Pedras'
oh so tiny and beautiful......................
So pretty Lin...All of them : )
Finally!!!! I have been watching Chirita Blue Moon bud up and develop since early in June. And today is the first open bud! And look at all the rest of the buds that will be following shortly! I counted 9 more buds and this morning I noticed way down at the bottom another 3 or 4 forming!! It's amazing!! I love this chirita for it's foilage but all of these blooms are making her a keeper for sure!
~Brenda
Check out this close up, there is another bud going to open directly below this first open one right out of the same flower head.....Is that normal?
~Brenda
And a close up of the bloom itself.....
~Brenda
Oh my goodness.Look at all the blooms,just beautiful! Great growing ladies.
Brenda.............she is an outstanding chirita........one of the prettier ones...........
Brenda..That is gorgeous! Love that bloom!
Brenda: Wow! I love Blue Moon, she is absolutely Beautiful! I can't get over all those blooms at once! I have never had more than 2 or 3 flowers at a time except on Stardust. That has to be the prettiest Chirita I've seen! Great Growing!
What fertilizer do you use??? Inquiring minds must know!
I bought the ingredients for the beer fertilizer (but forgot the beer!) and figured I would try it on some plants to see how they like it! So far all I've been using is Eleanor's VF-11 and Dyna Grow.
ladies and gentlemen...................I just opened my new edition of the magazine from The Gesneriad Society and they included a colored booklet of 'How to Know and Grow Gesneriads'.
It is the neatest best book I have ever seen full of all pictures of each one blooming, etc............you must join this group.............I am seeing in bloom for the first time many seeds i ordered..........they are beautiful...........I wish I could copy the whole booklet in color for you!!!!!!!!!!
Gail: Isn't that book WONDERFUL?? All those Beautiful Gessie photo's .... makes me want one of each! LOL
I was looking at the Fourth Quarter of Gesneriads too ... check out page 36 and the photo of Columnea 'Frosty Hill's' .... WOW, that is one really, really nice plant!
Ok ... everyone can drool over this baby ... isn't it pretty?
http://www.gesneriadsociety.org/conv2007/plants/bigpics/2007Class37.htm
All those little bloom heads look like swans lined up in a row to me! LOL
This is only the second Chirita I have had bloom for me. Way back in early June Diane Marie bloomed. She just two blooms on really short little stubby stalks. So this is really something.
Blue Moon is the only Chirita I have (traded ol' Diane away) and she has just had Eleanor's VF 11 until two weeks ago when I got the new Texas Hill Country fertilizer from Gail. Now she has had one dose of that. Took her sweet time blooming but it's going to have been worth it!
~Brenda
Lin................how did you hyperlink that photo???????????? is the gesneriad magazine on line????????
Brenda............yes, I do like that local guy in Boerne and his fertilizer.......they will think I am nuts when I stop and get 20 lbs of it..............
Here is a first bloom for me on Rob's Boondoggle. I know that the TX fertilizer has kicked several of my AV's in the pants right where they needed it! LOL They have been puttering about trying to make a bloom here and there and now in the last couple of weeks I have lots of blooms forming and some opening! I have half a dozen semi minis from Robs that are just starting to bloom for the first time. They sent them to me as replacements after a batch I ordered last winter got frozen! Wasn't Rob's fault it was 13 degrees below zero here when they arrived but when I called and told them they said they would replace them when I ordered again. Which I finally did this summer. So I have some newbies about to bloom now.
Anyway.....Rob's Boondoglge
~Brenda
edited to correct the name, couldn't read my own writing LOL It is Boondoggle not Boondoggie!!
This message was edited Oct 24, 2007 10:05 PM
This message was edited Oct 24, 2007 10:06 PM
This is a semi mini from Rob's that came with no name on it's container. When I told them that they replaced it with another one saying they should never leave there with out a name! I should try and track down the name on their web site now that it's blooming.
Pink with tiny flecks of purple and shimmer, a beauty....
~Brenda
Beautiful, Brenda! That Rob's Boondoggie has the perfect shape! I hope you can find the name on that Pink one too ... lovely, I will be curious to hear the name on that one!
Gail: I just went to the Gesneriad Society Website: http://www.gesneriadsociety.org/
That's where the columnea photo was found!
Sorry it took me so long to respond. The philodendron in the pictures above are pink princess, & about doubled in size this summer. It's growing fast now. The hanging plants in the pictures are scented geraniums, which I have now tossed except for nutmeg, to make room for hoya's. And now gesneriads, I think, if they root.
Just received some cuttings from a very generous person, greenthumb. I'm so hoping they will root. I have them growing in Jiffy mix & perlite.(1/2 & 1/2 aprox.) Then not domed, but on heating mat, under lights, and in my mini greenhouse. Will they rot in the peat-perlite mix? I may be able to find some vermicullite still. Any suggestions? Greenthumb is away and can't help right now.
I've never used vermiculite before for anything. Always thought perlite was substitutable for it. Does it hold water a little more than perlite?
Cindy
Hi Cindy: What are the cuttings that you are trying to root? I do root some cuttings in a combination of potting soil and perlite. I also root African Violet leaves in this same medium. If they are in a mini greenhouse they should get enough humidity. I don't think you need vermiculite at all! I have, for years rooted cuttings in just the soil and perlite. It sounds like you have the perfect conditions for rooting those cuttings.
Thanks, Lin.....................for the hyperlink...........i forget to visit the web site...............
Just thought someone might want to see this little epi I grew, then gave to a friend. She's a hybrid, I have Deutsche kaiserin, one of it's parents. I think she was easier to grow than DK will be. But both are beautiful & very similar. Don't know the name of this one. Think it might be pedro.
Cindy
They don't take paypal!!!!!
beautiful epi cflowr!!!!
Cindy.............that is one fine plant!!!!!! i am loving it................I just got my first epi cuttings.......can't wait...............
Threegardeners............I think most people take credit cards........not everyone takes paypal...........
This message was edited Oct 24, 2007 7:23 PM
Oh, that Epi is Gorgeous! Look at all those blooms! I have one large Epiphyllum that someone on DG Id'd for me as Epiphyllum oxypetalum. Just yesterday I found out from another DG'er that it is actually E. hookeri! I have a few other small Epi's that I've gotten in trades since joining DG a year ago but most have no names. I love these plants. Sure wish you knew the name of that Beauty you've got there! I'd love to do a trade for a cutting of that one if you ever take one! Very nice! Are the blooms fragrant?
I'm rooting monodora, in a plastic bag in the same environment otherwise. The rest are all gesneriads. episcia's, streptocarpus, nematanthus, columnea, alsobia san miguel, & several unknowns.
I'm scared cause I rotted my streptocarpus already (was trying to root them the long way down the length of the leaf method)
I'm trying some new streps cut the same way but in smaller pieces. This time in1/2 & 1/2 perlite/vermiculite. instead of perlite/Jiffy mix, or straight perlite. I left a couple of the leaves whole just in case the others don't take again.
It wasn't fragrant. If you still want one in the Spring, let me know & I'll ask my friend. I don't think she would mind at all. She also has some seeds of it she hybridized with a gorgeous red epi. We''re waiting for them to ripen. Sounds like a long project, but I think we'll give it a try.
Cindy
This message was edited Oct 24, 2007 8:40 PM
Oh, I just had to google the plant monodora since I had no idea what it was! Love it ... what a beautiful flower! http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/64456/
Now, I can't grow Strep's for the life of me. Well, I've only tried a couple and they have died. I planted seeds, they sprouted, then died. I put down leaves, they rotted, they died! Gessiegail recently sent me two nice Strep plants ... they are not looking so hot either! I did take one leaf a couple of weeks ago, cut it into pieces and put them in straight vermiculite in a plastic container with a lid. Made up my mind to ignore them. Well .... today I just had to look. One was rotted, others look good ... still green. Just had to do a wee tug ... and lo and behold I felt a bit of resistance on one! I probably jinxed them and will find them all dead before long!
I have really gotten to Love Episcia's! I am having great luck growing them in containers, in moist long fiber spaghnum, the top of the container covered with saran wrap. Roots everywhere! Now I'm afraid to transplant them to a soil mix, afraid they will croak on me!
Keep us posted on your cuttings ... hope they all do great for you!
I still keep looking at your epi............never seen anything that pretty..........
That Epi is gorgeous!! I walked into HD awhile back and saw a big EA basket of something that looked a whole lot like that plant. I didn't know it would get flowers!! It was such a cool looking plant and very large but I made myself leave it there because I didn't know what it was!
OK cflowr, now you have to tell my how you would take care of them in case I ever see another one!!
In the last plant swap I received Ric Rac cuttings, are they related to these epis?? Maybe I'll get flowers on that when it roots. Ok, time to search plant files!!
~Brenda
Brenda: I have a Ric Rac too. Not an Epiphullum but still neat! Some refer to it as an Orchid Cactus like the Epi's.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/62665/
Oh yes, that is very neat Lin!! And they do bloom!! I had no idea, I just liked it for it's thick succulent zig zaggy leaves. So a second extra big thanks out to dispatcher1 / Lou now for sending it to me!!
Off to watch the world series now. I have a bet going with a certain someone for some baby streps!! I'm saying the Rockies are going to kick some Sox fanny!! ROTFLOL
~Brenda
This message was edited Oct 24, 2007 7:54 PM
Brenda: Flowers are fragrant too!
Yummy!! Fragrant flowers and cool foliage, what's not to love with that Ric Rac??
I found the name to my above pink AV with the purple flecks and the shimmer!! It is Rob's Calypso Beat!
And I corrected the above name of Rob's Boondoggie to the correct Rob's Boondoggle!!
Well the Rockies got more than spanked tonight, I see some baby streps heading out of here if this trend continues! LOL
~Brenda
epi's are pretty easy togrow, for me. I grow them in the basement Fall, winter, & spring at south glass doors. The window is shaded by a deck, sothey don't get sun. They just stop growing during that time. It's always cool, & down to 40 degrees in winter. They need that to bloom well in the spring (I've read). Take them outdoors under the deck stairway in June thru August where they get humidity, & a little filtered sunlight, not much. Feed them with every watering (they grow much better this way), summer thru Fall, until they stop growing with MSU fertilizer (just started using this kind this summer) They need a low nitrogen fert.
during growth period,Don't let them dry out, but do let them dry to the touch. In winer, when cool, they will take longer to dry, let them dry to the touch (same princple as in summer).
Patience is important with these plants, as it takes 2 or 3 years, more for some varieties, to bloom the first time. Then they will be regular, & just keep getting bigger & better. They like to fill there pots well or they will rot easily. I put several cuttings in a 6" pot, if I have them. They can grow for 2 years in that size pot. I like to grow them in shallow hanging baskets. Mist them with water in the winter, & occasionally with safer soap in the water to keep the fungus nats & mites away. Really works.
If you're looking for a hybrid to buy, venetian is one of the best (large flower & very double). I'm definitly not an expert, but have been told about venetian by the experts.
I have:
gladys jones (violet)
meda (yellow & white)
deutsche kaiserin (pink with some white)
cyrptocereus anthonyanus (ric rac, zig zag) (pink & cream)
hylocereus undatus (strawberry pear, dragon fruit, etc.) (extra large flower, white & green, upright, trianular growth-& picky, edible fruit)
By summer I should have some cuttings of Deutsce kaiserin (just starting to get side branches - you can prune these to keep your plant attractive, if desired) I let them grow anyway they want, sofar, even the giant pink one pictured above.
Here's my deck I grow them under.
Cindy
