Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Walkaway: Streptocarpus NOID

I realized, the other day, that I was about to run out of 3" pots for the Anthurium seedlings. (64 of them presently; there are at least that many more coming up after them, and probably twice that number.) So, when a trip to the Post Office turned into an unplanned trip to Iowa City on Monday, we stopped at the ex-job so I could buy 128 3-inch pots for Anthurium seedlings. Which is neither here nor there, but I mention it as a way of explaining why I was in town and saw this:

I know some of you have seen similar plants before, but this was my first Streptocarpus with a yellow throat, and I was impressed. Sadly, the best angle for getting pictures of the flowers was not the best angle for photographing the plant as a whole.

I didn't buy it because, whatever its positive qualities, it was still a Streptocarpus, and I don't think we'd get along any better now than we have before. But there are positive qualities, certainly.


4 comments:

orchideya said...

Very pretty flowers and nice color combination. Sadly most of the gesneriads don't agree with me.

Ivynettle said...

Gesneriads, bah.

I'm jealous of your 3-inch pots, though. Nobody carries 8 cm pots, and 9 cm are just a bit too large sometimes. Nobody, that is, other than the Apprenticeship Place, which I don't want to visit again.

Tom said...

I just walked away from that same Strep on sunday. Instead I bought myself a lovely Kohleria 'Red Ryder'. That really is a gorgeous strep though!

Anonymous said...

@Tom:::That 'Red Ryder' is nice. I also like 'Strawberry Fields' Dark green with deep red flowers.

Gesneriads, can't be cold all the time, like bright light but can't bake in the sun, good humidity (or you can provide some. Some houses have cold nights, prolonged not watering, so they don't perform so well. Kohlerias can take more light than African violets. And remember when they go dormant, they are not dead, you have not failed, they are just resting! Most of the common gesneriads are inexpensive enough to kill a whole bunch of them, before you figure out what will work for you.

A friend who propagates them well, will have more than enough to share as you experiment with them. They are my most rewarding plants ever!

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