Looking Good

Well all were looking good when I went around watering earlier. I wish I could wave a magic wand and make Spring come. My African Violets that are under lights which were borrowed from my daughter are certainly looking better. It was very cold here last night -2C. The Av's in the conservatory under a large grow light that lights up the whole street are looking good too. I have a few Petrocosmea leaves in that grow stand too. Also have Sinningia seeds growing well in an old ice cream container. Streptocarpus leaves that were put down also in ice cream tub are starting to show bunny ears and are lovely and green. A couple were lost I think I let them dry out too much. It is a very fine line between keeping them just moist and too wet. I always start off by just putting them in the soil mix and enclosing them I never add any water until about 3 or 4 weeks from putting them down. I am still trying to get some seed pods on my Av's. I think I will stop looking so often then perhaps one day I may get a nice surprise :) Streptocarpus seem so easy to get seed pods from I have a lovely Cape Baby that has about 5 pods on without even doing anything. I love that Streptocarpus as the flowers change colour as they mature so you get several different shades on the same plant at the same time.

Well it certainly looks like I have missed the boat with the seed pods on Wrangler's Swinging Blues. I don't think I am very good at this creating a new hybrid lark:(  I do however hold out more hope with the Petrocosmea. HT-2 had so many flowers on them that I felt sure they would produce. I took a seed pod off of one of the plants yesterday but after much poking and prodding no seeds could be seen. Petrocosmea nervosa though is also showing signs of producing seed pods. With this Pet I put it in a seed tray with a propagating lid on. In the bottom of the seed tray I laid a towel that had been soaked in water then rung out so it was just damp. I think little nervosa looks very happy in there and I think the flowers are turning their heads up which I am told they do when pollination has taken place. Fingers crossed for me. I AM VERY DETERMINED! Other Gesneriads take no intervention on my part to produce seeds. Chirta Stardust, Dreaming Pearl and Tamiana seem to produce pods like crazy. Same with my Streptocarpus the ones I really want to produce seeds seem very reluctant yet others that I am not really bothered about have pods 3 inches long on them. I think someone out there is teasing me...Come on give me a  break LOL!!!!

My Gesneriads

Well here I am at last with a blog! This morning I checked on my African Violets to see if there is any sign of a seed pod on Wrangler's Swinging Blues which I pollinated a few weeks ago. I can't see anything after a quick inspection will have another look later when I return from work.The sun is out here today after a very cold night. I have tried on several occasions to get some seeds from my special Violets but no luck yet. Well it is off to work now and I must wrap up very warm as although lovely sunny day is still very cold about 4C.