My Gesneriads: 2012

Happy New Year to all friends of Gesneriads out there, I sincerely hope that you all have a wonderful growing year.

I cannot believe it has be so long since my last post on here, where does the time go!

I have lots of projects on the go with help my friends both in the UK and those in distant lands. I hope one day to be able to meet up with these friends so there will be Gesneriad talk 24/7.

I have been trying my hand at hybidizing with a few glimmers of hope in the form of seed pods maturing. I have had success in crossing Streps, Petrocosmea, Sinningia and Streptocarpella. I have fingers and toes crossed that something exciting will come from these crosses. My only wish is that I started this quest years ago which would have given me a lot more time to experiment. I find Sinningia the easiest to cross and the quickest along with Streptocarpella, Streptocarpus and finally Petrocosmea which seem to take an age for the pods to mature. I have had no luck with African Violets as yet but have been sent some seeds from a cross a friend in Scotland managed so excited waiting for those to germinate. I have obtained by purchase and by being given a lot of micro miniature Sinningias for which I will surely need a new pair of specs before attempting crosses on them. A host of Streptocarpus leaves that I obtained last summer are now blooming their little heads off in my conservatory. The beauty of each and every one that comes into bloom is awesome. My particular favourite in this batch is Feathered Silk which I will add a photo later. I find that Petrocosmea HT-2 makes a wonderful pollen parent in that the pollen sacs act like powder puffs when squeezed with tweezers. Anything that makes the whole process easier is a bonus!!

I will continue to post more photos as and when I get them and I promise not to leave it so long in between posts,

Best wishes to you all