A few more flowering Saintpaulia cvv. for you

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It's hard to be too excited about an African Violet flowering because they do it so much it's really not that big a deal. I'll try though, these are some of the more interesting.



"NOID 0020" - I lied, this one is not interesting. It is pretty though. Actually a bit part of the reason I like this one is not pictured here. The leaves are large, and round, and light green. The white flowers bring it all together but they've mostly been opening under the larger leaves above. So I was really only able to get a good shot of this one flower that's decided to make itself visible. I also had to do some serious photo-shopping to get any detail in the flower without having it horribly underexposed or with highlights blown. It worked well but what you can see of the leaves is way way darker than they actually are.


Saintpaulia 'Rebel's Splatter Kake' - I've posted this one several times before. I was happy to see a large head of flowers on it... But most of them do not have the same quality or amount of spotting on them, so another closeup it is. I think the colour's closer to the real thing in this picture, and the light is softer and maybe the focus is sharper so you get to see it again.


"NOID 0006" - I think this was ID'd as Saintpaulia 'Sergeant Pepper' but we did not (apparently) update the label. I like it.

Just for fun I'll throw in a bonus:



Streptocarpus 'Sultan's Ruby' first bloom. It's dark but red, not the purple you saw here.

Dark Flowered Gesneriads

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A couple of the darker flowered Gesneriads I have flowering right now.


Streptocarpus 'Ink Blot'


Saintpaulia 'Black Ace'


Streptocarpus 'Purple Pepper'

Streptocarpus 'Laura' flowering

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Streptocarpus 'Laura'

At the Toronto Gesneriad Society Show this spring I picked up this Streptocarpus. Until this one most Streps in our collection have a only a few large flowers. I've seen some amazing pictures of Streps with masses of smaller flowers that looks amazing so I'd been on the lookout for something like this.

The picture on the tag was not great so I'm very happy with the colour and pattern on the flowers, and just look at how many more buds there are to open on that stem! There's a second flower stalk starting to develop.

More new plants - part 3

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A few oddballs in this group like this interesting succulent:



Faucaria tigrina

I picked this one out for its spotting and long "teeth" - others were in slightly better condition but there was variation in the batch and this was the most interesting, and with 3 shoots and fullest (1.5") pot. The flash picked up more blue colour in the spots than there really is.

While I was at it I couldn't ignore this Golden Barrel Cactus for only $4.



Echinocactus grusonii

My mom picked up this African Violet (NOID 0028)



Saintpaulia "NOID 0028"

While I got a new Sansevieria, probably S. cylindrica (no picture, it's small in a 4" pot and hardly exciting right now).

I think that's about all that followed me home over the last week. Going to have to go easy on any more plants for a little while now until everything gets sorted out and finds a new home.

Streptocarpus 'Purple Pepper' Flowering

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My favourite Streptocarpus is flowering for the first time since we got it.



Streptocarpus 'Purple Pepper'

Love love love the colour and patterning. And there are about 5 flowers per stalk, and three flower stalks coming up.

Toronto Gesneriad Society Show, 2010

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I went to the Toronto Gesneriad Society Show earlier today. It was my first day off since I started working last Saturday so I told myself I would decide to go or not based on whether I slept though it or not. I didn't.

Here are some pictures:


Episcia 'Ember Lace' - If I could grow Episcia at all this cultivar would be at the top of my list.


Episcia 'Blue Nile'


Streptocarpus 'Purple Panda'


Streptocarpus dunnii


Saintpaulia 'Demer's Pixie Belle'


Saintpaulia ionantha subsp. orbicularis


Chirita liboensis - My favourite of the show. Large Dark leaves with huge numbers of flowers. The plant was pretty big as well compared to the Chirita cultivars I grow. Very striking.


Columnea pulchra 'Orange Crush'


Kohleria 'Pink Shadow'


Sinningia sp. Florianopolis

African Violet pictures

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Spring feels as far away as ever now that we actually have some snow and while it's warm out it certainly looks like winter from where I'm sitting. Ok, until it started to rain anyway... Little is going on inside other than the usual.

Speaking of the usual here are some nice African Violet pictures for you.



Saintpaulia 'Champion Thriller' - On one plant this has single, semi-double and double flowers. Interesting. Thrilling, even.



Saintpaulia "NOID 0007" - I'll be using names like "NOID 0007" instead of just NOID so I can keep individual plants consistently labeled. You can ignore these names if you want.

I'm going to have to do up a post on African Violets I would grow for their leaves alone soon. I think after I document the plants on the plant stand I'll have pictures for that. That should be soon I hope, maybe Monday.

Other plant events to come:

The first new pitcher on either of my Nepenthes since I got it (yup, it's that tiny one in that picture) is about to open (The good news? It's bigger than the older one - which I'm pretty sure is a good sign). I also collected a bunch of "rainwater" (melted snow) yesterday and today to use for them (I live in a townhouse and I don't have a downspout on my property - boo).

My Haworthia flower spike is developing so fast. I don't know when it will actually flower but it gets noticeably larger each day. I'm too used to orchids which can take months to do anything so this progress is a big deal.

Gesneriads & the plant list.

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I made some serious progress on the plant list today. I managed to photograph all Gesneriads on the main floor and tag unknown plants with "NOID ####" tags (not that many actually).

I'll be typing up those plants tomorrow and starting to work through the pictures. As they bloom of course I'll have to update things and check the IDs that I do have but it's some definite progress.

I counted:

24 Saintpaulia
8 Streptocarpus
6 Chirita
3 Kohleria
2 Petrocosmea

Of these there were only 9 NOID African Violets, 1 NOID Strep (which is a start from a leaf of another plant we have/had), and 1 Chirita which is sort of questionable (there are two labels on the pot, should be very easy to figure out once it grows more).

Maybe not so many upstairs and none in the basement. I think actually this plant list should be able to be "finished" fairly soon.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, February 2010

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This is my first Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. Lots to post pictures of though!

My Phalaenopsis NOID continues to flower its strange recently green flowers:



Phalaenopsis NOID

This plant is on my mom's plant stand with some of her African Violets, Streptocarpus, and Chirita. There's always something flowering on this stand. (Did you go out and buy yourself an African Violet?)



Saintpaulia 'Ma's Crime Scene' - Fantastic colour on a refreshingly simple flower. The thin white chalk line around the leaves is the perfect finishing touch on this well named variety. This one's a personal favourite.


Streptocarpus 'Royal Grape 7122' - this is the best performing Strep we have, this plant has been in bloom continually since December. I wish I could say that about all Streps but no luck. This one's 100% a keeper.



Saintpaulia NOID - I've posted this plant before but this time around it's even better.

My Paphiopedlium is still going strong downstairs by the big south window (space on this table is at a premium) on the big plant table with still more African Violets and the like.



Paphiopedilum NOID - When I "finished" my photoshoot with this guy earlier in the month I lucked out - the sun was shining right on the plant table and filling the room with light. I pulled out my camera and took a few shots of it backlit by the sun. Here you can really see the beautiful stripes on the dorsal sepal which are my favourite detail on these flowers.

There's more Gesneriads flowering around the house - there always are. This morning I counted 7 African Violets, 1 Streptocarpus, 1 Chirita 'Stardust' and a Streptocarpella all in bloom right now. Relatively speaking this is a smallish number compared to the size of the collection but it's still a good amount of colour to have around on a February day.

And of course, if you're looking for flowers look no further than you local orchid show.

Toronto Gesneriad Society Meeting Pictures

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Went to the Toronto Gesneriad Society's meeting this afternoon at the Toronto Botanical Gardens. On the whole not the most exciting meeting - nothing for sale and only three plants shown. Talk was interesting enough though. Also shown were some flowers which had been shown somewhere on Friday that were brought in to the meeting to be shown as well. That will pretty much be this post - here were the highlights of those flowers.



Strep. 'Remembering John'



Strep. 'Victorian Valentine'



S. 'Fisher's Leone'



Left: S. 'Live Wire', Right: S. 'Kings Ransom'



S. 'Sara's Addison Rose'



Left: S. 'Buckeye Leprechaun Charm', Right: S. 'News'

New Streptocarpus

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So last Month my mom surprised me with yet another awesome Streptocarpus. Anytime she says "Oh, and I got a _______" and it's a cultivar I recognize it's pretty well awesome all around. Last time was 'Ink Blot,' which I have never actually seen in person but the internet makes me think it's awesome, this time 'Purple Pepper'. I have seen 'Purple Pepper' in person and have pretty well needed to have one since, and am now so happy I do.



Streptocarpus 'Purple Pepper' - Toronto Gesneriad Society Show, March 28 2009

Gesneriads in bloom

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NOID Saintpaulia



Saintpaulia 'Shy Blue'



Saintpaulia 'Rebel's Rose Bud'



Saintpaulia 'Merlot' ('Senk's Merlot' Maybe?, label on the pot reads "MERLOT Wasp Violet")



Saintpaulia 'Merlot' leaf



Streptocarpus 'Royal Grape Fizz'

New Streptocarpus

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My mom bought me a Streptocarpus 'Ink Blot' on Sunday - very small plant with only 3 leaves and not close to flowering I'd expect, not for a while anyway but so excited! I love finding something online, that elusive (by that I mean not common - won't ever find it in a grocery store, rare in a store that knows their plants) species or cultivar that's just amazing and then actually getting that plant. Hopefully recent success with Streptocarpus will stay with us long enough for this plant to take off.

I will have a few interesting pictures coming up of other gesneriads in flower (it just happens that that is the largest family of plants represented in my house at the moment) including something I've never seen that promises to be strange and unusual.

I also have another batch of November colour pictures from work and took a trip to the Toronto Zoo on Saturday from which I've got a few more pictures of Grasses and whatnot.

Gesnerids in bloom

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Saintpaulia 'Rebel's Splatter Kake'



Streptocarpus 'Canterbury Surprise seedling'



Streptocarpus 'Silver Dust'



Chirita 'Stardust'



Chirita 'Stardust'



Chirita tamiana

Welcome!

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I have decided after some time away from my previous blog that I just won't have enough to talk about if I only talk about hardy plants. The last several posts at Zone 5 were about houseplants anyway so I figure I should just have one blog where I can talk about anything - inside, outside or anything else related to plants I may think of.



Kohleria 'Peridot's Mango Martini'

I imagine I'll have much much more to talk about and hopefully some of that will be of interest to most of you! I'll be working on a layout and colour scheme over the next few days and should be able to get a post or two as well, even if they're just little picture posts. There are two plants as well I'm waiting for buds to open that I'm not able to wait patiently for much longer so expect pictures of those hopefully soon as well!

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