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'

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, August 2010

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My garden is slow to get started in the spring, but as you can see on this Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day it definitely makes up for it now when most gardens are slowing down. Many of my favourite plants are actually those that flower in late summer.



Streptocarpus 'Laura'


Monarda 'Fireball' - to be honest I'm a little bit disapointed. I expected it to be red but it isn't. If I were going to be planting a pink Monarda there are nicer varieties, more compact varieties or frankly varieties that aren't even pink. Like 'Purple Rooster' or 'Raspberry Wine'. At least the colour matches my Clematis (The petals turn more pink/red as they age) and Bougainvillea.


Tricyrtis 'Tojen' will continue to flower for a long time, and will soon be joined by an even more hardcore fall flowering perennial, my Turtlehead (Chelone obliqua).


My Red Rose only has a few flowers on it right now, but many buds getting ready to open any day now. It's rambled its way up into my so called "dwarf" Banana (I'll post a picture once the rose starts to open - hint, it's gotten huge).

In the front yard my Hydrangea seems to be holding down the fort, while my Roses out front and my 'White Clips' Bellflower have a few flowers off and on.

Thanks for stopping by, hope you've enjoyed seeing some of the plants I have flowering this month.

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.

Streptocarpus 'Spin Art'

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Streptocarpus 'Spin Art'

First blooming of Streptocarpus 'Spin Art' - variable blue and yellow striping on a red flower make this a really unusual Streptocarpus. Not my thing (I'd take 'Purple Pepper' over 'Spin Art' any day) but actually pretty cool.

Also my new orchid (likely almost certainly a hybrid like Epicyclia) smells identical to blistex Medicated Lip Ointment. It smells strongest between sunrise and early afternoon and has variably smelled like roses, tea and medication. It's an unusual smell in an orchid but I like it. A co-worker ("Orchids are boring") bought one and thinks hers had a tag so maybe I'll get an ID? Otherwise NOID Epicyclia will be as far as I can get.

Hope everyone had a great Canada Day yesterday!

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.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, May 2010

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It's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day again and after an extremely dry April things are starting to flower outside.




Dwarf Irises are putting on a good show this year. The taller Irises are still only in bud, ahead of schedule by about 2 weeks (they normally open around the first of June) but still not quite open yet.

Otherwise outside it a whole lot of buds and any day things will burst into bloom but maybe because of the very late spring showers a lot of things are only just starting to get under way. There's one special plant that will get its own post very soon because I've been absolutely amazed by it since I bought it last summer.


Trillium erectum



Inside there's even more to look at. Many plants from even as far back as February are still going.

I'd like to issue an apology to Saintpaulia 'Ma's Crime Scene' for things said in April - it has figured out how to hold its flowers up above the leaves and has not stopped flowering since it opened in February. There are approximately 18 Saintpaulia plants flowering in the house right now.

My Ludisia discolor that opened in March has moved onto its second spike but is still going and has been joined by my 'alba.' The Phal.s are still going though my Paph. has finished after almost three months open.



Streptocarpus 'Royal Grape 7122' re-posted.

Streptocarpus 'Royal Grape 7122' has also continued to impress. It took a few days (less than a week) off in April but has started to flower again since then.

Thanks for stopping by, I'll just leave you with two plants that have only just started flowering this month.



Saintpaulia cv.


Streptocarpus 'Lemon Frills'

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

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