Sunset

Sunset in Thailand

                             Why must we go halfway around the World to see the sunset?

Sinningia 'Arkansas Empress' are everywhere.

Sinningia 'Arkansas Empress' -- Single stem


How can this not be a successful flowering houseplant?

Or better yet, a ubiquitous Spring plant for patio planters?

 

Sinningia 'Arkansas Empress' has come to light

Sinningia 'Arkansas Empress' by Dr Jon Lindstrom

 

            Sinningia ‘Arkansas Empress’ is a magnificent flowering plant when grown well.

 

            This salmon flowered Sinningia, an F1 hybrid by the late Dr Jon Lindstrom of the University of Arkansas, has many flowers in a terminal cluster.  It then expands into a second whorl of flowers.

 

            This exceptional plant has never been grown commercially.  It’s sterile, so it makes no seed.  Propagation is limited to side-shoot tip cuttings, unless tissue culture could multiply it.

 

            How could it be sold if quantities could be had?

 

            It is a stand-alone specimen plant that could be a premium gift plant for Mother’s Day.   If a continuous supply of small plants were available, it could be flowered at any time of the year.

 

            It’s big enough and showy enough that it could be sold as a flowering plant in mixed Spring/Summer patio planters. 

Beginning as a plantlet with roots, the Sinningia will form a tuber under the finished foliage.  Although not many indoor gardeners want to deal with it, the tuber will resprout and the tuber will grow bigger each year.  My friend, Vicky, has kept hers in a patio planter for years to grow and flower each Summer.

 

‘Arkansas Empress’ will be expensive because of the tissue culture and long crop time, but these salmon flowers will be worth it.

 

This tissue culture project has started, and results could be seen next year.  Updates as they occur --- No guarantee.

Sinningia 'Prudence Risley' needs to come back

          

            Sinningia ‘Prudence Risley’ is a flowering houseplant that deserves to be grown in commercial quantities.

 

            Like many Gesneriads, it has been hiding in the hobby world and shows up at Gesneriad Conventions and occasionally at the Philadelphia Flower Show to be judged.

 

            It’s always judged to be a cheery plant with its tubular red flowers.

 

            I know how to produce this amazing plant and have grown small quantities over the years.  Being sterile, seed propagation is not possible.  Tissue Culture can work, but who’s going to do it?  My method is side shoot, tip cuttings.

 

            The picture of ‘Prudence Risley’ in flower is at my West kitchen window in April 2025.

 

            No one is more surprised than I am that these flowers showed up with only window light.  It’s been growing there for a year or more, no fertilizer, just water.

 

            Celebrate!

Sinningia 'Prudence Risley' at Windowsill

 

Tolumnia with double spike

Tolumnia with double spike

 

                    Is the rare double spike on Tolumnia genetic or culture?

                    I've found 5-6 plants that have two flower spikes on the same fan.  That's 5-6 out of 11,000 plants.  If it is genetic, we need to select for this trait.  If it's just good growing health of the plant, we should learn how to do that.

                    If anybody out there knows the answer, please tell me.

The future of Tolumnia Orchids

Tolumnia 'Peppered Sunlight'

Is this the future of Tolumnia Orchids?

Eight flower bud count, two spikes per fan.

Will tissue culture mericlones duplicate this?

 

Tolumnia 'Peppered Sunlight' --- Is it good enough?

Tolumnia 'Peppered Sunlight'

                        The last story introduced a Tolumnia with potential for promotion. 

                         Now we have a name that could help ---  'Peppered Sunlight'.  The name came from Kerri.  I like it.  It describes speckled bright yellow.

                           This plant is a one-in-four thousand find.  It has good characteristics.  It has vigor and high bud count --- eight flowers per spike.

                            It is one of those rare double spikes per fan --- three in 11,000.  Nobody knows if this double spike is culture or genetic.  Nobody knows if the double spike would carry through in the tissue culture process?  The flower stem is strong and thick.  The flower stem is very tall, but acceptable.

                            Is this 'Peppered Sunlight' worth entering it into tissue culture?

                            If I had a thousand of these, would they be valuable?