Table Top Gardens

Table Top Gardens with Kalanchoe and Begonia

 Story # 26, 


      ‘Table Top Gardens’


      For years I tried to find a better name for the old ‘dish’ garden idea.


      Florists have sold dish gardens forever.  They are usually a collection of foliage plants planted together in a decorative ceramic pot.  They are sold as a gift item for those who want a present to last longer than cut flowers.


      There was a period when the term ‘European Garden’ was promoted.  It was a low container where flowering plants were added to a mix of foliage plants.  These are very colorful and are still sold, with or without, the European Garden name.


      ‘Table Top Garden’ is the perfect name for the category.


      I saw the term used in a trade magazine and decided that this is the perfect name for a low container with a combination of plants.  ‘Table Top Garden’ can work for indoor table decorations and for outdoor mixed planters that could fit on a picnic table.


      Both Sinningias and Streptocarpus can be used for the color plants in ‘Table Top Gardens’.

Sinningia 'Party Dress' --Will it follow 'Gabriel's Horn' into the Fairy Gardens?

Sinningia 'Party Dress' hybridized and grown by Thad Scaggs

Story # 25,


      Sinningia ‘Party Dress’ – Will it follow ‘Gabriel’s Horn’ into the Fairy Gardens?


      There are many named varieties of Sinningia flowers with the whirling flair of a party dress.


      Thad Scaggs, dedicated hybridizer of Sinningias and other Gesneriads, has shown his creations and selected a pink one to be the one and only ‘Party Dress’.  Thad has others, also, with names like ‘Florida Floozie’ and ‘Diva’.


      The double-calyx flowers are very unique and the extra outside petals appear to float around the center corolla.  The flowers have size and their weight cause them to droop down.  This gives the party dress look.


      So far production is limited to rooting tip cuttings.


      Will there be a series of ‘Party Dress’- type Sinningias produced in the future?

Sinningia 'Gabriel's Horn' -- Coming soon to your Fairy Garden!

Sinningia 'Gabriel's Horn' grown by Gary's Specialty Plants

 Story # 24,


      Sinningia ‘Gabriel’s Horn’ ----coming soon to your Fairy Garden!


      Sinningia ‘Gabriel’s Horn is worth looking for.  We know that it can get many buds and flowers.  It has double-calyx flowers that look like the pixies have arrived in the Fairy Garden.  The hobby of creating a Fairy Garden looks like fun and has evolved into an extra special niche with miniature landscapes and scenes with tiny furniture and characters.


       I could just declare that ‘Gabriel’s Horn’ is the ultimate plant for your Fairy Garden but that will be up to those of you who spend time thinking about and designing your gardens.  For you Fairy Gardeners, it is highly unlikely that you’ve ever seen a plant like ‘Gabriel’s Horn’ to consider it for your landscape.


      The plant is in collections of Gesneriad growers and shows up in Gesneriad flower shows but has never escaped into Fairy Land due to limited production quantities.


      Small flowering plants of Sinningia ‘Gabriel’s Horn’ will be available for sale at the Longwood Gardens’ plant shop soon.  Watch for the availability announcement in the right hand column.

Nothing can be sold until it has a name and a use!

Table Top Garden with Begonias

Story # 23,


      Nothing can be sold until it has a name and a use!


      The names Streptocarpus and Sinningia are not commonly known, but if you do learn about them, then you have a new category in mind.  We think of Chrysanthemums as Fall color and Roses for very special events.  Annuals are planted in the Spring and perennials come up every year.


      So what is a Streptocarpus or Sinningia for?


     They are not winter hardy nor indestructible so they fall into the houseplant or patio pot category.  As a houseplant, plant people want to learn how to grow  them forever.  Causal consumers just want pretty things for temporary use.


     A common question in plant selection is:  ‘Will this fit in my nice ceramic pot that I have at home?’  Decorative pots need refilling.  A Streptocarpus is great for that.  A Sinningia is lower and smaller so they can work for Table Top Gardens in combination with Begonias and Ferns.

     More Streptocarpus and Sinningias would be sold if we knew what to do with them.

Innovator:

Begonia Solenia 'Dusty Rose' - Best of the best!

Story # 22,
     
      Innovator: _____    _______

      Business Week magazine has a regular feature in the Technology section called Innovator.  It features a scientist or otherwise very smart person who has made some advance in science and product development.  I like these kinds of stories and usually read them first.

     The plant world will never get this kind of attention but plant hybridizers are continually innovating with new hybrids.  The genius is in their selection process.  But first they have to see a plan of what combination of plant characteristics are possible, and then carry out the crosses to discover what genetics will give them.
     
     I’ve been asked how horticulture has changed since I started 40 years ago.  The answer is that the plants are better.
     
      The innovators in the plant world are doing a good job!

It's the buds that count!

Sinningia 'Gabriel's Horn' grown by Gary's Specialty Plants

Story # 21,

            It’s the buds that count!

            In selecting Sinningias for commercial production, two things count the most ---- flower color and bud count.

            The number of buds that form when the Sinningia grows to first flowering is a variable inherited characteristic.  There have been named hybrids that have great flowers but very few of them.  With this in mind we only want to pick varieties that have multiple flower buds per peduncle which leads to showy clusters of open flowers.

            Sinningia ‘Gabriel’s Horn’ consistently gets 4 – 6 buds per leaf axil and can build a spectacular show of double calyx flowers.

Sinningia 'Kristobel' ----- Just because...

Sinningia 'Kristobel' grown by Ruth Coulson-- Australia

     

Story # 20,

            Sinningia ‘Kristobel’ ------ Just because it’s from the other side of the world doesn’t mean it’s any good.

            There is an impression that if a product is imported from afar it must be better, why else go to the trouble.  Sinningia ‘Kristobel’ was hybridized by John Nedwich in Australia and found its way to the U.S. in the hobby world.

            The picture is of the plant grown by Ruth Coulson, an advanced hobbyist and also a hybridizer of Sinningias.  I was fortunate to meet Ruth when she came half way around the world to the Gesneriad convention in Philadelphia in July 2011.  I offered to take her to Longwood Gardens as part of her site-seeing and had the chance to talk Gesneriads with her.  Somewhere in there we talked about this ‘Kristobel’ which she had grown so well for a show at home.

            It evolved that I got my original tuber of ‘Kristobel’ from Dale Martens who was growing it from plant material supplied by Ruth previously.

            Based on a picture and Ruth’s recommendation, I shipped it to be produced by tissue culture without actually seeing the plant myself.  Once we have quantities of this mid-sized Sinningia with terminal clusters of rosy flowers, will this gamble pay off?

            I should have S. ‘Kristobel’ in flower for sale in 8 – 12 weeks.