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| Columnea 'Jude' grown by Ron |
The Columneas are coming!
Soon there will be some of the old
Columnea hybrids showing up. Columneas,
one of those great Gesneriads that no commercial grower deals with, are worth
having in small hanging baskets.
There is no breakthrough, nothing new. But we can grow the old hybrids which nobody
knows about --- they’ll look new.
A lot of common names add to the
confusion. Some are called ‘Goldfish
Plant’, but that applies more to Nematanthus.
I like ‘Flying Dolphin’ better.
There are a few variegated leaf
varieties that are interesting to have even without flowers.
I like ‘Aladdin’s Lamp’ with black
foliage and red flowers. Also, ‘Inferno’
with burnt orange flowers. These would
be considered everblooming which means they can flower anytime with age.
Columneas are vegetatively
propagated with tip and stem cuttings.
To get a flower on a small pot you must maintain stock baskets to get
budded tips. By the time the cutting is
rooted the buds start to open. Time to
sell.
There is no fast way to grow Columneas, so there will not be
a lot available. Because they are
arching, trailing plants, small hanging baskets are ideal.
That’s what we have.
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| Columnea 'Frosty Hills' |
