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Volume 67 ~ Number 1First Quarter 2017

The Journal for Gesneriad Growers GesneriadsGesneriads

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GesneriadsThe Journal for Gesneriad Growers Volume 67 ~ Number 1First Quarter 2017

RetuRN to table oF CoNteNts

FeatuRes5 The Genius Behind the Gesneriads:

Conrad Gessner – 500 years Anton Weber10 Petrocosmeas Bev Williams with Paul Susi18 Download a Webinar! The Webinar Committee19 The San Francisco Gesneriad Society

held its 2016 Flower Show on Saturday, August 27

20 Rarely Seen and Rarely Grown: Centrosolenia porphyrotricha, A Nautilocalyx by Any Other Name

Drew Norris 22 Additional Photos from the 2016

Gesneriad Society Convention Show24 Flower Show Awards Paul Susi25 Gesneriads Gone Wild! Brandon Erikson28 61st Annual Convention of The

Gesneriad Society

37 Convention Speakers Scott Evans 43 All About Streptocarpus Part 4: Humidity – It’s all about water Pavel Enikeev and Olga Makarova

DePaRtMeNts3 Message from the President Julie Mavity-Hudson4 From the Editor Peter Shalit39 Gesneriad Registrations Irina Nicholson42 Changes to Hybrid Seed List 4Q1651 Coming Events Mary Schaeffer52 Back to Basics: Soilless Mix Additives

and CO2 Supplementation to Enhance Gesneriad Growth

Dale Martens 55 Seed Fund – Species Carolyn Ripps61 Information about The Gesneriad

Society, Inc.

EditorPeter Shalitgesnerieditor@gmail.comEditorial Staff and Contributing EditorsJeanne Katzenstein, Charlene Marietti, Dale Martens, Julie Mavity-Hudson, Irina Nicholson, Paul SusiConsulting TaxonomistDr. Laurence E. SkogTaxonomy Reference Websitehttp://botany.si.edu/ gesneriaceae/checklist/Botanical ReviewBob Stewart aeschynanthus@verizon.netGraphic Design and ProductionAdshead Graphics dd@adsheadgraphics.com

Business ManagerMichael A. Rileyriley2362@aol.comAdvertising ManagerTom Bruning31233 Beechnut Road, Treynor, IA 51575advertising@gesneriads.org

The right to reprint or quote exten sively from Gesneriads is reserved; permission may be requested from the Editor. Gesneriads follows the Interna-tional Codes of Nomen clature, including The International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (2012). Views published in Gesneriads are not necessarily those of the editors, the Society, or its officers. Editor’s deadline is three months before the first day of each quarter.

The Gesneriad Society, Inc.The objects of The Gesneriad Society are to afford a convenient and beneficial association of persons interested in the Gesneriad Plant Family (Gesneriaceae); to stimulate a wide-spread interest in; to gather and publish reliable infor mation about the identifica tion, correct nomenclature, culture, propagation, and conservation of gesneriads; and to encourage the origination, introduction, and conservation of species and cultivars.

The Gesneriad Society, Inc. is the International Registration Authority for the names and cultivars of gesneriads excepting the genus Saintpaulia. Any person desiring to register a cultivar should contact Irina Nicholson, 2512 South Balsam Way, Lakewood, CO 80227 USA hybridregistrar@gesneriads.org. www.gesneriads.org ~ www.facebook.com/gesneriads

Coverblossom of Petrocosmea kerrii. Photo: Vincent Woo

Back CoverMemorial of Conrad Gessner at the “Gessner-Garden” (part of the old botanical Garden of Zürich)source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_Gesner

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Convention is always the highlight of my year, and if you have never gone to convention, I hope you will consider it.

Message from the Presidentthis issue oF GESNERIADS has all the iNFoRMatioN you need about our upcoming convention. i am already getting excited! This will be a good one i know. Convention is always the highlight of my year, and if you have never gone to convention, i hope you will consider it. i always sign up for everything as i don’t want to miss out on any experiences. There is so much to learn and see, but even more important, there are new friends just waiting to meet you. There are so many wonderful people whom i truly love that i see every year at convention. in addition, going to convention is my way of learning more about the world, and getting to see places i would not otherwise visit. it is truly worth it. i hope you will also consider volunteering to help during convention. it’s a good way to get involved with the society and meet new people, and is also a good learning experience. This is your society, and you can help make it better. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes with many people working hard to make your convention experience go smoothly, and you can help make it all happen.

i am writing this as the cold weather is approaching here in the southeastern usa. all my achimenes have gone to sleep and are snuggled in waiting for spring to come. Now is the time to clean the plant shelves and repot/restart those plants that don’t go dormant. it’s always wonderful to come in from the cold and be welcomed by beautiful gesneriads. i think often of those of you in the southern hemisphere who are just coming into spring, and

those near the equator who may be in the dry season. our plants are always interesting. We are so lucky to have such a wonderful hobby. if more people grew plants, i think it would be a better world.

i hope by now you all know about the wonderful webinars that were produced last year and are continuing to be produced. especially for those of you without a local chapter these are a great way to learn, at a reasonable cost. once you have signed up for a webinar you can go back and watch as many times as you wish for several months. You can watch alone, or you can watch with friends. You can watch them at your club meetings if you have internet at your meeting place, or you can have a webinar party at someone’s home. There is so much good information in these presentations, with a personal touch. i thank Mary schaeffer, Dale Martens, and Paul susi of the Membership Promotion Committee for all the hard work they have put into this effort, as well as all the presenters who have worked long and hard to prepare their talks. here is a link: https://the-gesneriad-society.myshopify.com/collections/webinars.

i know you will all enjoy this issue of Gesneriads, yet another outstanding achievement for our editor, Peter shalit. Thanks so much Peter!

see you all at convention!

Julie Mavity-hudson<gespres2015@gmail.com>Joelton, tN, usa

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From the EditorWelCoMe to the 2017 CoNVeNtioN iNVitatioN issue of Gesneriads. The upcoming convention will be our society’s first in Nebraska. i’m excited to experience a city that’s new to me. i also look forward to seeing all of the Gesneriad society stalwarts who attend most every convention, as well as meeting some of the local gesneriad folks who may have not attended previous conventions. Please consider attending this event – the biggest gesneriad shindig of the year! The Convention insert goes from page 25 to page 36 of this issue.

You may have noticed new “exchange ads” in the last issue of Gesneriads. or maybe you tend to skip the ads. in any case, you should check out the exchange ads in this issue. These are ads for other plant societies. in return for running them, our ad appears in their society’s journal. You may already belong to some of these societies, but if not i encourage you to consider joining some or all of them. We plant aficionados have to support each other!

besides the Convention insert, and of course the ads, you’ll find lots of other fabulous material in this 64-page issue. in particular

i’d like to draw your attention to the petrocosmea article, a collaboration between bev Williams and Paul susi. This is a valuable primer on a popular gesneriad genus, and the article is based on bev’s very popular Webinar on the topic. our Webinars are an innovation of the society and they have proven very successful. The Webinar Committee, consisting of Dale Martens, Mary schaeffer, and Paul susi, deserves a great deal of credit for their work on this project. Webinars can be watched live, watched later, and/or purchased for permanent download. see page 18 for more information. as editor, i hope to publish future articles based on these Webinars. This is one more way that our society works to further knowledge about our favorite plant family.

enjoy Gesneriads!

<gesnerieditor@gmail.com>seattle, Wa, usa

We plant aficionados have to support each other!

— Seed Fund Promotional Contest —

To encourage donations to the Gesneriad Society’s Seed Fund, a contest began on January 1, 2017. First and second place prizes will be given to the persons

making the most Seed Fund donations throughout the year. The number of individual types of seed contributed (not the number of seeds) will be tracked from January1 through December 31, 2017. The prizes ($25 for first and $15 for second) will be gift certificates of the winners’ choice below:

S Seed Fund S CommerCial grower oF winner’S ChoiCe

S geSneriad SoCiety webStore S Convention plant SaleS

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The Genius Behind the Gesneriads: Conrad Gessner – 500 yearsAnton Weber, Vienna, Austria ~ <anton.weber@univie.ac.at>

eVeRY eNthusiast oF african violets, gloxinias, and their relatives knows that his/her plant favorites belong to a plant family called Gesneriaceae in scientific botany and referred to as “gesneriads,” “gesners,” or “gessies” in common language. Most people know that a man stands behind these names, but probably few have any detailed knowledge about this man and what he has to do with gesneriads. No wonder, as the person was born exactly 500 years ago (1516), lived in the small european country of switzerland, and has largely sunk into oblivion outside his home country. Yet he was one of the most brilliant and famous scientists, not only in his time, but in the history of science. he laid the foundations of many disciplines of cultural and natural sciences. his name is Conrad Gessner (latinized Conradus Gesnerus).

Gessner was born, lived, and died in Zürich, the largest city in switzerland. on the occasion of Gessner’s 500th anniversary, Zürich and switzerland made great efforts to commemorate this remarkable man and to revive interest in his epoch-making work at the turn of the middle ages and modern times. activities included celebrations and exhibitions in many places, the edition of a new biography, production of films, etc. (see <www.gessner500.ch>).

but also in the united states there were events devoted to the 500th birthday of Conrad Gessner: one celebration was in the context of the program “Gesneriads at the Philadelphia Flower show” at Cathedral Village and another at the 60th annual Convention of the Gesneriad society, held 5-9 July in Wilmington, Delaware. even in asia the “Gesneriad Conservation Center of China” organized a memorial ceremony. This author was asked to put together a program on Conrad Gessner for the Wilmington celebration – a project joyfully accepted and prepared. as planned, the program was presented there by Ron Myhr. This article is a shortened and modified version of that talk. For technical reasons it will appear in three parts: the first dealing with the life of Conrad Gessner; the second highlighting his published work (focusing on philology, zoology, and botany); and the third exploring the relationship of Gessner with the plant family Gesneriaceae.

Conrad Gessner at the age of 48; portrait by Tobias Stimmer, painted on the occasion of Gessner’s ennoblement in 1564. Photo source: http://www.buffalolib.org/content/milestones-science/conrad-gessner

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I. The life of Conrad Gessner Conrad Gessner’s ancestors came from Germany. his grandfather, hans Gessner, was a goldsmith in Nuremburg, but decided to migrate to solothurn in switzerland. one of his three sons born there, urs (Conrad’s father), went to Zürich, received citizenship in 1511, and practiced the profession of a furrier. he married a woman named agatha Frick with whom he had many children (the exact number is unknown). one of them was Conrad who was born on 16 March 1516, Palm sunday. The Gessner family was very poor and little Conrad grew up in abject poverty. Through the profession of his father, Conrad came into contact with (though mostly dead) animals and thus developed an interest in zoology in his early childhood.

Granduncle Johannes Frick, pastor at the Grossmünster Church, was apparently the first to recognize the extraordinary skills of little Conrad. he took Conrad (at the age of five) into his home, gave him lessons, and enabled him to attend the German school associated with the Fraumünster Church. Frick was not only a theologian, but was also strongly interested in plants. he cultivated and collected medicinal plants as part of his livelihood and introduced little Conrad to the science of botany. after a ridiculously short time, little Conrad knew all the plants in his surroundings by their German and latin names.

at the age of eight, Conrad was admitted to the latin school associated with the Grossmünster Church (the later Collegium Carolinum). The head of the Grossmünster institution was huldrych Zwingli, the great religious reformer of switzerland. he had come in 1518 as pastor of the then Roman Catholic church, but immediately started to propose his ideas of reforming the Catholic church, in particular denouncing corruption in the ecclesiastical hierarchy, promoting clerical marriage, and opposing the use of images in places of worship. Zwingli and his revolutionary ideas had a great influence on the young Conrad Gessner. he remained a faithful Protestant throughout his life but, in contrast to most of his contemporaries, was open and tolerant of other religions and religious trends.

The city of Zürich at the present day. The church on the left of the river Limmat (with green rooftop) is Fraumünster, where Gessner attended elementary school in his early boyhood; the twin steeples on the right belong to Grossmünster church, where Gessner visited the Latin school under the rectorship of Huldrych Zwingli and later became canon (1558). Photo source: http://ibexfairstay.ch/hp600/Zuerich.htm

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Poverty continued through the years. two of Conrad’s schoolteachers took pity on him and provided accommodations in their homes. Regardless of poor living conditions, Conrad proved to be an excellent, extremely diligent and multi-talented pupil, impressing his teachers with his knowledge and giftedness. in particular, he developed a deep interest in ancient languages and was soon familiar with latin and ancient Greek.

at the age of 16, Conrad left switzerland for the first time, visiting the German Protestant theologian and preacher Wolfgang Capito (Wolfgang Fabricius Koepfel, 1478-1541) in strassburg (now strasbourg, France). he was not very satisfied with the stay (feeling “like a slave”), but made good use of the time and learned hebrew.

1531 was a sad year for young Gessner as he lost two significant influences in his life: his father urs and his mentor huldrych Zwingli. both fell on 11 october 1531 during the battle of Kappel, which the army of the Roman Catholic cantons won (in a surprise move) over the outnumbered and ill-equipped Protestant army.

The successor of Zwingli was a man named heinrich bullinger (1504-1575), who was to play an important role in Gessner’s life. his first contact with bullinger was a letter of supplication, and bullinger responded with a travel grant that enabled Gessner to visit bourges (with a then-famous university) and Paris. Much later, bullinger became an intimate friend, supporter, and highly respected advisor of Gessner.

immediately after arriving in bourges (Central France) Gessner, now 17 years old, started his studies of medicine. The travel grant covered only travel expenses, so he had to live under very poor conditions. in the next year (1534), he headed for Paris. Regardless of the poor economic situation, he found there what he had dreamed of: a university offering a wealth of scientific fields and an institution and people open

Zürich at Gessner’s time; note the right bridge spanning the river Limmat, with the Fraumünster church on the lower side and the Grossmünster church on the upper side. Photo source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Zurych_Turicum.jpg

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to novelties and innovations. Gessner absorbed all available knowledge and skills like a sponge. his multi-disciplinary studies there laid the foundation of his universal education. unfortunately, his luck was of short duration. after an eight-month stay, he (as a Protestant) had to flee from Paris in order to escape religious cleansings that were instigated by agitators of the Roman Catholic church.

back in Zürich, the first job offered to young Conrad was teaching at an elementary school, a position he filled for two years. in 1537, Gessner’s first book, the Lexicon graecolatinum (a Greek-latin dictionary) was published. The book was a great success and no less than 13 (partly revised) editions appeared until and shortly after Gessner’s death. This book also formed the basis for getting a more honorable job: he became Professor of Greek at the newly founded academy of lausanne. here, amidst a beautiful landscape and mountain scenery, young Gessner perhaps spent the two happiest years of his life. apart from teaching ancient languages, he had time to undertake excursions to the swiss alps and started to prepare other scientific publications. This was not only for academic reasons, but also due to financial needs, as publishing (by order of commercial publishers) added to his low salary that alone would not have sufficed for living.

encouraged by the Zürich city physician Christoph Clauser, Gessner quit his job at lausanne, and at 24 years of age decided to continue his studies in medicine, this time at the university of Montpellier (France). again he was disappointed with the university’s mundane operation. Montpellier’s location on the Mediterranean coast, however, allowed him to study Mediterranean and marine animals and plants.

after a short visit to lyon, Gessner returned in 1541 to switzerland and in an extremely short time finished his study of medicine at the university of basel. subsequently, Gessner opened his own doctor’s surgery in Zürich. low earnings, however, required him to lecture at the Carolinum and to continue publishing. Gessner made several excursions to the swiss alps, especially to the Glarus Mountains. in 1542, his first book with the publisher Christoph Froschauer (Libellus de lacte – a probably commissioned booklet on milk and milk products) appeared. The cooperation and friendship between Gessner and Froschauer lasted their lifetime. Many of Gessner’s most significant books were produced and distributed by Froschauer.

on the occasion of a trip with Froschauer to the (then already existing!) Frankfurt book Fair, Gessner met leading scholars of the time. other important trips took him to Venice and bologna, from which cities he brought back valuable materials for his bibliographies and books on animals. The years from 1545 onwards proved to be his

Swiss banknote with the portrait of Conrad Gessner. The banknote is no longer in circulation.Photo source: http://www.worldbanknotescoins.com/2015/04/50-swiss-franc-note.html

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scientifically most prolific years. Gessner worked on numerous projects at the same time, and almost every year at least one new book (published by Froschauer) appeared.

in June 1554 Gessner succeeded Christoph Clauser as city physician of Zürich. Despite his many activities, obligations, and scientific projects, Gessner still continued to make excursions to the mountains of switzerland. Perhaps the most significant one was his hike up Mt. Gnepfstein (now Mittagsgüpfi) in the Pilatus massif south of luzern. This trip in august 1555 resulted in a book bearing the side title Eiusdem descriptio Montis Fracti, sive Montis Pilati, iuxta Lucernam in Helvetia (“Concomitantly a description of Mt. Fractus, also called Mt. Pilatus, near luzern in switzerland”). Gessner realized that the vegetation changed with increasing altitude, and his descriptions of the successive vegetation belts laid the foundation of modern vegetation ecology.

From 1555 to 1565, the last ten years of Gessner’s life, many more books followed, most of them dealing with animals. one on which Gessner worked intensively during that time unfortunately remained unfinished: the book on plants, provisionally entitled Historia plantarum. This book project is of particular interest for plant lovers and will be treated in some detail in Part ii of this story.

1558 was a lucky year for Gessner. by the intervention of heinrich bullinger, Gessner became canon at the Grossmünster church in Zürich, and this meant freedom – freedom from financial problems, freedom for research, and freedom for publishing books in his area of interest. one year later, another remarkable event occurred when Gessner met the holy Roman emperor Ferdinand i. although Ferdinand was a Roman Catholic, he was deeply impressed by the Protestant Gessner and paid public recognition to him. in May 1564, one-and-a-half years before Gessner’s death, emperor Ferdinand conferred a crest letter to Gessner, and a coin with Gessner’s effigy and armorial bearing was printed. This was preceded by the ennoblement of Gessner two months earlier. on the occasion of ennoblement, the only authentic portrait of Gessner was painted, by tobias stimmer, on 9 March 1564.

in august of the same year, the plague arrived in Zürich. one of the first to be infected was heinrich bullinger. Gessner nursed bullinger and his family and many others in a self-sacrificing way. bullinger’s wife and his three children died, but bullinger himself survived and recovered. For more than a year Gessner fought fearlessly against the plague, but the fight cost him energy and power of resistance. on 9 December 1565, Gessner realized that he was infected by the plague himself. Most remarkably, he was not frightened by his own diagnosis, but prepared himself for death in quiet devotion. on 13 December, Gessner died in his study. The next day, with great sympathy from the inhabitants of Zürich, he was buried in the cloister of the Grossmünster church.

Despite his early death at the age of 49, Conrad Gessner died as a highly respected and internationally acknowledged person, celebrated as the “swiss Pliny.” one year after his death, the first biography had already appeared: Vita Conradi Gesneri (“The life of Conrad Gessner”) by Josias simler (1566). Many more biographies were to follow, e.g., by schmiedel (1753-1771), hanhart (1824), Wolf (1858), ley (1929), Milt (1929), Fischer (1966), and leu (2016), the latter published on the occasion of Gessner’s 500th birthday. unfortunately, all are in latin or German. an english biography would be highly desirable.

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PetrocosmeasBev Williams ~ Brooklin, Ontario, Canada ~ <beverleyandbrucewilliams@rogers.com>with Paul Susi ~ South Huntington, NY, USA~ <gesneriadpromotion@gmail.com>

Introduction: This article is adapted from the webinar presented by Bev Williams in August 2016 in the series hosted by The Gesneriad Society. Bev started to grow petrocosmeas around 2002 when she first saw them and became interested in this genus. Paul started around the same time but has only grown them successfully for the past five years. In the article, specific cultural information provided by each of them will be identified by name.PetRoCosMeas haVe beCoMe PoPulaR iN a VeRY shoRt PeRioD of time. once grown almost exclusively for their symmetrical features, they are now flowering in windows and light gardens all over the world as a result of an influx of new species and hybrids in the past 15 years. as their popularity has increased, so has our knowledge of what these lovely plants require to grow and thrive in our homes.

species of the genus Petrocosmea were first discovered in China by augustine henry and first described in 1887 by Daniel oliver, university College, in london. Most species are only found in certain high-altitude areas of western China and some are native to other parts of asia (northern india and northern Vietnam). This rosette-forming genus grows mostly on mossy rocks, often limestone, in shady areas, and in wet mossy forests. The genus Petrocosmea was named by Daniel oliver of Kew. he used the Greek words for rock (“petros”) and adorn (“kosmeo”) to come up with the name Petrocosmea.

since there is some variation in habitat for this genus, it is good to know some natural habitat information in order to provide similar growing conditions at home. species native to higher altitudes (400-1,200 m) require cooler temperatures between 50°-75°F/ 10°-24°C, conditions sometimes compared to tender alpines. These include Petrocosma duclouxii, Petrocosmea flaccida, Petrocosmea forrestii, Petrocosmea nervosa, and Petrocosmea oblata. Those growing at lower altitudes can be grown at warmer temperatures (65°-80°F/ 18°-27°C). These include Petrocosmea kerrii, Petrocosmea parryorum, and Petrocosmea peltata. Petrocosmea species come in varied sizes of plants and shape of leaves and flowers. This genus currently contains over 40 species, but not all of them are in cultivation.

Petrocosmea barbata, P. begoniifolia, P. flaccida, P. formosa, P. forrestii, P. menglianensis, P. minor, P. nervosa, P. sp. ht1, and P. sp. ht2 all have a flat symmetrical rosette habit, whereas Petrocosmea kerrii and P. parryorum grow in a more upright fashion. Most species only produce one or two flowers per petiole, with some occasionally producing up to four flowers per petiole. The flowers can be dark violet-blue, blue, lavender to white; they are usually not very large. Some Popular SpeciesPetrocosmea begoniifolia has very shiny, quilted round leaves that form a nice rosette. The flowers are a little larger than most petrocosmea flowers and are white, or creamy white in appearance, sometimes with a yellow center.

Photos by Beverley Williams unless otherwise noted. Petrocosmea minor and P. duclouxii

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Petrocosmea coerulea was originally introduced by Jim Roberts, a member of The Gesneriad society, as P. species “a” and later renamed and identified as P. coerulea. Very little information is known about this petrocosmea.

is it Petrocosmea floribunda or Petrocosmea duclouxii? This species has had several names attached to it over the years. There is no known published species by the name of Petrocosmea floribunda. it is Petrocosmea duclouxii. The flowers of Petrocosmea duclouxii are suspended on long stems. another species, Petrocosmea vittatae, was very popular at one time and similar in appearance to Petrocosmea nervosa. it also is not a known or published species.

Petrocosmea formosa is a very popular species. it has hairy, velvety leaves and colorful flowers. it was originally found in Thailand at very high elevations of 1,600 m to 2,750 m. Flower stems may hide under the foliage and may never make an appearance. it is common for it to produce long petioles.

Petrocosmea forrestii is one of the smaller-leafed species. it may only have one or two blooms per flower stem, but many stems. its flowering habit is similar to Petrocosmea sp. “Yumebutai” in that it produces rows of flowers on long stems.

Not all petrocosmeas grow in tight, symmetrical rosettes. Petrocosmea kerrii has a very different growing habit, with leaves more upright and very velvety in appearance. it is one of the larger petrocosmeas. The flowers are small, bloom under the foliage and could be mistaken for suckers or offsets.

Petrocosmea minor

Petrocosmea forrestii

Blossoms of Petrocosmea rosettifolia and P. menglingensis

Petrocosmea parryorum grown by Paul Susi and photographed in his light stand

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Petrocosmea menglianensis for some time was thought to be another form of Petrocosmea cryptica, but its flowers are very different. its foliage is more twisted and it has a more distorted rosette with larger leaves than P. cryptica.

There are three forms of Petrocosmea minor: a smooth-leaf form, a veined-leaf form (originally labelled P. sp. “#5” or “Chinese #5”), and a pointed-leaf form (sometimes called holly form). Petrocosmea minor, with its porcelain-looking leaves, is frequently seen in african violet and gesneriad shows.

Petrocosmea parryorum is one of the larger-leaved species. it comes from the wet, warmer regions of China and therefore can tolerate warmer conditions. Petrocosmea parryorum produces bunches of flowers on its flower stalks.

Petrocosmea sp. “Yumebutai” produces rows of upright stems and flowers starting on the outside of the plant and working into the center.

one of the more confusing things about petrocosmeas is that with such a large number of new species being introduced, there is confusion regarding names. Petrocosmea cryptica has had a lot of names, having been in cultivation for over ten years. if you want to know more about this species check out The Plantman magazine, september 2011. in the article entitled “a New species of Petrocosmea” Julian shaw states that “a gesneriad that has been in cultivation under the wrong name for more than 10 years is a new species.” bev’s plant of then Petrocosmea rosettifolia won the ‘best Gesneriad’ at the New York state african Violet society Convention show in 2005. Many growers like the rosette this species forms. Some Popular Hybridstim tuttle, an oncology nurse from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is the hybridizer of the Keystone’s series. he has produced some wonderful hybrids, such as Petrocosmea ‘Keystone’s barnswallow’, P. ‘Keystone’s angora’, P. ‘Keystone’s brilliant’, P. ‘Rosemary Platz’, and P. ‘Paul Kroll’. some of tim’s hybrids are extremely small, such as P. ‘Keystone’s bantam’ (which develops a button-type center) and P. ‘tiny tim’.

Jeff Foederer from the Netherlands has hybridized some new petrocosmeas. among them are Petrocosmea ‘helena’, which he introduced in 2010, P. ‘lexi’ in 2006, and P. ‘Milan’.

Petrocosmea sp. “Yumebutai” and P. ‘Paul Kroll’

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some other hybrids are Petrocosmea ‘short’nin’ bread’ and P. ‘Fluffer Nutter’, hybridized by Joyce stork, and P. ‘imperial butterflies’ and P. ‘asa blue’, hybridized by Nagahide Nakayama.Growing Conditions When growing petrocosmeas, it is important to keep a few things in mind. in addition to having succulent leaves, many species grow in rock crevices, or on mossy rocks, areas where moisture doesn’t linger for a long time. Plants in cultivation will do best if planted in fast-draining, light soil, with the opportunity to dry out between waterings. Many, although not all, prefer cooler conditions. Petrocosmeas also have shallow root systems and don’t like their roots disturbed very much. as a result, infrequent repotting works best.

if left to grow on, the leaves of petrocosmeas will eventually result in ‘cupping’ around the pot and the growth can become very tight. Moving them into a larger pot, removal of leaves, or using a support for the leaves will all help. some species are extremely slow growing and may take many years to fill a 2" pot, while others will fill a 4" pot in a year. Moving species with longer-growing petioles into larger pots will help to support the leaf petioles.

bev lives about an hour northeast of toronto, ontario, Canada. The temperature in the winter in her unheated basement growing area with the furnace on is 72°F/22°C during the day and 64°F/18°C at night. During the summer when the furnace is off, the basement keeps a consistent temperature of about 70°F/21°C. Paul grows in an unheated basement also, with winter temperatures dropping to the upper 50°s F/10°s C at times at night and struggling to stay in the upper 60°s F / 15°s C during the day. to raise the temperature in his growing area, he uses plastic sheeting around the two plant stands. This raises the night and day temperatures by about five degrees. During the summer, the plastic sheeting is removed and temperatures can go as high as the lower 80°s F/27°s C during the day and maybe drop to the lower 70°s F/21°s C at night. both Paul’s and bev’s petrocosmeas are on the lowest shelves.

A collection of Bev’s petrocosmeas

14 Gesneriads ~ Volume 67 ~ Number 1Return to Table of Contents

bev and Paul both have high humidity in their respective basements and use dehumidifiers. Winter humidity in both basements drops to around 35% (bev’s dehumidifier is on and Paul’s is off), but in the summer, the dehumidifiers run non-stop for both to keep the humidity at 50% (and sometimes it gets higher in Paul’s basement). bev bottom waters all her plants using a watering wand and a fountain pump. all plants are saucer watered. all of Paul’s plants are on black acrylic felt capillary matting and he waters all his trays using a wand on a hose attached to a nearby sink.

bev uses a modified version of ‘Fishers Formula’ soil mix. it consists of sterilized clay loam (or organic top soil), coarse vermiculite, perlite, fine-chip charcoal, sphagnum peat moss plus bone meal, powdered dolomite lime, and a fungicide. With cool conditions, her plants do not dry out quickly. she also adds some perlite and Pro Mix bX to her basic mix. she also prefers a potting mix of “dirty moss.” Dirty moss is a mixture of half potting mix and half sphagnum moss. New Zealand compressed sphagnum moss pellets are easily hydrated with warm water and are combined with fibrous sphagnum moss, a common medium for orchid growers. Difficulty in getting compressed sphagnum moss is making this a challenge. Paul uses any commercial peat-based mix to which he adds copious amounts of perlite and vermiculite to lighten the soil since he grows on capillary matting and does not want his soil to become soggy. he also adds powdered dolomite limestone to his mix.

Petrocosmeas have shallow roots, so bev and Paul both feel that shallow pots work the best. The largest pot bev uses is a 5" pan pot. she puts a piece of screening, cut to size, in the bottom of each pot. The screening makes it easy to push the plant out of the pot, as well as helping with root development. Paul has tried growing some petrocosmeas in clay saucers, with a minimum of soil. This method can be touch-and-go, especially when a plant is small and there is quite a bit of exposed mix. When planting in a pot, Paul places a piece of paper towel at the bottom of the pot and fills it about halfway with aquarium gravel. he places the root ball of the plant, with additional mix for support around it, on top of the gravel.

bev uses a variety of fertilizers on a rotating basis: Peter’s Water soluble fertilizer 20-20-20, Peters 12-36-14, and orchid Plus 20-14-13, at the rate of a quarter teaspoon per gallon of water at every watering. she also adds a pinch of epsom salts to help green up her plants. everything in bev’s plant room gets the same fertilizer. Paul fertilizes all his gesneriads with a quarter teaspoon of tomato fertilizer per gallon of water, (hopefully once a month!).

Petrocosmeas are considered to be low light plants. however, bev doesn’t make any light adjustments for them and grows them with the rest of her gesneriads. in ontario, the electricity rates are charged on a “time of use” basis. The most expensive rates are

during the daytime and also change seasonally. The least expensive rates are from 7:00 p.m. until 7:00 a.m. For many years, not because of the hydro rates, but because of heat, bev has run her lights at night. Paul’s electricity rates are the same all day long and he runs his lights from noon to 11 p.m. all year round.

A portion of Bev’s growing area

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since t12 fluorescent tubes are being phased out, many growers are moving to t8 and t5 tubes and even leD tubes, which have recently been introduced. t8 tubes will fit in a t12 fixture, but the ballast needs to be changed, or new fixtures need to be purchased. t8 fluorescent tubes use 40% less electricity than t12 fluorescent tubes. The new t8 leD tubes are more expensive to purchase than t8 fluorescent tubes but are 30% more efficient than t8 fluorescent tubes (they use 17 watts compared to 34 watts of

a t8 fluorescent tube) and have a longer life expectancy. in addition, leD tubes get by with fewer lumens because their directional nature ensures a greater concentration of light. They require no additional changes to the ballast and will fit into existing t8 fixtures. bev keeps her lights on for 10 hours in winter and 6-8 hours in summer; Paul uses t8s and keeps his lights on 11 hours all year long. bev started to convert her t8 fluorescent tubes to t8 leDs in November of 2015, a few at a time, to test them out. by January of 2016 she had totally changed over to leDs.

A sucker on Petrocosmea minor

Removal of suckers from Petrocosmea cavaleriei

Rooting suckers of Petrocosmea minor

Leaf cuttings with baby sprouts

Plantlets potted up

16 Gesneriads ~ Volume 67 ~ Number 1Return to Table of Contents

PropagationThe easiest way to propagate petrocosmeas is by suckers or offsets. suckers tend to develop when petrocosmeas are going to bloom, are blooming, instead of blooming, or any time they want. one way to know that you have suckers is that the foliage will look as if it has a bump in it and the leaves are lifting. sometimes there is no indication that there are suckers so occasional checking is necessary. suckers can appear in the rows, or at the soil surface. Removing suckers carefully will yield small plantlets that can be easily grown on. sometimes suckers can be so plentiful that they encircle the whole plant. Keeping up with the removal of suckers will maintain the symmetry of your plants.

tools that bev uses to remove suckers include a tool that was originally designed for working with ceramics. it has a sharp pointed blade on one end and a curved blade on the other end (commonly called a “sucker-plucker”). a nut pick also works. tweezers may be necessary for removal of any part of the sucker that remains behind. Place the plantlets into recycled ‘K’ (Keurig) coffee pods or solo cups with holes in the bottom, filled with regular potting mix. if the plantlets are unstable, additional staking may be required. Don’t pot them too low in the pot. although bev doesn’t cover them because she has found that they often rotted, Paul does cover his newly planted suckers. The plantlets can stay in these pots until they are about 3"-4"/8-10 cm in diameter. Then they can be moved into shallow pots.

another way to propagate petrocosmeas is by leaf cuttings. Cut the petiole (leaf stem) at a 45° angle with a sharp, clean knife and place the leaf cutting into recycled ‘K’ pods or solo cups in regular soil mix. bev does not cover these either. all the leaf cuttings are placed in a communal tray and watered sparingly weekly. Plantlets may take three to four months to appear. after many months (in this case the leaves were planted in November) the baby plantlets started to make their appearance in February. some will take longer than others. Paul places his leaf cuttings in barely moistened regular mix and puts the small pots in an enclosed container. Propagation time is about the same as bev’s. Paul checks the pots occasionally and adds some water if they are totally dry. GroomingWhen it comes to grooming, it is an ongoing job to remove suckers and leaves. it seems best to groom petrocosmeas when they are dry and limp. Most of them are extremely brittle and will break easily.

if you are not sure which leaves to remove, put a piece of tissue over the leaf to see how the plant will look without it. Put the petrocosmea on the floor and look straight down on it. if you can’t see the leaves under the ones on top, remove them. suckers will also detract from the appearance of a plant. if you allow a petrocosmea to continue to grow without removing suckers, you will end up with a big mass of suckers and the plant may not be salvageable.

Old leaves removed from Petrocosmea

‘Keystone’s Blue Jay’

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after removing all the suckers and leaves, the plant could have a long neck. You may need to remove the petrocosmea from its pot and cut off the root ball the same amount as the exposed crown. example: if the crown is exposed one inch, then cut one inch off the bottom of the root ball, then put it back into the same pot. Fill in the space at the top with fresh soil. Your plant will not be happy and may sulk, but it will recover in time.

brushing petrocosmeas is very difficult. some of the more delicate hybrids and species will mark badly if brushed. because the long hairs are often close together, brushing does not work well. if you must brush, lightly use a soft natural-bristle hairbrush. The preferred method is to blow the dirt off, or pick particles off carefully with tweezers.

You can remove spent or dead blossom stalks by letting them get very dry. Then they will be easy to remove by pulling them off. to remove them when they are spent but not dried out, bev has found that the best way is to grasp the flower stem close to the crown and pull gently.

strange things happen sometimes and “zippering” is one of them. The term zippering has been coined because the plant looks like a zipper. almost overnight, its center seems to split into two large crowns right down the middle of the original plant. Pest & Diseases With high humidity comes mildew, which is a constant problem for bev every spring, even with good air circulation. Most of her petrocosmeas don’t have a mildew problem, but a few seem to be more susceptible to it. For those plants, bev watches for the first sign of mildew and then sprays lightly with a solution of one part 70% isopropyl alcohol to two parts distilled water. in Paul’s basement, in spite of the high humidity, none of his petrocosmeas have developed mildew, though other gesneriads have.

The treatment for mealybugs is to discard the plant and soil or to dab insects with a cotton swab soaked in a weak rubbing alcohol/water solution. treating an infested plant with Marathon crystals sprinkled on the soil and watered through and/or in the saucer will help rid the plant of an infestation. There are also commercially available beneficial insects such as lacewing or ladybugs.

Neither bev nor Paul often see thrips on petrocosmeas, as they usually bloom seasonally in the winter and spring. it is always a good idea to isolate any new additions to your plant collection. if you see flowers damaged by thrips, spray with a diluted solution of 50% avid and 50% Conserve and remove all blossoms and bloom stalks. a light spray with house & Garden Raid will also kill thrips, but will damage flowers.SourcesPetrocosmeas are available from several vendors including The Violet barn, lyndon lyon Greenhouses, and also at local Gesneriad society chapter meetings and the annual Gesneriad society Convention.

This Petrocosmea sericea shows a good example of zippering. It is thought that the plant is trying to split. It will not revert back. Bev eventually threw this plant out.

18 Gesneriads ~ Volume 67 ~ Number 1Return to Table of Contents

Download a Webinar!The Webinar Committee: Dale Martens, Mary Schaeffer, and Paul Susi <gesneriadpromotion@gmail.com>

You sPoKe, We heaRD. theRe haVe beeN MaNY ReQuests FRoM webinar viewers, chapters and others regarding obtaining a permanent copy of one or more of the popular webinars. beginning this month, you will be able to order and download webinars to add to your reference library and watch and listen to in your home or at a chapter meeting. in addition to being great resources for individuals, these one-hour webinars make great programs for chapters that are unable to invite gesneriad speakers from around the united states and Canada to give in-depth presentations on topics of interest to their members.

ordering is simple - go to the Gesneriad society store webinar page and choose the one you would like to download. once your order has been received, a link to the webinar MP4 file stored in Dropbox will be sent to the email address on the order. You do not need a Dropbox account to download the file, which can be stored on a local desktop, laptop, flash drive, or DVD. The MP4 file is ready to be shown on your computer, an hDtV, or projected with a digital projector. Recipients of

the webinar link must not forward the email to others to download since that will have a negative impact on the Dropbox account.

each downloadable webinar is priced at $19.95 (us). here is the rollout schedule for the first four months of 2017.

~ Growing and showing streptocarpus (Dale Martens) - January 2017~ Growing and showing episcias (Thad scaggs) - January 2017~ Growing and hybridizing Miniature sinningias (Dale Martens) - January 2017~ Growing and showing Primulinas (Mel Grice) - January 2017~ Fun with Kohlerias (Paul susi) - February 2017~ The Joy of sinningias (alan laVergne) - March 2017~ Meet the Gesneriad Family (Dale Martens) - april 2017 (this one is free!)We hope you add one or more of these informative webinars to your permanent

gesneriad reference collection.

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The San Francisco Gesneriad Society held its 2016 Flower Show on Saturday, August 27

A. Streptocarpus ‘Falling Stars’, runner up to Best in Show, entered by Jesada Simla. Photo: Peter Shalit

B. Sinningia guttata × S. helleri, Best in Show, entered by Hung Nguyen. Photo: Bob Clark

C. Raphiocarpus petelotii, entered by Alan LaVergne. Photo: Bob Clark

D. Episcia cupreata ‘Metallica’, entered by Terri Campbell. Photo: Bob Clark

E. Judges at work. Photo: Peter Shalit

AB

C D

E

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Rarely Seen and Rarely Grown: Centrosolenia porphyrotricha, A Nautilocalyx by Any Other NameDrew Norris ~ Marriottsville, MD, USA ~ <extensionofgreen@yahoo.com>

ReCeNt WoRK With seVeRal NeW WoRlD gesneriad genera has resulted in several name changes as documented in the published work of Marcela M. Mora and John l. Clark. among the recently reclassified species is the plant formerly known as Nautilocalyx porphyrotrichus. The accepted name for this species is now Centrosolenia porphyrotricha. The plant is native to Venezuela and the Guiana shield.

Whatever the name, this plant has presented difficulties in cultivation for many. Given its modest size, attractively hairy and patterned foliage, as well as its bright red blossoms, that is something i hope to change.

The plant itself is a semi-upright, herbaceous species. it spreads by slightly sprawling stems above ground. The plant is fibrous rooted, with no tubers or rhizomatous structures. The leaves are lightly serrated, forest green, with a grass green central stripe, lance-shaped, and covered with reddish hairs, as are this species’ calyces and stems. The color of the hairs is more striking on the undersides of the foliage, stems, and calyces.

The leaves are borne in opposite pairs, with blooms arising from the axils, beneath the foliage. it flowers year-round under my conditions.

For me, growing the plant has been fairly straightforward and i have no “secrets” to divulge to explain my success.

i acquired my plant from The Violet barn, and it was promptly potted in a traditional wicking mix of ProMix bX or sunshine Mix #4. i have repotted it a few times and have success with both products, though prefer the sunshine Mix. The growing medium was lightened further with horticultural charcoal and coarse perlite. For several weeks the plant endured typical household humidity of between 50 and 60%. it sat in front of a window, receiving a few hours of afternoon sun. My plant experienced near drying to the point of almost wilting, but never seemed to mind.

once i took greater interest in this plant and placed it on my light stand, it really started to flourish and bloom. The humidity in my light garden is consistently 70% to 80%, by virtue of so many plants. lighting is provided by a t12 fixture, holding one 5000k

The plant responds well to pruning and new stems will arrive from the bases of cut stems.

Photos by the author.

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bulb and one 3000k bulb, on for 9 hours per day. temperatures are stable, in the high 60°sF and mid 70°sF, at the warmest, with 72°F being average. The plant does occasionally show browning leaf margins, which can be attributed to low humidity, being allowed to dry out too much, or, in my case, fertilizer choices. i have found that some plants seem to resent water-soluble fertilizers, perhaps due to concentrations getting higher than desired in the wicking trays, from repeated applications of fertilizer and evaporation. i found using osmocote was a perfect solution.

There are several formulations of osmocote and really any of them labeled for use with flowering plants, vegetables, or house plants are suitable. i prefer the longer lasting formulations. i don’t measure exactly, but add the granules to my potting mix until i like the look of the number of granules in relation to the mix. to quantify this better, i’d like to see around 5-10 granules per fist full of soil mixture.

using the osmocote with consistent watering, moderate temperatures, and moderate full spectrum lighting is all i found was needed for success. i do wick water all of my plants and we utilize reverse osmosis water, due to very hard well water.

based on my experience and observations, this species would most likely resent condensation on the foliage and if attempted enclosed, it should be ventilated, to avoid rot. The plant responds well to pruning and new stems will arrive from the bases of cut stems. Rooting the plant poses no problem in moss, potting mix, or perlite/vermiculite mixture. Cuttings should be kept under cover, but not subjected to condensation or overly moist mix.

i have distributed cuttings to several members, though The Violet barn is the only commercial source of which i am aware. i hope to see more members taking an interest in this modestly sized, ornamental genus.

2375 North Beaumont, Texas 77702

409-839-4725http://avsa.org/

Write or call today for information.

22 Gesneriads ~ Volume 67 ~ Number 1Return to Table of Contents

Additional Photos from the 2016 Gesneriad Society Convention Show

Achimenes ’Sauline’ – Ron Myhr. Photo: Winston Goretsky

Gesneria christii – Jay Sespico. Photo: Winston Goretsky

Eucodonia Hybrid #3 – Mary Schaeffer. Photo: Winston Goretsky

Primulina xiuningensis – Stephen Maciejewski. Photo: Ron Myhr

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Educational Display: “The Origin of Gesneria” – Paul Susi. Photo: Dale Martens

Streptocarpus ‘Iced Pink Flamingo’ – Barb Borleske. Photo: Winston Goretsky

Arrangement “Lewes, Delaware” – Barbara Stewart. Photo: Karyn Cichocki

Sinningia araneosa – Paul Kroll.

Photo: Julie Mavity-Hudson

24 Gesneriads ~ Volume 67 ~ Number 1Return to Table of Contents

Flower Show Awards Paul Susi ~ South Huntington, NY USA ~ <gesneriadawards@gmail.com>

a FeW ChaNGes haVe beeN MaDe to the list of awards since last year, primarily regarding the value of some major awards. These awards are now worth more in recognition of the time and effort required to grow an outstanding horticultural entry, create a spectacular artistic arrangement or work of art. These changes are:

• Runner-uptoBestinDivision(otherthanHorticulture):$60 (three awards)

• BestineachSection:$45(upto19awards)• Sweepstakes(otherthanHorticulture):$60We are encouraging sponsorships in increments of $15,

with the minimum sponsorship set at $15. There are a number of reasons for this, including making the award Chairperson’s job of mixing and matching sponsorship donations somewhat easier. The list of special awards (e.g., best achimenes) has been expanded to include all the major show genera and also awards in honor of a number of hybridizers. i encourage you to visit the

show award sponsorship page on the website http://www.gesneriadsociety.org/the-gesneriad-society-flower-show-award-sponsorship/ for a list of all the awards available for sponsorship and urge you to pick an award and make it yours! it is my goal to post all sponsored awards on the website, with the sponsor’s name, as they are received so that everyone knows which awards have been sponsored and which are still available.

Requests for awards will be filled on a first-come basis. if more awards are sponsored than are required for any category, i will contact the donor before moving the award to another category. awards that are sponsored with specific criteria (e.g., best Gesneriad species Native to Colombia) often pose challenges to the judges. individuals sponsoring such awards will be required to provide a list of all genera, species or hybrids eligible for the award.

You will be able to sponsor an award in one of three ways: when you register for convention (either by mail or online), in the shop on the website, or by postal mail (a downloadable form is available on the show award sponsorship page). You may use your award sponsorship to recognize a friend or honor a person’s memory. sponsorship requests must be received by June 15, 2017. Requests received after that date will be held until next year’s convention, as will any unused award monies. Remember that all award sponsorships are tax-deductible for donors in the united states.

after convention, a list of all award sponsorships will appear in the fourth quarter issue of Gesneriads and also on our website.

Paul Susi, 2 Rushmore Street, South Huntington, NY 11746 USA <gesneriadawards@gmail.com>

Requests for awards will be filled on a first-come basis.

FREE 2” plant with each order*

Sign up for the Botanic Garden Club for specials, new introductions and featured plants

*Use Coupon Code G2. Valid through 03/31/2017

SteveSLeaveS.comGesneriads, Begonias & Other Tropical Plants

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Gesneriads Gone Wild!Brandon Erikson, Convention Co-Chair and Publicity Chair ~ Omaha, NE, USA<Brandon.erikson@cox.net>

the oMaha aFRiCaN Violet aND GesNeRiaD soCietY WoulD like to invite you to the 2017 Gesneriad society’s annual Convention – Gesneriads Gone Wild! – in omaha, Nebraska. Now, you may be sitting there thinking, “omaha? What can there possibly be in a small city in the middle of the Great Plains?” Well, i’m here to tell you that they don’t call these plains ‘Great’ for nothing!

our city is located on the eastern edge of Nebraska along the Missouri River just across from our sister city, Council bluffs, iowa. We have a colorful history that is reflected in the city itself, from the preserved art Deco architecture of our Downtown to the million-dollar homes and estates of West omaha.

This year’s convention will be held at the hilton omaha, which is located downtown several blocks north of The old Market (www.oldmarket.com), a beautifully historic section that started out as warehouses from our trading and distribution origins. in the 1960s, with bulldozers at the door and help from a heavy night of drinking, sam Mercer realized the need for preservation. he purchased one of the first buildings, an old fruit market built in 1887. he took a giant leap and established a new restaurant, The French Cafe (now le bouillon), the first of many purchases and restorations in the revitalization of our Downtown. This act began the process of converting the beautiful turn-of-the-century buildings into The old Market and its unique shops, world-class restaurants, and fabulous bars that are a favorite of locals and tourists alike.

also within shuttle distance of our hotel are the Durham heritage Museum, the Joslyn art Museum, the bob Kerry Pedestrian bridge (which links omaha to Council bluffs over the mighty Missouri river), heartland of america Park, and many other sites to enjoy.

The convention will kick off on Monday July 3, 2017 with a day trip to the henry Doorly Zoo and aquarium – complete with a catered picnic lunch, tickets for the imax theater, and rides on the train, tram, carousel, and skyfari. on tuesday we have a morning trip planned to the lauritzen botanical Gardens along with an evening social hosted by the oaVGs in a corner suite on the hotel’s top floor – perfect for viewing the Fourth of July fireworks. The convention will conclude saturday with a private dining and wine experience at Nosh Restaurant and Wine lounge from 6:00 p.m. until close. (For a menu and gallery of photos of the establishment visit www.noshwine.com.) The restaurant is located two blocks south of our venue, between the hotel and The old Market, giving you the additional freedom of walking around The old Market after dinner and drinks.

We will be very pleased to have you as our guests for the 2017 Convention in omaha, Nebraska as we host Gesneriads Gone Wild!

Members of the Omaha African Violet and Gesneriad Society

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61st Annual Gesneriad Society Convention TripsMonday, July 3 – in 2014, tripadvisor.com announced the top 25 zoos in the world.omaha’s henry Doorly Zoo topped that list, beating the san Diego Zoo (#2) and the st. louis Zoo (#4). but what makes our zoo so special?

We feature the largest cat complex in North america; the world’s largest glazed geodesic dome, which houses the world’s largest indoor desert biome above ground; the world’s largest nocturnal exhibits – the Kingdom of the Night below ground; and the lied Jungle, which has the world’s largest indoor rainforests. how do we boast such huge honors? a quick reminder that omaha, Nebraska is the headquarters for none other than the Mutual of omaha insurance Company – a name you might remember from Mutual of omaha’s Wild Kingdom!

The henry Doorly Zoo began in 1894 as Riverview Park and by 1898 had over 120 diverse species of animals. in 1963, Margaret hitchcock Doorly donated $750,000 to the zoo with the stipulation that it be named after her late husband. Thus the henry Doorly Zoo and aquarium was named. over one million attendees from all over the world come to omaha to visit our zoo. as a city, we take great pride in that.

on Monday, July 3, convention attendees will get the chance to see all the reasons why our zoo continues to be a popular destination. This will be an all-day event with a catered picnic lunch, tickets to the imax theater, and rides on the tram, train, carousel, and skyfari. Come join this fun kickoff trip at our 2017 Gesneriad society Convention!Tuesday, July 4 – situated on the bluffs along the west bank of the Missouri River, lauritzen botanical Gardens covers a little over 100 acres of four-season horticultural exhibits. Founded in 1982 by helena street (the former omaha World herald Garden Parade columnist) and five other individuals, continuous improvements and additional gardens have been added over the last 30-plus years, including a rose garden, hosta garden, and children’s garden.

We’ll ride the tram through the gardens, allowing us to explore these ever-expanding displays without expending too much energy. it’s often said that you could spend a whole day in the gardens and still not get to experience all that lauritzen has to offer.

some of the newer displays include The sunpu Castle Gate and Mt. Fuji replica, a tree peony garden, The Garden of Memories, and a Victorian/english “hidden” garden. in the spring, the garden boasts many varieties of magnolias, redbud trees, and thousands of blooming bulbs of hundreds of varieties. Fortunately during our convention, the song of the lark Meadow should be in full bloom, affording us the experience of visiting a true Nebraska prairie filled with wildflowers and native grasses.

We hope you will join us all for what promises to be a beautiful tour!

Hilton Omaha 1001 Cass street, omaha, Ne 68102

For direct hotel reservations, call 402-998-3400 or toll-free 1-800-hiltoNs (us and Canada). inform Reservations you will be attending The Gesneriad society Convention 2017. Reservations can be made by phone or online via web-based reservations <https://resweb.passkey.com/go/annualGesneriad2017>.

Rate: $114 single/double ~ $124 triple ~ $134 quad(executive level rooms are available for $20 additional per night)

To guarantee convention rates, reservations must be received by June 5, 2017 or before our contracted room block has been filled, whichever comes first. Rooms are subject to applicable taxes (currently 18.16% total taxes). Check-in time is 3:00 p.m.; check-out time is 12:00 noon. Guest rooms include complimentary internet.

A cancellation fee of one night’s deposit will be charged if the hotel is not informed of a reservation cancellation at least 24 hours prior to the scheduled arrival. A $50 early departure fee may be assessed for departures prior to the confirmed departure date.

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Convention ChairpersonsConvention Jo anne MartinezConvention Coordinator Jeanne KatzensteinConvention Registrar Mary helen MaranDevelopment Committee/Auction betsy Gottshall / tom bruning and Doris CarsonPhytosanitary Inspections Mary helen Maran Shows & Judging arleen DewellAwards Paul susi

Local Convention Co-Chairs brandon erikson and scott evans Artwork brandon eriksonBooklet anne Pamperl and loris PurtzerPacket bonnie bake and anne VidaverPlant Sales Mel Grice and betsy GottshallPublicity brandon erikson and scott evansSpeakers scott evansSpecial Events & Transportation brandon eriksonTable Favors Nancy MoererTreasurer tom bruningVolunteers ann Thiel and barb bures

Flower Show tom bruningArtistic Schedule Paul KrollClassification & Plant Inspection bob stewartEntries Jim Roberts Judges & Clerks susan GrosePlacement elizabeth Varley Plant Maintenance Jerry linReservations – Divisions II/III/IV linda hallStaging Randy Deutsch

Plant Sales ProceduresThe plants available for sale at convention come from commercial vendors, our members, and from chapters who may participate as donors or vendors. an invitation to participate as either a donor or vendor is extended to all Gesneriad society members who adhere to the guidelines. any amount of donated plant material is greatly appreciated. Donated plants do not need to be priced in advance, although it would be helpful. all potted plants for sale should be well rooted, clearly labeled, and insect/disease free. Rhizomes, tubers, cuttings, and stolons in labeled plastic bags are also welcome. all plants should be delivered to the plant sales storage area by Wednesday evening.

each item coming into plant sales must be labeled per the instructions detailed on the society’s website <www.gesneriadsociety.org>. to be considered a vendor (commercial, chapter, or individual) at convention, you must bring a minimum of 10 plants in order to receive a portion of the sales revenue. all individuals, chapters, and vendors putting plants into the sale are expected to volunteer in the sales room for a few hours during convention. Plants are dual tagged to ensure that sellers receive proceeds from their plants, buyers go home with correctly named plants, and the sales process is efficient.

if you plan to donate and/or sell plants at convention, please inform the Plant sales Co-Chair as soon as possible. send your name, address, and the iD and tag color (example: “M.G.” on blue tag) you will use on your tags to Mel Grice: 2019 Crosswind Court, englewood, oh 45322 <melsgrice@earthlink.net>. Proceeds from plant sales are mailed to vendors after the convention.

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61st Annual Convention of The Gesneriad SocietyTuesday, July 4, to Saturday, July 8, 2017

Convention Registration FormMail to Convention Registrar: Mary Helen Maran 2655 Winding Wood Drive, Clearwater, Fl 33761 usaor register online at <www.gesneriadsociety.org>email inquiries to <gesneriadregistrar@gmail.com>

Please print:

Member Name (Reg. #1) ______________________________________________________Member or Guest Name (Reg. #2) ______________________________________________

[will appear on your name badge(s) and attendees list as printed here]

address _______________________________________ City __________________________

state/Prov _____________________ Country _____________ Zip/Post Code __________

Phone _____________________ email __ ________________________________________

Reg. #1 Membership # (top line of current mailing label) ____________________________ life Member attending my first Gesneriad society Convention Commercial (nursery/greenhouse name) _______________________________________

Date arriving at hotel: ________________ Date leaving hotel: ________________________ i will be driving to convention or using a car there and will require parking

During judging on Friday, Reg. #1 would like to judge clerk either Reg. #2 would like to judge clerk either

(You will be contacted by the Judges & Clerks Chairperson regarding an assignment) i will need a phyto to transport plants out of the united states

special diet needs for ________________________ (check box and/or specify below) Vegetarian ……………. specify if will also eat chicken fish Diabetic allergic to shellfish allergic to peanuts other ________________________________________________________________

i would like to volunteer a few hours of my time to help during convention. (You will be contacted by the volunteer coordinator regarding specific days/times)

as needed host at Registration assist with Plant sales take meal tickets/Distribute table favors host at Flower show

Early registrations must be made online by midnight of or postmarked by March 15, 2017 to take advantage of the 10% discount on trips and hotel meals. Registrations made after March 15, 2017 will be at the full rate for all selections. The Registration fee includes all programs and lectures except the Judging school (for which there is separate registration). Admission to early plant sales will be in registration number order.Convention cancellation and refund policy: a 5% processing fee will be deducted from all refunds. Full or partial cancellations of convention registrations made on or before June 18 will be honored with full refunds (except the pre-convention trip if the minimum number of attendees is affected). Full or partial cancellations made between June 19 and July 2 will be honored with refunds based on previous commitments made to the hotel, bus, and tour operators. Refunds for full or partial cancellations cannot be guaranteed if requested after July 2. The registration fee is not refundable for full cancellations made after June 18, 2017.

All prices are in US dollars

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Registration, Purchases, School, Saturday Event, and Awards No. Cost $US TotalPrimary Registrant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ____ @ $70 = $ _______Guest or Family (spouse/children) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ____ @ $30 = $ _______

Gesneriad society Calendar 2018 (pick up at convention) . . . . . . . ____ @ $15 = $ _______ Convention DVD-RoM (to be mailed later in 2017) . . . . . . . . . . ____ @ $20 = $ _______

Wednesday, July 5, Judging school (select one per registrant) . . . . . . ____ @ $18 = $ _______Reg #1: Novice intermediate/advanced Workshop (limited to certified judges)Reg #2: Novice intermediate/advanced Workshop (limited to certified judges)Saturday, July 8, Gathering at Nosh Restaurant/old Market . . . . . . . ____ @ $15 = $ _______ Your registration packet will contain a $15 admittance/discount coupon for this restaurant. You can use it toward your Saturday evening purchases (appetizers, meals, drinks, etc.).

Flower show award sponsorship(s) in $15 increments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ _______ in honor of in memory of ______________________________________

Subtotal for registration fees and above items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ _______10% discount on below-listed trips and hotel meals if postmarked

by March 15, or submitted online by midnight of March 15, 2017.Item or Event No. Cost $US TotalMonday, July 3, Pre-Convention bus trip to omaha’s henry Doorly . . ____ @ $48 = $ _______

Zoo & aquarium (picnic package included if minimum is met)Monday, July 3, Pre-Convention Dinner (informal table discussions)

Pork tenderloin, mushroom/onion potatoes, vegetables, salad . . . . . . . . . ____ @ $44 = $ _______ Pan seared chicken, redskin potatoes, vegetables, salad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ____ @ $44 = $ _______

other Registrant (specify meal choice): ________________________Tuesday, July 4, Morning bus trip to lauritzen Gardens . . . . . . . . . . ____ @ $23 = $ _______Tuesday, July 4, opening Dinner buffet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ____ @ $47 = $ _______

(Midwestern Buffet: pasta, meatloaf, chicken, salad, potatoes, vegetables…)Wednesday, July 5, luncheon honoring Chapters

Grilled flatiron steak salad w/crispy onions, blue cheese, bacon bits . . . . . ____ @ $32 = $ _______ Summer salad with salmon, feta cheese, cous cous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ____ @ $32 = $ _______

other Registrant (specify meal choice): ________________________Thursday, July 6, Pacific Rim lunch buffet (informal discussions) . . . . ____ @ $35 = $ _______

(Oriental salads, teriyaki chicken thighs, salmon, fried rice, vegetables…)Thursday, July 6, Dinner and annual Membership Meeting

Grilled flatiron steak, cheddar potatoes, vegetable, salad . . . . . . . . . . . . ____ @ $49 = $ _______ Chicken breast on lump crabcake, vegetables, rice pilaf, salad . . . . . . . . . ____ @ $49 = $ _______ Baked polenta veggie pie, vegetables, tomato sauce, cheese, salad . . . . . . . ____ @ $49 = $ _______

other Registrant (specify meal choice): ________________________Friday, July 7, Judges Plated hot breakfast (open to all) . . . . . . . . . . . ____ @ $24 = $ _______

(Scrambled eggs w/cheese & tomatoes, bacon, potatoes, breads, juice, …)Friday, July 7, lunch (informal discussions)

Caesar salad (50/50 romaine and kale) with shrimp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ____ @ $32 = $ _______ Southwest salad w/chicken, corn, beans, tortilla strips, bbq ranch . . . . . . ____ @ $32 = $ _______

other Registrant (specify meal choice): ________________________Friday, July 7, Flower show awards banquet

Roast striploin of beef, potatoes, vegetable, salad, dessert . . . . . . . . . . . . ____ @ $52 = $ _______ Salmon, seafood/corn risotto, vegetable, salad, dessert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ____ @ $52 = $ _______ Cavatelli pasta w/mushroom ragout, salad, dessert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ____ @ $52 = $ _______

other Registrant (specify meal choice): ______________________Saturday, July 8, luncheon honoring Commercial Growers . . . . . . . . ____ @ $35 = $ _______

(Deli Buffet: sandwiches (smoked turkey & Muenster, ham & pepperjack, grilled Portobello mushroom & havarti), salads, potato chips, dessert)

Sub-Total for Hotel Meals and Trips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ _______Subtract 10% if postmarked by March 15, 2017 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ($ _______)Total for Hotel Meals and Trips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ _______Sub-Total from Registration Fees, Purchases, and Awards (above) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ _______Grand Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ _______Make check or money order (payable in US$ on a US bank) to: The Gesneriad Society, Inc. or charge $______ to my Visa MasterCard # ___________________________________expiration date: ________ Name on card _____________________________________________signature _______________________________________________________________________

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2017 Convention Program“Gesneriads Gone Wild”

Sunday, July 25:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Convention RegistrationMonday, July 37:30 a.m. – 8:15 a.m. Convention Registration8:45 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Pre-Convention trip to omaha Zoo with picnic package5:00 p.m. – 5:45 p.m. Convention Registration/information6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Pre-Convention Dinner (informal discussions)Tuesday, July 47:30 a.m. – 8:15 a.m. Convention Registration/information/Promo sales8:30 a.m. – 8:45 a.m. board bus for Morning trip9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Visit to lauritzen Gardens2:00 p.m. – 5:45 p.m. board of Directors Meeting5:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Convention Registration/information6:15 p.m. – 7:15 p.m. opening Dinner and Welcome7:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. Conservation Meeting and Program (open to all) 9:15 p.m. – 10:45 p.m. Fourth of July social hosted by the omaha ChapterWednesday, July 58:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. Convention Registration/information/Promo sales

(flower show entry forms accepted)9:00 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. Judges training, session 1: Novice/advanced/Workshop10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. informal Discussion on Growing (open to all)12:00 noon – 1:15 p.m. luncheon honoring Chapters/Members1:30 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. Judges training, session 2: Novice/advanced/Workshop3:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Judges interest Group Meeting4:15 p.m. – 4:45 p.m. Mini Program4:45 p.m. – 5:15 p.m. social Media Discussion (open to all)5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Convention Registration/information/Promo sales

(final flower show entry forms accepted)5:15 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Judges test7:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. Gha Meeting and Program (open to all)

Program: brandon erikson9:15 p.m. – 10:15 p.m. Chapters & affiliates Meeting with the society President and

C&a Chair (open to chapter/affiliate presidents or delegates)

Additional Convention Information

in response to requests for more time for convention attendees to get together and for new attendees to mix in and get to know others, the convention program now includes three additional meal options (with no formal program, simply casual table discussions) as well as three one-hour time periods in an open-square meeting format for discussions on growing gesneriads. We hope you will join in on some of these informal gatherings.

Visit The Gesneriad society website www.gesneriads.org for additional convention information.

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Thursday, July 68:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. Convention Registration/information9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Flower show entries 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. informal Discussion on Growing (open to all) 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. lunch (informal table discussions)1:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. auction Donations accepted2:30 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. Mini-Presentations by students 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. lecture #1 “Gesneriad seed Production”

(hung Nguyen, California)5:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Convention Registration/information5:45 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Dinner and annual Membership Meeting:

President Julie Mavity-hudson presiding; awards of appreciation; election of Directors

7:45 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. special Program by elvin McDonald, society Founder8:45 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. sale of Publications and Promo items9:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. early Plant sales (entry by registration number)9:30 p.m. – 11:00 p.m. Plant sales Friday, July 76:30 a.m. – 7:00 a.m. Flower show late entries (only with permission) 7:00 a.m. – 8:00 a.m. breakfast (and judging instructions)8:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Flower show Judging8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. Convention Registration/information9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. sales open and auction Viewing 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. informal Discussion on Growing (open to all)12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. lunch (informal table discussions)2:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Flower show open 3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. board of Directors Meeting4:45 p.m. – 5:45 p.m. lecture #2 “Petrocosmeas at Fairy lake botanical Garden”

(Qiu Zhi-Jing, China)6:00 p.m. silent auction Closes6:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. Convention Registration/information6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. Cocktail hour7:30 p.m. – 9:15 p.m. Flower show awards banquet 9:15 p.m. – 11:00 p.m. Flower show openSaturday, July 86:30 a.m. – 7:30 a.m. Photographers only in show Room 7:30 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. Flower show Judges Critique (only for this year’s judges/clerks)8:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. Convention Registration/information8:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Flower show and Plant sales open9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. lecture #3 “hybridizing the Weird and Wild”

(Jeff Jackson, Canada)10:45 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. lecture #4 “Growing Gesneriads in urban honolulu”

(hector Wong, hawaii)12:00 p.m. – 1:45 p.m. luncheon and live auction2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Phyto inspections (by appointment)2:00 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. auction settlement (live and silent)3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Flower show, sales, and auction breakdown5:45 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Walk to Nearby Closing event Venue6:00 p.m. – 8 / 9 / 10 + Closing event at Nosh Restaurant and Wine lounge

(appetizers/Dinner/Drinks on your own)

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The Gesneriad Society Convention 2017 Flower Show Schedule“OMAHA GESNERIADS GONE WILD”

entries will be accepted on Thursday, July 6, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. late entries may be received on Friday morning, from 6:30 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. only by prior arrangement and with the written permission of the Flower show Chairperson.

Division I – HORTICULTUREseCtioN a — New World Gesneriads in Flower – tuberous

Class 1 Sinningia speciosa species or hybrids (upright or pendent flowers) Class 2 other Sinningia species with rosette growth pattern Class 3 other Sinningia species with upright growth patternClass 4 other Sinningia hybrids with rosette growth pattern Class 5 other Sinningia hybrids with upright growth patternClass 6 other Sinningia species or hybrids (largest leaf less than 1" long)Class 7 other tuberous gesneriads

seCtioN b — New World Gesneriads in Flower – RhizomatousClass 8 Achimenes, ×AchimenanthaClass 9 KohleriaClass 10 Seemannia, ×GloximanniaClass 11 Smithiantha, ×Smithicodonia Class 12 other rhizomatous gesneriads less than 5" in all dimensions (excluding container)Class 13 other rhizomatous gesneriads

seCtioN C — New World Gesneriads in Flower – Fibrous-RootedClass 14 Codonanthe, Codonanthopsis, ×CodonatanthusClass 15 ColumneaClass 16 Episcia, AlsobiaClass 17 Gesneria, ×RhytidoneriaClass 18 Nematanthus Class 19 other fibrous-rooted gesneriads

seCtioN D — old World african Gesneriads in Flower Class 20 Saintpaulia species Class 21 Saintpaulia hybrids or cultivars classified as miniatures (max of 6" diameter) Class 22 Saintpaulia hybrids or cultivars classified as semi-miniatures (max of 8" diameter)Class 23 Saintpaulia hybrids or cultivars classified as standards Class 24 Saintpaulia trailers Class 25 Streptocarpus, subgenus Streptocarpella Class 26 Streptocarpus, subgenus Streptocarpus, speciesClass 27 Streptocarpus, subgenus Streptocarpus, hybridsClass 28 Streptocarpus, subgenus Streptocarpus, hybrids with variegated foliage Class 29 other old World african gesneriads

seCtioN e — other old World Gesneriads in FlowerClass 30 AeschynanthusClass 31 HenckeliaClass 32 PetrocosmeaClass 33 Primulina species Class 34 Primulina hybrids Class 35 other old World gesneriads

seCtioN F – Gesneriads grown for ornamental Qualities other Than Flowers: Decorative fruit and calyces are permitted, but no flowers or buds showing color. a plant should have some special quality of color, texture or growth habit to be entered in this section.

Class 36 EpisciaClass 37 Episcia with pink, white and/or cream leaf variegationClass 38 Primulina Class 39 other gesneriads with green-and-white leaf variegationClass 40 other NewWorld Gesneriads, species or hybridsClass 41 other old World Gesneriads, species or hybrids

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seCtioN G — New Gesneriads: introductions made within the last 5 years, but not previously entered in this section of any Gesneriad society Convention show. a white card (not to exceed 8.5"×5.5") must be provided giving educational information such as name of hybridizer, collector, place of origin, special cultural requirements, etc. Contact the Chair of shows & Judging <arleendewell@shaw.ca> for a list of species and hybrids ineligible for entry in section G.

Class 42 species in flower Class 43 species not in flower Class 44 hybrids in flower Class 45 hybrids not in flower

seCtioN h — lesser-Known Gesneriads seldom Grown or seen in shows: a white card (not to exceed 8.5"×5.5") must be provided with educational information such as habitat, source, cultural requirements.

Class 46 in flower Class 47 Not in flower

seCtioN i —trained or sculptured Gesneriads: an educational 8.5"×5.5" white card is suggested stating what training the exhibit received and how the exhibit is to be viewed (all sides or from the front).

Class 48 bonsai, topiary, espaliered, or other styleseCtioN J — Gesneriads Grown by a Novice – a Novice is anyone who has never won a blue ribbon in the horticulture Division of a gesneriad (including aV) flower show. exhibitors wishing Novice status for the horticulture Division may not enter other horticulture classes.

Class 49 Gesneriads in flower Class 50 Gesneriads grown for ornamental qualities other than flowers (no flowers or buds

showing color allowed)seCtioN K — Collections of Gesneriads – a grouping of 3 to 5 different plants in flower or grown for ornamental qualities, or in combination (saintpaulias must be in flower). exhibitor must provide a white card, not to exceed 8.5"×5.5", with identification of plants. in Class 51 exhibitor is encouraged to reflect variety, as this is a consideration in judging. in Class 52, exhibitor must provide a white card, (not to exceed 8.5"×5.5") identifying the plants and providing educational information. Class 53 is for a grouping of 3 to 5 plants, each from a different gesneriad genus. exhibitor should depict a clearly developed theme, (e.g., various root structures, miniature or compact gesneriads, ornamental qualities, a collection of genera from asia, africa, south america, etc.)

Class 51 Plants of a single genus either species, cultivars or hybrids Class 52 Kinship group – interspecific or intergeneric hybrid/hybrids exhibited with one or

more parents Class 53 Multiple genera

DIVISION II - ARTISTICClasses 54, 55, 56, 57, 60, 64 will be staged on risers about 10" above table level. There is a limit of 4 entries in each class in Sections L&M, except for Class 60, which has a limit of 6. Reservations for the artistic sections must be made with linda hall <linda.hall6641@hotmail.com> or 517 e. elm street, Ravenwood, Mo 64479 by June 19, 2017. early reservations are appreciated and all will be confirmed with either a return email or postcard. Designers must leave the showroom by 2 p.m.seCtioN l — arrangements of Fresh-Cut Gesneriad Material

Class 54 “Wild and Wooly” – use hairy gesneriad material. Niche 7"h×5"W×5"D.Class 55 “Wild opinions” – a black and white arrangement with the exception of the

gesneriad material used. Niche 7"h×5"W×5"D.Class 56 “Wildly extraordinary” – let your imagination run wild! Niche 10"h×8"W×8"D.Class 57 Challenge Class a – This class title will be announced at 9 a.m. the day of entries. all

materials except container and mechanics will be provided. only materials provided may be used. Niche 10"h×8"W×8"D.

Class 58 “Wild shot” – an abstract design with no focal point (e.g., missing the target). Niche 15"h×10"W×10"D.

Class 59 “Wild speed” – a “fast” arrangement. Niche 20"h×15"W×15"D. Class 60 “Wild tempest” – an underwater arrangement. Container not to exceed 12" in any

dimension. seCtioN M — arrangements of Dried and/or Growing Gesneriad Material

Class 61 “Wild Card” – a free-standing design not to exceed 30" high, 20" at base. size must be stated with your reservation request. a flat base may be used.

Class 62 “Wildly bizarre” – a modern arrangement. Niche 20"h×15"W×15"D. Class 63 “Wild Wasteland” – use dried gesneriad material. Niche 15"h×10"W×10"D.

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Class 64 Challenge Class b – This class title will be announced at 9 a.m. the day of entries. all materials except container and mechanics will be provided. only materials provided may be used. Niche 7"h×5"W×5"D.

seCtioN N — Container Plantings of Growing Gesneriad Material (not to exceed 24" in any dimension)

Class 65 terrarium – straight-sidedClass 66 terrarium – CurvedClass 67 tray landscape Class 68 Natural Garden – planted on any naturally occurring material, (e.g. rock, wood, shell)

seCtioN o — artistic entries by Novices - a Novice is anyone who has never won a blue ribbon in the artistic Division of a gesneriad (including aV) flower show. exhibitors wishing Novice status for the artistic Division may not enter other Division ii classes.

Class 69 artistic entries suitable for any of the classes in sections l, M, or N except for Challenge Classes A and B. exhibitor must identify on a 3"×5” white card the name of the class chosen and the plant material used.

Division III — THE ARTSAll entries must have been made by the exhibitor and feature gesneriads in some form. Exhibitors are required to reserve space (indicating the size of the exhibit) for all entries in Sections P & Q. Limit: One entry per exhibitor per class. Reservations must be received by June 19, 2017 to Linda Hall <linda.hall6641@hotmail.com> or 517 E. Elm Street, Ravenwood, MO 64479. seCtioN P — Photography: The subject must be identified on the entry card. Prints should not exceed 8"×10" and mats should not exceed 11"×14". easels must be provided for prints 5"×7" or over. Limit: six entries per class.

Class 70 Color print of parts of a gesneriad (flowers, fruit, foliage, etc.).Class 71 Color print of a whole gesneriad plant.Class 72 Color print of gesneriad(s) growing in a natural habitat. The subject must be portrayed

growing wild in an area of the world considered by botanists to be its natural range, not cultivated in pots, gardens, or greenhouses. a white card (maximum 8.5"×5.5") must be provided detailing location, climate, month/year photo was taken, how the site was accessed and any other pertinent information.

Class 73 Monochrome print.seCtioN Q — arts and Crafts Representing Gesneriads: exhibitors must include a 3"×5" white card describing the medium chosen, techniques and/or processes used in the creation of an entry. Manipulated photographs, (i.e., montages and other techniques in which manipulation is the principle element) are eligible for entry in Class 76. all such photographs in Class 76 must respect the same easel requirement and overall size limit stated for exhibits in section P.

Class 74 Painting or drawing: an easel must be provided by the exhibitor. Class 75 Needlework or textile: a 3"×5" white card must be provided giving the source of the

design. Class 76 other arts and crafts

Division IV — COMMERCIAL AND EDUCATIONALReservations including the size of exhibit must be received by June 19, 2017 to linda hall, <linda.hall6641@hotmail.com> or 517 e. elm street, Ravenwood, Mo 64479. Limit: one entry per exhibitor per class.seCtioN R — Commercial Displays

Class 77 Display table with a grouping of gesneriads (10 or more plants). Class 78 Display table with a grouping of gesneriads (fewer than 10 plants).

seCtioN s — educational exhibitsClass 79 exhibit illustrating phases of scientific or historical research or gesneriad promotion. Class 80 exhibit of plant material with educational information. Class 81 exhibit of photograph(s) of gesneriad plant material that because of its seasonal

nature or rarity in cultivation is not often exhibited live. a white card, (not to exceed 8.5"×5.5") must be provided outlining source, natural habitat, cultural information, and reason for suitability in this class.

Class 82 exhibit of photograph(s) of gesneriads growing outdoors as bedding, accent, or container plants. Gesneriad(s) must be identified and additional information included about climate, growing medium, culture, etc.

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General Rules and Exhibitors Information1. each exhibitor must prepare a list of plants and other exhibits with the appropriate section and Class numbers

to facilitate the work of the entries Committee. The Flower show Committee will assist in identifying material unknown to the exhibitor. a computerized entry system will be used, and an entry form will be included in each registration packet. exhibitors must complete their entry forms and submit them at Registration on tuesday or latest by 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Entry forms not received by Wednesday’s deadline will be accepted FOR EXHIBIT ONLY. Your cooperation will help expedite the actual entries process for everyone.

2. all plant material must be free of insects and disease. all entries will be inspected, including those for exhibit only.3. entries shall be in accordance with the schedule and must be approved by the Classification Committee.

Nonconformity to schedule may bring disqualification.4. entries will be accepted only during the hours specified. an exhibitor may request that an entry be accepted for

exhibit only. educational information should be provided where appropriate. These entries, and any arriving after the close of entries, will be placed in a separate area of the showroom for exhibit only and will not be judged.

5. exhibitors need not be members of The Gesneriad society.6. all entries will be staged in the showroom by the Placement Committee. Collections and artistic entries may be

placed in the showroom by the exhibitor in the space designated and during the stated time for entries. 7. in fairness to amateur growers, institutions may not make more than two entries in each of the horticulture,

artistic, or arts Divisions of the flower show. The same restriction applies to commercial growers whose employees assist with the culture and grooming of potential entries.

8. Classes may be subdivided or consolidated at the discretion of the show Committee after entries close.9. No entries may be removed from the showroom until the show closes. all entries must be checked out through the

show Committee. 10. standard competitive judging, as established by The Gesneriad society, will be used.11. awards will be made according to the following point scores: 1st, blue ribbon (90-100); 2nd, red ribbon (at least

80); 3rd, yellow ribbon (at least 70). honorable Mentions may also be awarded.12. special awards (more than a class ribbon) are reserved for Gesneriad society members of record at the time of

Flower show entries, unless specifically offered to nonmembers. an exhibit must score 90 or above to be consid-ered.

13. awards for best and Runner-up to best Gesneriad in show in Division i (excluding Saintpaulia hybrids) are given for horticultural perfection. These awards and those for best in Divisions ii, iii, and iV are reserved for Gesneriad society members of record at the time of Flower show entries. exhibits in all Divisions must score 95 points or higher to be considered for these awards.

14. sweepstakes and Runners-up to sweepstakes awards for Divisions i, ii, and iii require a minimum of three blue ribbons in a Division to be eligible. These awards are reserved for Gesneriad society members of record at show entries time.

15. Photographing of entries while judging is in progress is not permitted.16. The Gesneriad society will endeavor to protect all entries, but assumes no responsibility for loss or damage.Additional Horticulture Division Rules and Information1. all plants must be grown by the exhibitor and have been in the exhibitor’s care for at least 3 months prior to the show. 2. an exhibitor is limited to one specimen of the same plant per class. an exhibitor may submit more than one entry

per class, provided each entry is a different cultivar, unless otherwise prohibited.3. exhibitors of Saintpaulia hybrids are required to respect size limitations as defined by the hybridizer as registered in

the aVsa Master Variety list.4. exhibitors are permitted to indicate the front of a horticulture entry.5. No particular type of container is specified; however, all containers used must be clean. a protective container or

cover made of transparent material to shield delicate plant material from dry air or cold drafts may be used for any exhibit requiring it. such plants may be judged uncovered.

6. an exhibitor may provide educational information on a white 3"×5" card for any entry, if desired.7. all exhibits in flowering classes must have at least one fully opened flower.8. seedpods or fruit (not spent blossoms) are permitted on all gesneriads entered in the horticulture Division. The

exhibitor should realize when entering a blooming plant with seedpods or fruit that some judges could find them enhancements of, or detractions from, the plant’s appearance.

Additional Artistic Division Rules and Information1. Gesneriads must predominate. 2. While saintpaulias are permitted in all artistic classes, the use of other gesneriads is strongly encouraged.3. other live and dried plant material is permitted, but no artificial plant material is allowed.4. Plant material used in the artistic Division need not have been grown by the exhibitor.5. all plant material used is to be identified on an accompanying 3"×5" white card. supplemental titles or descriptions

may be added, but are not required.6. accessories are optional unless specifically required.7. table covers and niches will be neutral in color. exhibitors may provide additional background. tape is not

permitted on niches.8. Cut blossoms or plant material may be placed in artistic arrangements on Friday morning from 6:30 to 7:00 a.m. 9. “Dimension” refers to the linear measurements of height, width, and depth only.10. straight-sided terrariums are composed of flat pieces of glass or plastic; curved terrariums have rounded pieces.11. all niche sizes stated are for space dimensions allotted. actual niche side wings are roughly one half the size stated.Additional Arts, Commercial and Educational Division Rules and Information1. all entries must have been made by the exhibitor and feature gesneriads in some form. 2. such entries must not have been exhibited before in any Gesneriad society Convention show.3. Photography: The exhibit is being judged on the skill, technique, and composition displayed, not on the quality of

the plant material chosen as a subject, except for Class 71. 4. educational exhibits may be entered by institutions, chapters, study groups, or individuals. in Class 79, any project

relating to gesneriads may be presented with illustrative material that may or may not include live plant material.

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Judges Training SchoolsJudging schools will be held on Wednesday, July 5, 2017 and will again consist of three morning sessions running concurrently and one combined afternoon session. anyone interested primarily in growing and showing, but not necessarily in becoming a judge, is welcome to attend. The morning session, beginning at 9:00 a.m., is comprised of three parts: 1) a novice class for those wanting to learn about the judging of gesneriads; 2) an intermediate-advanced class for accredited judges primarily preparing for senior judge exams; 3) a workshop, open to all certified judges (topic to be announced in the January issue of Appraisal). it is very important when registering for the schools that you clearly indicate which of the three morning sessions you want to attend. The afternoon session, beginning at 1:30 p.m. will combine all attendees from the three morning sessions for practice judging and discussion. Novice and intermediate-advanced exams will be conducted on Wednesday evening for those wishing accreditation as Gesneriad society judges.

The registration fee for all school sessions is $18, payable when you register for convention (both online and printed). Please note: No payments for judging schools will be accepted once convention is underway. subscription renewals for Appraisal must be paid separately, either through the Gesneriad society’s website at: http://gesneriadsociety.org/resources/interest-group-publications/ or, by sending a check via postal mail directly to Mary lou Robbins, 403 Mizdail Road, hunlock Creek, Pa 18621 usa. Novices who meet all the requirements to become student judges must subscribe to Appraisal no later than september 30, 2017.

The Judges interest Group will meet from 3:30 to 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday after the school sessions. all current Gesneriad society judges and those interested in becoming judges are encouraged to attend. a flower show critique, open to all who participated in judging or clerking the flower show, will be held on saturday, July 8th from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m.

Arleen Dewell, Shows & Judging Chair <arleendewell@shaw.ca>A Call for Judges and Clerks

Members registering for convention who would like to assist in the judging or clerking of the convention flower show on Friday morning July 7th should indicate their request on their convention registration form. in addition, if you are a couple registering, and both of you would like to judge or clerk, please indicate that as well.

if you know you will be attending convention and are willing to judge or clerk, it would be especially helpful if you were to email me as soon as possible, rather than waiting until you have registered. This would be especially important if you are not going to register until closer to the convention. That way i can begin to make the list of judges and clerks sooner. You may contact susan Grose, 4201 West 99th street, overland Park, Ks 66207, usa or email <sagrose@mac.com> with any questions. Remember to sign up for the judges and clerks breakfast on Friday morning when you register for convention. if you do not want to sign up for the breakfast, please ensure that you attend the breakfast to meet your team members and hear final judging instructions given there. Susan Grose, Judges & Clerks Chair

Convention AuctionsFor the silent and live auctions in omaha we are asking for your donations of gesneriad or horticulturally related items. We like to highlight plant material at the live auction – show plants, new hybrids, unusual plants, and so forth. all auction proceeds will benefit the students and speakers Convention Fund.

We encourage all members of The Gesneriad society to make a special effort to donate items to the silent and live auctions. Growing items such as large bubble bowls, growing containers, and artistic supplies are always appreciated as they are sometimes hard to find. if you are downsizing, this is an excellent way to help new members get started in the various classes offered at local shows and future conventions. it’s never too early to start putting aside items that you will take with you to convention in July! tom bruning has volunteered to receive any pre-convention donations for the silent auction that you would prefer to send him by mail. You may contact him at <tbruning@unomaha.edu> to make arrangements. 

Remember to take your auction donation form with you to convention with your auction donations (you will receive a form in your convention registration confirmation email packet). The Development Committee welcomes your comments and suggestions. any questions about the auction should be addressed to betsy Gottshall at <gottshb@verizon.net>.

Betsy Gottshall, Development Chair

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Convention SpeakersScott Evans, Speakers Chair ~ Omaha, NE, USA ~ <scott.evans@unl.edu>

Hung Nguyen – “Gesneriad Seed Production”This program will focus on a special aspect of growing gesneriads – seed production. as a regular seed contributor to the Gesneriad society’s seed Fund, hung will talk about his journey of learning to produce seeds of most species from Primulina tabacum to Pachycaulos nummularia, from Aeschynanthus “Thai Pink” to Petrocosmea species ‘b’, and recently, Sinningia helleri from a couple of seeds to a lot of seeds in less than a year.

The principle of seed production is fairly simple. it starts with the task of putting pollen onto the stigma for pollination, followed by collecting seeds when the fruits are ripe. however, given the diversity of gesneriads, in some cases this requires

creativity and persistence. Growing up in Vietnam, hung was interested in plants as a child. after moving to

the united states, he started growing gesneriads around 2008 with Streptocarpus ‘Falling stars’ bought from a long’s drugstore. his first convention was Vancouver in 2010. later he joined a local chapter – the san Francisco Gesneriad society. hung lives in santa Rosa, California.Qiu Zhi-Jing – “Petrocosmeas at Fairy Lake Botanical Garden (FLBG)”

Qiu is currently the Deputy head of the Department of Conservation at the Fairy lake botanical Garden (FlbG) in shenzhen, China. he received his PhD in botany from the institute of botany, Chinese academy of sciences, beijing, China in 2011. he continues his work at FlbG, where more than 350 native species of gesneriads are in cultivation, collected from various parts of China including Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, sichuan, Guizhou, hubei, hunan, and shaanxi.

his passion at FlbG is the collection and conservation of Petrocosmea. More than 30 species of Petrocosmea have been collected and are now growing at the garden. he rediscovered the rare Petrocosmea qinlingensis in 2008. it only exists in

cultivation at FlbG and at the Gesneriad Conservation Center of China (GCCC). he is often in the field exploring for gesneriads and has the leech scars to prove it. his research focuses on the study of systematics, molecular phylogenetics, evolutionary developmental biology, pollination biology, and conservation of Petrocosmea. he has published several papers and has recently published a book “Plants of Petrocosmea in China”. (as an added bonus he will also sign copies of his new, lavishly illustrated book, which will be available for sale at convention.)

in his slideshow/talk, he will introduce Petrocosmea and talk about his ten years of research and his findings. he will cover the collection, conservation, cultivation, and the hybridization work that is being done with Petrocosmea. The new classification system of this genus will also be discussed for the first time. his presentation will feature many photos of Chinese gesneriads, especially petrocosmeas growing in their natural habitat, along with images of the many gesneriads in cultivation at FlbG.

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Jeff Jackson – “Hybridizing the Weird and Wild”over the past few years, the imp series of african violets has grown in popularity, along with an appreciation for the unusual or rogue forms of african violets, namely those plants that display wasp flowers. but what is an african violet wasp? is it a flower type, or a flower characteristic? is it possible that the term wasp should actually be a flower characteristic, similar to how we say a flower is fringed? Could it be possible to have a star wasp, a pansy wasp, and even a bell wasp?

Come take a look as Jeff presents the lineage of the imp series. Find out which characteristics get selected and which plants end up on the compost pile, along with seed sowing methods and growing practices. Discover how Saintpaulia ‘imp’s

billowing Cloak’ and S. ‘imp’s Flamingo Feathers’ – two bell wasps – showed up as a result of his breeding program, and what projects Jeff is currently working on. What new imps are around the corner?

Jeff is a grower and hybridizer from edmonton, alberta, Canada, and is the creator of the imp series of african Violets. he specializes in wasp flower forms and has a particular affinity for flowers that display complex fantasy and multiple colors. even though african violets dominate the plant stand – and yes, there is only one plant stand – Jeff has a good-sized sinningia collection and has begun crossing these little gems as well.Hector Wong – “Growing Gesneriads in Urban Honolulu”

born and raised in lima, Peru and an avid horticulturist since he was eight years old, hector entered his first plant show in 1987 with african violets. in 1989 he moved to hawaii, and because of the unique island weather, he adapted a few growing methods.

hector’s education in years: Three in agronomy engineering, two in english, two in biology, and two in Computer science. he has an associate’s degree in liberal arts, a bachelor’s degree in biology, and a Master’s degree in information technology. hector is a full time it specialist. he is also a pastry chef and writes recipes to promote local farmers. he loves to apply his horticulture and it experience into

desserts and has published a few e-cookbooks. Find hector at <myyellowkitchen.com>.Note that hector lives in the city, and most of his methods are for indoor and

outdoor patio/lanai growing, not to be confused with living in a forest or grass shack. topics in his program will include vertical gardening, self-watering, cooling, and using leD lights. hector primarily hybridizes Sinningia speciosa varieties and will share his knowledge about growing and hybridizing them.

The Shopping Mall“OzARk” sinningias, african Violets and other Gesneriads. Dave’s Violets, 1372 s. Kentwood avenue, spring-field, Mo 65804 (417) 887-8904 email: <plantman@ipa.net> (no catalog). www.davesviolets.com.

MRS STREP STREPS – streptocarpus, Primulinas, and other Gesneriads. email for list of available plants. Kathy spiss-man, 4086 brownlee Dr., tucker, Ga 30084. Phone (770) 939-5289. email: <mrsstrepstreps@comcast.net>.

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Gesneriad RegistrationsIrina Nicholson, Registrar ~ Lakewood, CO, USA ~ <irina.nicholson.co@gmail.com>

×Achimenatha ‘Ohio’s Blue Bullets’, 2016, iR161332, Daniel steele, ohio (Smithiantha ‘sassy Redhead’ × Achimenes unnamed hybrid). Cross made summer 2010, planted November 9, 2010, and first flowered March 19, 2011. sterile. Reproducible only vegetatively. upright grower favoring the growth habit of Achimenes. leaves dark green/red reverse, 2.25" long × 1.6" wide with 0.25" petiole, bullate, ovate with cuneate base, serrate margin, and acute tip. Calyx split, green with touch of red, 0.3". Pedicel 0.3" with one flower per axil. Corolla salverform, 2.25" long × 1.6" wide, blue/purple with dark spots extending almost to the edge of the petals.

Streptocarpus ‘Ohio’s Blue Skies’, 2016, iR161333, Daniel steele, ohio (S. kirkii × S. saxorum). Cross made august 2009, planted November 19, 2009, and first flowered June 25, 2010. Fertile. Reproducible only vegetatively. Plant has a trailing habit, makes nice cascading hanging basket. leaves medium green, 1.25" long × 0.75" wide with 0.37" petiole, hairy, ovate with cordate base and acute tip. Calyx split, green with touch of red,

0.06-0.12". Pedicel 0.75" with up to 12 flowers per axil. Corolla salverform, 1" long × 0.87" wide, sky blue. Nice blend of a seed parent with high bud count with a pollen parent with sky blue flowers. Most branches produce a whorled pattern like the pollen parent. Flower is somewhat smaller than that of S.saxorum.

×Achimannia ‘Ohio’s Never Say Never’, 2016, iR161334, Daniel steele, ohio (unnamed Seemannia hybrid × Achimenes mexicana). Cross made september 2010, planted april 12, 2011, and first flowered september 11, 2011. Reproducible only vegetatively. erect growing habit. leaves dark green when grown in bright shade, 3.25" long × 1.75" wide with 0.5-0.6" petiole, elliptic with cuneate base, serrate margin, and acute tip. Calyx split, green, 5/8". Pedicel 1-1/2" with one flower per axil. Corolla salverform, 1-1/4" long × 1" wide, red-violet petals with white throat with red-violet spotting. outer surfaces red-

violet throughout. Provides better display when multiple plants are grown in a single pot. Flower presents a combination of both parents. Rhizome production is reliable; rhizomes are purple.

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Seemannia ‘Mary Hamby’, 2016, iR161335, brad Walker, tN (S. nematanthodes ‘evita’ × S. purpurascens “bolivian Form”). Cross made september 16, 2012, planted November 18, 2012, and first flowered august 23, 2013. Fertile. Reproducible only vegetatively. upright growth evenly spaced for a compact look. erect stem length 12". leaves green, 3" long × 2" wide with 3/4" petiole, hairy, elliptic with cuneate base, crenate margin, and acute tip. Calyx split, green with red hairs, 1/2". Pedicel 2-3/4" with one flower per axil. Corolla salverform, 1.5" long × 1" wide, clear red with yellow throat with red spots. has more uniform stems, color, and more compact habit than species parents.

Seemannia ‘Rosie Mae’, 2016, iR161336, brad Walker, tN (S. hybrid “313” × S. ‘Purple Prince’). Cross made september 1, 2014, planted october 18, 2014, and first flowered July 1, 2016. Fertile. Reproducible only vegetatively. upright growth evenly spaced for a compact look. erect stem length 12". leaves green with purple tinge, 3" long × 1-3/4" wide with 1/2" petiole, hairy, elliptic with cuneate base, crenate margin, and acute tip. Calyx split, purple green with red hairs, 1/2". Pedicel 2-3/4" with 1 flower per axil. Corolla salverform, 1" long × 3/4" wide, bright pink with yellow throat and burgundy ring around the opening. Dark stems with purple hair on the leaves give a great contrast to the bright pink blossoms.

Seemannia ‘Pepper’, 2016, iR161337, brad Walker, tN (S. gymnostoma × S. hybrid “239”). Cross made september 1, 2014, planted october 18, 2014, and first flowered July 1, 2015. Fertile. Reproducible only vegetatively. upright growth evenly spaced for a compact look. erect stem length 12". leaves green, 3.75" long × 1.75" wide with 1" petiole, hairy, elliptic with cuneate base, crenate margin, and acute tip. Calyx split, purple/green, 0.5". Pedicel 3" with 1 flower per axil. Corolla salverform, 1.75" long × 1" wide, wine-red with speckling on the petals, white throat with burgundy spots. has more uniform stems, color and more compact habit than species parents. bloom is similar to the seed parent, but in a different distinctive color.

Seemannia ‘Booges of the Woods’, 2016, iR161338, brad Walker, tN (S. hybrid “200” noid1 × S. ‘Purple Prince’). Cross made september 13, 2014, planted November 22, 2014, and first flowered July 12, 2015. Fertile. Reproducible only vegetatively. upright growth evenly spaced. erect stem length 14". leaves green, 3.75" long × 2" wide with 0.75" petiole, hairy, elliptic with cuneate base, crenate margin, and acute tip. Calyx split, green, 0.5". Pedicel 3" with one flower per axil. Corolla salverform, 1" long × 0.62" wide, deep pink with hot pink petals, dark ring around opening of white throat with spotting.

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Seemannia ‘Melba Clendenon’, 2016, iR161339, brad Walker, tN (S. hybrid “200” noid1 × S. ‘Purple Prince’). Cross made september 14, 2014, planted November 22, 2014, and first flowered July 13, 2015. Fertile. Reproducible only vegetatively. upright growth evenly spaced. erect stem length 14". leaves green, 3.5" long × 2.25" wide with 0.75" petiole, hairy, elliptic with cuneate base, crenate margin, and acute tip. Calyx split, purple/green, 3/8". Pedicel 3.5" with

one flower per axil. Corolla salverform, 1" long × 0.75" wide, bright red with yellow throat with red spots. Dark stems and bright green leaves give a great contrast to the bright red blossoms. long pedicels give blossoms a graceful look.

Seemannia ‘Beulah Mae’, 2016, iR161340, brad Walker, tN (S. gymnostoma × S. hybrid “239”). Cross made september 1, 2014, planted october 18, 2014, and first flowered July 22, 2016. Fertile. Reproducible only vegetatively. upright growth with evenly spaced foliage. erect stem length 12". leaves green, 2" long × 1.25" wide with 0.25" petiole, hairy, elliptic with cuneate base, crenate margin, and acute tip. Calyx split, green, 0.75". Pedicel 2" with one flower per axil. Corolla salverform, 1.5" long × 1" wide, hot pink with purple on the lobes with heavy black spotting, very striking contrast. bloom is similar to the seed parent, but in a different distinctive color. Free blooming with high rhizome production.

Seemannia ‘Rigsby’, 2016, iR161341, brad Walker, tN (S. gymnostoma × S. hybrid “262”). Cross made september 1, 2014, planted November 28, 2014, and first flowered July 15, 2015. Fertile. Reproducible only vegetatively. upright growth evenly spaced, very compact plant. erect stem length 5". leaves green, 1.75" long × 1.25" wide with 0.5" petiole, hairy, elliptic with cuneate base, crenate margin, and acute tip. Calyx split, green, 0.5". Pedicel 1.75" with one flower per axil. Corolla salverform, 1.25" long × 1.0" wide, pink with spotting in a white throat. Very compact 5" size while both parents stand over 12".

Seemannia ‘Progenitor’, 2016, iR161342, brad Walker, tN (S. nematanthodes ‘evita’ × S. purpurascens “bolivian Form”). Cross made september 16, 2012, planted November 18, 2012, and first flowered July 8, 2016. Fertile. Reproducible only vegetatively. upright growth evenly spaced for a compact look. erect stem length 12". leaves green with purple tinge, 4.25" long × 2.5" wide with 0.5" petiole, hairy, elliptic with cuneate base, crenate margin and acute tip. Calyx split, purple/green, 0.5". Pedicel 5.25" with 1 flower per axil. Corolla salverform, 1.25" long × 1" wide, red/pink with purple lobes with black spotting on the petals, bright yellow throat. Combines size, uniformity, and purplish stems of the seed parent with vigor and blossoms of the pollen parent.

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Seemannia ‘Andy’, 2016, iR161343, brad Walker, tN (S. hybrid “261” × S. ‘Purple Prince’). Cross made september 14, 2014, planted November 9, 2014, and first flowered June 18, 2015. Fertile. Reproducible only vegetatively. erect stem length 24". leaves green with purple tinge, 2.75" long × 1.75" wide with 0.25" petiole, hairy, elliptic with cuneate base, crenate margin, and acute tip. Calyx 0.5", split, purple/green with red hairs. Pedicel 2.75" with one flower per axil. Corolla salverform,

1" long × 0.75" wide, light pink with dark spots and a rusty yellow ring around the opening of the throat. heavy bloomer with pink blossoms really showing to great effect against the dark leaves.

Gesneriads • Begonias • Rare Flowering Plants & Vines

KARTUZ GREENHOUSES Please visit our online catalog www.kartuz.com 1408 sunset Drive, Dept. G, Vista, Ca 92083-6531 760-941-3613

Deletions:Episcia cupreata yellow hybrids

Seed Fund DonationsDonations mailed from anywhere should be sent to:

karyn Cichocki, 79 Beaver Run Road, Lafayette, NJ 07848

send orders for hybrid seed to:Gussie Farrice, 121 Nelson Avenue, Staten Island, NY 10308

Additions:Sinningia carangolensis x S. warmingii ‘esmeril’Sinningia leucotricha x S. ‘apricot bouquet’Sinningia ‘star eyes’ x selfStreptocarpus (‘epupa Falls’ x self) x self

Changes to Hybrid Seed List 4Q16

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All About Streptocarpus Part 4:Humidity – It’s all about waterPavel Enikeev (Павел Еникеев), Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine <dimetriss@mail.ru>and Olga Makarova <francheska5608@gmail.com>

Editor’s note: Pavel Enikeev and Olga Makarova, PhD, are co-authoring an English-language book on Streptocarpus. This new book draws on Pavel’s original Russian-language book, Стрептокарпус (Streptocarpus), but contains much new and updated material. Gesneriads is introducing this book in serialization, translated by Michael Tarasev and Mark Larson. All photos are by Pavel Enikeev.

it is No seCRet that MaNY PeoPle lose theiR streps in summer. heat? We talked about it in previous chapters. streptocarpus plants do not like high temperatures. if the temperature in summer indoors is constantly well over 80°F and other growing conditions are not ideal, the plants will suffer and eventually die.

some growers tend to lose their streps in winter. Cold? We are sure that every grower has a way to heat their house. even if a house is kept cool in winter, we know from the previous chapter that streps easily tolerate quite low temperatures. Most of us are running air conditioning in our houses during the hot months and heat during the cold months and still some growers tend to lose their plants in one of those seasons.

let’s assume that all other factors that are important for growing happy streps are optimal in the plant room and there were great blooming plants in other seasons of the year. let’s assume that nothing has changed: light (identical conditions for light are possible year-round if the grower is using artificial light and with no additional natural light), fertilizer, water, soil, temperature (temperature might be slightly higher or slightly lower because of heating or cooling), but the plants started to die in the summer. Pretty frustrating, isn’t it? Not really, since we are able to identify the culprit and then eliminate it for good.

When we listed growing parameters above we forgot a very important one – humidity. humidity is very often overlooked. What we do know is that the tiny strep seedlings do need higher humidity and that is why we put them in the clear plastic boxes where humidity is usually around 100% as indicated by water droplets that cover the plastic inside. We call these plastic boxes or bags “mini-greenhouses” or “domes.” also we put small strep babies in these domes. For some people, that is all they do about humidity. but there is more to it!

Now a little bit of humidity science. humidity can be described in different ways. We know that water has solid, liquid, and gas stages. When water molecules detach

from liquid water surfaces, they become gas or vapor. Water evaporation is the process where liquid water is transformed into a gaseous state. The higher the temperature, the more molecules leave the liquid water and become water vapor. Water in the liquid stage is everywhere, starting from obvious objects like ponds and rivers to less obvious places like our skin, soil, and plants.

how do we measure that vapor/moisture in the air? here we will talk about absolute and relative humidity.

Pavel Enikeev

Olga Makarova

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“Absolute humidity” (or just humidity) shows how much water vapor is in the air. its unit of measurement is grams of water vapor per cubic meter of air. The more moisture in the air the higher absolute humidity.

For us, the more useful measurement of humidity is relative humidity (RH). Relative humidity is an amount of water in the air compared to what the air can hold at a given temperature. Usually it is expressed as a percentage. For example, 25% Rh means that this air can potentially hold three times more water (another 75%) as it already has at that temperature. The maximum amount of water molecules that the air can hold depends on the temperature. The higher the air temperature, the more water vapor it can hold. When air is saturated with water molecules and can’t hold more water vapor we call it 100% relative humidity.

it is important to notice that temperature quite strongly influences humidity. For example, an approximately 20°F increase in temperature accounts for double the amount of water the air can potentially hold. We will use this example later.

Now we know about water in the air. What about water in the plants? of course everybody knows that water is the major component of plants. every process in living organisms occurs in the water solution. Water also plays an important role in moving salt and nutrients within the plants. Plants don’t have a heart to pump liquids. how do minerals and water move from the soil upward? There are at least two mechanisms that play an important role in that process. one of them is transpiration. Transpiration is evaporation of water from the plants, mainly from the leaves.

How does humidity affect plants? Plants transpire water through small openings on the leaves called stomata – microscopic pores on the surfaces of leaves. The opening and closing of the stomata are regulated by external (environmental) and internal (endogenous) factors. The most important environmental factor for opening stomata is light, particularly the blue part. Photosynthesis requires light and carbon dioxide (Co2). Light triggers the stomata to open so that the leaves can take in CO2 for photosynthesis. When the stomata open, however, they also allow water to evaporate into the surrounding atmosphere. This can be a good thing in that it allows the plant to draw more water and salts up from the roots. However, it can be a bad thing when the plant’s water supply is limited.

Water enters the plant from the soil via the tiny root hairs. From numerous hair roots it reaches the xylem. Xylem is a vascular tissue that enables water movement upward to the leaves. it creates a continuous water column that extends from the root hairs to the stomata. The evaporation of water from the leaves contributes significantly to the flow of water through the xylem. During this process, salt molecules existing as a water solute in soil move with water up to the leaves.

More than 90% of water evaporated through stomata is not used by plants. Sometimes plants use as little as 1% of water that pass through them. The rest goes to the atmosphere. light, temperature (of both the plant and the ambient air), air movement, and humidity are factors that affect the rate of transpiration. in brighter light, higher temperature and windy atmosphere, transpiration increases. The lower the relative humidity, the higher the evaporation. RH is high!When relative humidity is high, the transpiration rate dramatically decreases and plants will be highly stressed in a number of ways. Temperature is one such stress.

in hot, humid environments, people sweat but don’t feel relief. The same is true for plants. When the temperature is higher than the plant can tolerate, it needs to transpire to cool down; in other words, it needs to sweat. And, as with people, that sweat must evaporate in order to cool the plant down. During the daylight part of the

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plant’s cycle, leaf surfaces can be even hotter than the air surrounding them (or the air-conditioning setting) because light rays warm them.

evaporation is a very effective way to cool down, because for water molecules to transform from liquid stage (on plants) to gaseous (in the air surrounding the plants) they need to get an enormous amount of energy. heat is that energy that water molecules take away from plants in order to become a vapor. it is the law of thermodynamics. if the relative humidity is moderate to low and the plant has an adequate water supply, transpiration will successfully cool plants. but if the relative humidity is near 100%, transpiration is difficult. since plants don’t have legs to move themselves to a cooler place, cooling through transpiration become vital. When plants can’t cool themselves, practically all physiological processes slow down or stop. A stressed plant can easily die.

When humidity is high, plants can no longer use transpiration to move minerals from soil to roots to leaves. For a long time scientists thought that transpiration was paramount for the movement of salt upwards. but what about some plants that grow in greenhouses when humidity can be close to 100%? a few elegant experiments showed that transpiration is not necessary for moving salt. some other process including guttation can compensate for the impaired transpiration. it is true for the small plants; we don’t know if it can be applied to tall trees. But even though other mechanisms can substitute temporarily for transpiration in moving salts and nutrients, it is still stressful for streps that aren’t adapted to live at near 100% humidity.

There is another way humidity stress manifests itself. When high humidity prevents a plant from evaporating enough water to compensate for water uptake by roots via those other processes, water accumulates in large quantity inside the plant tissues. This is called edema. Plants are literally swelling to the point that stretched cell walls become thin and can eventually break. The swollen part of the plant is dying and the abnormal water lesions inside the plants are visible. if this disorder is mild, plants can recover from it. if adverse conditions persist, plants can die. The area affected by edema can later become necrotic and succumb to pathogen infections. (Fig. 1)

While plants suffer under high humidity, other organisms such as fungal and bacterial pathogens thrive. They can affect every part of the plants: leaves, stems, flowers. (Fig. 2) This can be observed in the mini-greenhouses used for leaf cuttings. all sorts of lesions can be seen throughout the whole plants. Roots do not escape harmful pathogens, either. since transpiration is dramatically slowed, soil can stay wet longer, therefore providing a breeding ground for a wide range of harmful microorganisms. These microorganisms may not be evident at first, but when they are finally

noticed, it can be too late for the plants unless the infection is localized in one area and can be treated by removing the infected piece of the plant. Root rot is one of them. Most root rot diseases are caused by fungi.

Fig 1: Edema. Swelling can be seen between veins in the leaves as well as necrotic orange/brown spots.

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Finally, during high humidity stressed plants can look different. They may show changes in coloration and brittle, malformed leaves and stems. (Fig. 3)

let’s come back to our streps in summer. in many climate zones, hot summers also correlate with high relative humidity. it seems counterintuitive, because when temperature rises, air can hold more water. That means Rh should decrease. example: if relative humidity is 60% at 65°F, then when the temperature rises to 85°F (20°F difference) the Rh would be only 30%, because hotter air can hold twice as much moisture.) but why in the summer in many areas is the Rh high instead of low (60% versus 30%)?

in many areas, especially near large bodies of water – oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, etc. – water evaporates very fast when temperature is high. studies have shown that oceans, seas, lakes, and rivers provide nearly 90% of the moisture in the atmosphere via evaporation, with the remaining 10% being contributed by plants that release water by transpiration. For example, the average relative humidity in summer in the morning in most of the us is very high: louisiana 90%, Florida 89%, Michigan 88%, North Carolina 90%. There are a few exceptions such as arizona 52% and Colorado 47%.

so while some lucky growers enjoy comfortable humidity levels (about 50% for plants and humans) in summer, the rest of us are suffering. The air feels much hotter when the Rh is high because we and our plants can’t cool ourselves down by evaporation. RH is low!low humidity is also detrimental to plants. in arizona, summer/winter humidity is 24%-30%, in New Mexico, 25%-38%, and in Nevada, 20%-47%, while in idaho and some other states, relative humidity can be quite low not only in summer but even in winter. in low humidity, transpiration can be very rapid. Water pushing minerals up too quickly leads to an accumulation of excess salt in the leaves and causes leaves to “burn.”

The same situation can be observed in the soil. The plant’s root system sucks up water very quickly resulting in soil drying out fast. if fertilizer concentration is not adjusted accordingly, the soil may be covered by a mineral buildup that looks like brown crust and is very unhealthy for the root system.

Fig 2: Plants 1 and 2 are damaged by high humidity. Plant 3 is a healthy plant. Blue arrows show rotten emerging new leaf. Red arrow shows unhealthy leaf development most likely due to bacterial or fungal damage.

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If the amount of water evaporation from the leaves is not replaced by water brought up by the root system, the plants stress out. Leaves might develop brown edges, flowers may be malformed or not open completely, buds may fall off, etc.

We have learned how humidity affects plants. Now let’s talk about how plants affect humidity.

as we saw above, plants utilize a very small amount of water (it can be only 1%) compared to the amount that is pumped through the xylem and evaporates into the air. What happens when we have many plants in one room? Most likely these plants are grown under lights. if the relative humidity outside is high, like in many states in summer, and there are a lot of plants adding water vapor to the inside air during respiration, the Rh can reach an unhealthy level.

What’s the ideal relative humidity for streptocarpus plants? Well, it depends on the growing stage. but first we need to measure it. a simple gadget called a hygrometer will do the job. a digital hygrometer is a rather inexpensive tool that shows relative humidity in the plant room. it can be found in hardware and garden stores.

try to measure Rh and temperature in different parts of the room in the morning, during the day, and at night, when temperatures tend to drop. also, repeat the measurement during the different seasons. as we mentioned before, Rh can be very different in different climates, so each of us should do this for ourselves to get an idea of how the Rh fluctuates in the growing space, throughout the house, throughout the day, and throughout the seasons. What RH do we want to have for our streptocarpus?tiny seedlings enjoy high relative humidity (90-100%). This is why we germinate seeds and put down leaves to propagate streptocarpus in our mini-greenhouses. When plants have grown and developed more leaves, they no longer need high humidity. 50-70% of Rh is good for young plants. When plants start to bloom, even lower 40-50% Rh may be beneficial. Now, how to make it work. Realistically, we can easily provide two different humidity levels. We should provide 100% RH for seedlings and leaf cuttings and around 50% RH for the rest of the plants.

Fig. 3: Green arrow shows the absence of point of growth. White arrow shows unopened dry buds. Blue and purple arrows show leaf necrosis caused by fungal or bacterial infection.

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by the way, how do we know that it is 100% humidity in our domes? usually this is the case when we have many plants in one box covering the bottom of the box. Plants transpire water vapor, and the soil also evaporates water that has nowhere to go and, once water reaches a saturation point, it starts to condense on everything including plastic walls where we see little water droplets. This is what we need. however, it is not always the case. if we use a very large perfectly sealed plastic box and put only a few small plants in it we might not have 100% Rh, especially if we set up our dome in summer in Phoenix, arizona. in this case we won’t see any water droplets on the inside plastic wall and we may need to put an additional source for humidity, like a jar filled with water. it is also permissible if the Rh in the home is 90%. in this case a hygrometer will come in handy since the water droplets might not appear on the inside walls.

so seedlings need very high humidity. What about the rest of the plants? Our experience shows that they will be happy if RH is around 50%. easier said than done? as we know, Rh can fluctuate depending on many factors. usually at night as temperature drops, relative humidity may increase quite a lot. The excess water vapor may start to condense everywhere including leaves and buds where pathogenic microorganisms are waiting to start to multiply. it may take only a few days of unhealthy high Rh for bacteria, mold, and mildew to get out of hand. one of the reasons is that we don’t see infection right away. Quite often it may be too late when we do see it, and then leaves or entire plants should be discarded.

Fortunately there are really easy solutions to all the described problems – prevention with modern technology.

What do we do? it depends on the individual environment. if the humidity stays way out of the 50% comfort zone in the plant room (say, outside of the range between 35% to 65%), it may be time to invest in a humidifier or dehumidifier in addition to air-conditioning. by the way, running a dehumidifier will help the air conditioner run more efficiently in a less humid environment.

Very few growers experience low humidity problem. it can happen to growers who live in one of the few states that have constant low humidity outdoors. it can also occur in winter when we heat our houses because we heat cool winter air that already does not have much water vapor. Remember that a 20°F increase in temperature will cause a drop in Rh of about 50%. When 31°F air at 71% Rh (the average temperature and Rh in Detroit, for example) is heated to 72°F, the Rh may drop below 18%, which is the average Rh in the sahara Desert in its hottest months (yearly average is about 25%). The problem is exacerbated if plants are near the heat source.

to help plants avoid low Rh stress, plants may be placed on top of (not in) a tray with water, they may be grouped together creating a micro-environment, or they may be put in a deep plastic container (no lid) or terrarium. as an experiment we even put plants in the bathroom. We had to add extra artificial light since the small bathroom window was not enough to provide adequate light conditions. We think that the best way to satisfy the needs of both humans and plants is to add extra moisture to our air by running a humidifier.

High humidity. For those of us who have many plants, excess humidity may be a real problem, especially in summer. We set the dehumidifier on 50% and forget about the problem. Again prevention is the best solution.

as we mentioned before, the most dangerous problem of high Rh (let’s say more than 65-70%) is pathogenic microorganisms (bacteria, mold, mildew, some mites and insects). some growers prefer to tackle these situations differently. instead of buying a dehumidifier they start to spray their plants with various chemicals. There are three reasons why we don’t recommend this. First, the chemicals used may be toxic to humans. second, chemicals can also be quite stressful to the plants. and third, by

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systematically using chemicals, we contribute to the development of resistance to specific chemicals and must constantly find new ones. Don’t forget “super bugs” (hospital infections that resist every antibiotic treatment) that are thought to be a new modern plague. We think that even a very cheap dehumidifier is a much safer solution. Growers who have many plants must make sure that the dehumidifier is capable of removing the same amount of water per day as is added to the plants.

a fan can be a good supplement to a dehumidifier, or it may be a temporary solution if other equipment fails. but if an infection is already established on some plants, increasing air circulation can spread the infection. For growers who live in areas of very low humidity, a fan directed the right way can be used as an efficient tool for air exchange between the plant room and the dry outside area.

Most of us are growing streptocarpus hybrids that have genes that came from native streptocarpus species. streptocarpus species differ significantly in their Rh requirements. some species live in areas where relative humidity can go below 30%. even the same species, the same hybrid, and the same plant can sometimes acclimate to different environments. They could grow leaves with denser hairs that slow down transpiration or they can have thicker epidermises or other adaptive mechanisms. since contemporary streptocarpus hybrids are products of crossings of many native species, it is difficult to predict how a particular hybrid would behave in a less-than-perfect environment. however, some hybrids that have more genes from streptocarpus species that are xerophytes (plants that adapt to low water environments), like S. ‘Ds-lacy Cloudlet’, can withstand harsher conditions including high temperatures and low humidity down to 20%. These hybrids have thick, short rounded leaves. This is just an example, but we would not recommend trying such harsh conditions unless the experiment is carried out with only a few plants.

When we transplant our streps, we don’t need to put them in mini-greenhouses. When transplanting or moving plants from the dome, plants may slightly lose turgidity. sometimes new growers panic and put the plants back in the dome, and plants regain turgidity there. This may be the reason why the myth still persists that streps need high humidity. but if growers resist the urge to “save” their plants, they will adapt to drier air within a week and regain turgidity. it is important not to overwater during this process. They don’t have turgor because of the lack of water in the soil but because their delicate leaves need to adapt. We don’t do this, but the stress of adapting from 100% Rh to 50% Rh can be minimized by opening the lid gradually more and more every day. sometimes a quick change in humidity can result in the drying of the ends of the leaves. Just cut off these dry tips with scissors. Note, however, that if during transplantation there is damage to most of the root system, the plants do need to be put in the dome for a few weeks.

here is one example of the great adaptability of streps. We collected data from a few people who successfully grow streptocarpus hybrids on their windowsills while measuring

Interesting FactsTranspiration is more effective when leaves have strong turgor. Wilted leaves transpire less water. When during the hot summer days a leaf wilts a little bit, it may be the result of water deficiency, but may also be a protective mechanism to prevent water loss.

Calories are units of energy. One of the simple definitions of “cal” is approximately the amount of energy needed to increase the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius. In other words, to raise the temperature from 98°C to 100°C we need only two calories.

If we continue heating that one gram of liquid water, it will take about 600 calories of heat energy to change it to a gas. This example illustrates the cooling effect of water. Only a small amount of water (one gram) absorbs an enormous amount of heat (approximately 600 cal) to become a gas.

50 Gesneriads ~ Volume 67 ~ Number 1Return to Table of Contents

temperature and Rh. in winter, the temperature on the windowsills was down to 35°F for a short period of time. During the day the temperature increased dramatically, pushing down Rh to 20%. other factors being equal, these plants looked super healthy. They grew stiff hairy leaves. We don’t advise growers to repeat these experiments unless they are experts in streptocarpus culture. We again want to show the great plasticity of streptocarpus plants.

some growers spray streps with water when they want to address the humidity issue. We do not recommend it. spraying can spread pathogens. it can also lead to sunburn from water droplets on the leaves. however, spraying can be the last resort when the temperature is too high and the plants need to be cooled down. if this is the case, mist plants with distilled or reverse osmosis water because hard water will damage the leaf surface.

to summarize, we want to emphasize that streptocarpus are not high humidity plants. Yes, faster growth can be achieved in higher humidity, but experiments show that a Rh around 50% is the ideal balance for growing well-adapted plants in an environment that is not favorable for infections like mold, mildew, root rot, etc. We believe that many growers lose their plants in a particular season because they forget about the importance of managing humidity in streptocarpus cultivation.

Dear reader: if we have not answered all the questions related to the topic described here, you can direct your questions to us and we will try to address them in a future issue. also, please contact us if you disagree with any statement, if you think that you don’t understand something, or you feel that you can add to the discussion.

We are trying to be as comprehensive as possible.

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Coming EventsMary Schaeffer ~ Newark, DE, USA ~ <schaeffermary@yahoo.com>

Gesneriad Society Events

March 25-26 – Glencoe, IL Northern illinois Gesneriad society Display and sale, Chicago botanic Garden, 1000 lake Cook Road, Glencoe, il. 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. additional information: bob Nicholson

<pyramidgardens@yahoo.com> April 8 – Wilmington, DE Delaware african Violet & Gesneriad society exhibit Demonstrations and sale, boscov’s, 361 West Main street, Christiana, De 19702 (second floor). 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. additional information: http://www.davgs.org/April 8-9 – Cleveland, OH North Coast Gesneriad & african Violet Club show and sale, Cleveland botanical Garden, 11030 east blvd., Cleveland, oh. april 8, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., april 9, 12 noon - 5 p.m. show is free, but admission to the Garden is $11.00. additional information: (440) 286-8235 or Penny Johnson <kritterfeeder@hotmail.com>

April 8 – Des Moines, WA Puget sound Gesneriad society and seattle african Violet society Joint show and sale, Furney’s Nursery, 21215 international blvd, Des Moines, Wa 98198. sale 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., show noon - 4 p.m. additional information: bob Clark 206-819-6239 or <bobclark98122@gmail.com> May 6-7 – Oyster Bay, NY long island Gesneriad society and the saintpaulia society of long island Judged show and Plant sale, Planting Fields arboretum Conference Center, oyster bay, NY. May 6, 1 - 4 p.m.; May 7, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. african violets and other gesneriads for sale. Free admission; modest parking fee. additional information: ben Paternoster 631-549- 6788 or <ben9@optonline.net>July 4-8 – 61st Annual Gesneriad Society Convention, Omaha, NE hosted by the omaha african Violet and Gesneriad society. For additional information, see the society website.

(also available for anytime viewing for three months after the live event)

January 17: smithianthas and eucodonias to Grow and show with Michael Riley

February 28: Photography 101: using Cell Phones and Point & shoot Cameras to Photograph Gesneriads with Winston Goretsky

Sessions planned for each month except July. tentative topics for 2017 include Columnea, aeschynanthus and Nematanthus, Growing smaller Rhizomatous Plants, Rare and unusual Gesneriads, terrariums and Dish Gardens, intergenerics and more.

For additional information or to register, go to: https://the-gesneriad-society.myshopify.com/collections/webinars

Gesneriad Society Webinars

(Editor’s note: if you would like to take over the responsibility for this Coming events column from Mary, who is now our hard-working treasurer, please contact me at gesnerieditor@gmail.com.)

52 Gesneriads ~ Volume 67 ~ Number 1Return to Table of Contents

Back to Basics:

Social media can be a great way to share information with gesneriad growers around the world.

Soilless Mix Additives and CO2 Supplementation to Enhance Gesneriad GrowthDale Martens ~ Sherrard, IL, USA ~ <dalemartens@mchsi.com>

MaNY oF us eXPeRiMeNt With soilless MiXes and fertilizers to see what works best, which makes me think of my mother-in-law’s growing medium for her very healthy episcias and african violets. hers came from nearby iowa onion fields that probably contained aged manure.

i asked Karen allen, 2016 Convention speaker on streptocarpus, about her use of composted horse manure. Note that she does not wick water. her response was, “The composted manure derives all of its nitrogen from ammonia. it is also rich in mycorrhizae. i only use it on mature plants, as it will burn young and tender root systems. i make a separate soil mix where i replace half my Pro-Mix with the composted manure. i don’t fertilize at all for the first few waterings, but once the plant is established, i fertilize as i always do. My basic mix is typically three parts Pro-Mix, three parts perlite, and one part vermiculite. so when i make my “special” mix, i replace half of the Pro-Mix portion with composted horse manure resulting in 1.5 parts composted horse manure, 1.5 parts Pro-Mix, three parts perlite, and one part vermiculite.”

Karen mentions mycorrhizae and if you’ve seen Mel Grice’s webinar on primulinas you may have noted that he purchases Pro-Mix bX with mycorrhizae. according to the New York botanical

Garden website <sciweb.nybg.org/science2/hcol/mycorrhizae.asp.html>, “Mycorrhizae are symbiotic relationships that form between fungi and plants. The fungi colonize the root system of a host plant, providing increased water and nutrient absorption capabilities while the plant provides the fungus with carbohydrates formed from photosynthesis.”

in Mel’s webinar, he discusses his use of dry molasses that he adds to help feed

Streptocarpus ‘3S-Fernweh’, grown

and photographed by Karen Allen

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the mycorrhizae. he used this method to win best in section e for his entry of Henckelia speciosa ‘ako sky’ at the 2016 Gesneriad society Convention. (see that plant’s photo in the Fourth Quarter 2016 issue of Gesneriads, page 23.)

Carolyn Ripps uses espoma Garden lime, which is pelleted dolomitic limestone. she says, “i add a bit to the soil of my primulinas, petrocosmeas, gesnerias, and to other plants that are said to come from limestone-rich areas, such as Sinningia araneosa and Sinningia calcaria. i add about 1/4 teaspoon for a 4-inch pot. My usual growing mix is not totally soilless. i add about one part Miracle Gro soil to five parts of soilless mix. Whether or not to use lime may depend on your water supply if your water already has a high ph.” (see Carolyn’s gorgeous Primulina ‘summer song’ entry at the 2016 Convention also in the Fourth Quarter 2016 issue of Gesneriads, page 23.)

Thomas Finnigan adds extra perlite and activated charcoal to bagged organic soil called “Gardener’s Gold,” which he says contains composted bark, cow manure, shellfish, seabird guano, and dolomitic lime. another mix mentioned by some growers, including 2017’s Gha speaker brandon erikson, is Fafard african Violet Mix. Carol trafton Dale also uses Fafard but adds to it perlite, vermiculite, and sterilized worm castings. she says she is pleased that her plants love this mix. although she uses a dome for young plants, she’s never had rot or mold.

Mold can beset the best growers. to combat the problem, heidi Dillenbeck uses Murphy’s oil soap as a fungicide. she adds about 1/2 capful of Murphy’s to one gallon of water during humid months for streptocarpus and saintpaulias. however, she does not treat tender plants like episcias and sinningias with this mixture.

before i began wick watering, which keeps the soil mix wet at all times, i added diatomaceous earth powder in pots–especially around the roots and stem–to help control soil mealybugs. This addition works when the soil is dry. it is said to cut into insects’ bodies, causing them to die of dehydration. Diatomaceous earth is sold in bags; safer is one brand. Follow the package directions and wear a mask and gloves as it can irritate skin.

social media can be a great way to share information with gesneriad growers around the world. in one Facebook post, linn boa in France says he uses hb-101 granules. This is an organic product made from cedar, cypress, pine trees, and plantain grass. it is available in the u.s.

i had been tempted to experiment adding guano heaped on the ground below my bat house to my mix until i read the post by brent scheuerman on Facebook. he says he found it clogged up the wicks in wick watering so he quit using it.

Peter shalit wondered on Facebook if anyone had tried coffee grounds. heinz Dornbusch in australia responded, “i have used spent coffee grounds in my mix. it is a bit on the acidic side and i would recommend that it be composted before adding. having used it fresh, the aroma of the mix was heavenly but i ended up with unsightly

Streptocarpus ‘DS-Striborg’, grown and photographed by Karen Allen

54 Gesneriads ~ Volume 67 ~ Number 1Return to Table of Contents

CO2 timer, photographed by Linda Zillich

fungus on top of the soil. Drying it before use resulted in the same problem. unfortunately in the process of composting, it loses not only the aroma but also the grainy feel and ends up quite pulverized.”

linda Zillich, my co-editor for Gha’s newsletter, CrossWords, is known for her variety of micro-miniature sinningias and for her web site: http://www.freewebs.com/sinningias. she uses Co2. here’s her method: “basically, i have a smaller size light garden with three tiers. each tier has a 19 x 15 x 9-inch terrarium on it, each of which measures 2,565 cubic inches. These are bio Dome seed starters purchased from Park seed Co.

“My Co2 tank is a 20-pound tank. in the photos you can see the regulator and timer setup, which is adjustable for whatever amount and time you want the Co2 to pump into your terrariums. i have mine set up to run at 8:30 a.m. for about one minute. The regulator also has an adjustment that you can see on the left side in the photo. it’s that little black dial. With it you can allow a little or a lot of the Co2 to exit, whatever you choose. if you look closely at the glass upper tube, you can see lines and numbers. When the Co2 is running through, there is a little green ball (you can just see it sitting at the bottom) that rises up to whichever number you set it at. i have mine set around 2-1/2.

“of course, the higher you go, the more Co2 comes out and the more often you will need to get your tank refilled. i find my setting gives me not quite a month of Co2 before i need to refill. The dial below the glass tube tells you how much pressure there is in the tank indicating when it is empty and needs a refill.

“i have black aquarium hose connected to the regulator and divided between each terrarium. When the Co2 enters each terrarium, the hose should drop down to the plants because Co2 is heavier than air. it is my experience that my plants put on more lush growth and flower more when i use this method. additionally, i’m in hopes that the short lack of oxygen when the Co2 first pumps in will possibly kill off some crawlies. i don’t know this for certain but it is maybe an added bonus! at first i had a hard time finding somewhere to get the tank refilled but i found a hardware store that has welding supplies and they have a service that fills Co2 tanks.

“unfortunately, the use of Co2 is also a common practice for marijuana growers so i do get a few funny looks when i refill but since no police have come around my house to investigate, i expect they think i am a welder!”

in conclusion, there are several ways one can try to enhance the growth of gesneriads. When you experiment, try it on a few plants, not your whole collection.

Terrarium with hose, photographed by Linda Zillich

CO2 regulator, photographed by Linda Zillich

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We are now offering a method for members to pay for seed purchases through a PayPal account.

Seed Fund – SpeciesCarolyn Ripps, Seed Fund Co-Chairperson ~ Hartsdale, NY, USA ~ <rippscs@aol.com>

soMethiNG olD, soMethiNG NeW, soMethiNG borrowed, something blue. so goes the old rhyme for a bride, but it somewhat describes the past few months of my growing experience as well.

The Delaware convention was great as always with many exciting show entries. on a whim, i entered an old Sinningia speciosa plant that i have had for more than 20 years. it was loaded with buds that opened on schedule and earned me a blue ribbon. i also entered a new Primulina hybrid that toshijiro okuto kindly shared with me, but it refused to open its buds on time to be entered as a flowering plant. Maybe one day i’ll figure out how to speed up primulina blooms.

summer here in New York was very hot and dry, and the greenhouse plants did not do well. We will not have much achimenes seed to offer this year, so donations would be very welcome. even indoor growing conditions were far from ideal, as the air conditioning removed too much humidity and it was difficult to keep up with watering everywhere.

Many of us have been experimenting with new tubes for growing under lights. i switched out my seed germinating area to t8 fluorescent tubes two years ago and the seedlings have definitely been sturdier and faster growing than in previous years. There are also a number of various new leD tubes available for

fluorescent fixtures, but most require modification of the ballasts, or even removal, and the costs can be considerable. i’m curious to try those as well. it will be interesting to hear about the experiences of other gesneriad growers as the technology evolves.

We are now offering a method for members to pay for seed purchases through a PayPal account. This should be particularly advantageous for our overseas members who are reluctant to send credit card information or checks in the mail. Contact the seed Fund chairs by email for additional information.

Recent donations from the following are helping the seed Fund grow: Kelly ates, barbara borleske, Karyn Cichocki, Keith Dabney, Charles huston, Jeanne Katzenstein, Paul Kroll, Julie Mavity-hudson, hung Nguyen, irina Nicholson, Mauro Peixoto, Carolyn Ripps, Peter shalit, Jaco truter, and David Zaitlin.

Seed Packets — $3 each Please •Topaybycreditcard,sendyourcreditcardnumber,expirationdate,and

signature, and indicate if the card is MasterCard or Visa ($6 minimum) •MakecheckspayabletoTheGesneriadSocietyinU.S.funds • Provide a self-addressed, stamped envelope (non-u.s. orders will have the

postage added to their credit card bill) •Listalternatechoices •Includeyourmembershipnumber(firstnumberonyourmailinglabel) Note •Thereisalimitofoneseedpacketofasinglevarietyperorder •Thereisalimitof25seedpacketsperorder •Thereisahouseholdlimitof50seedpacketspercalendaryear

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Seed Fund – SpeciesAchimenes (D)

cettoanaerecta ‘tiny Red’ (F,l)

• grandiflora ‘Robert Dressler’ (b)mexicana

• miseraAeschynanthus (b)

fecundus sel1974-2907-afulgensgarrettiimicranthus sel1974-0260parviflorus sel1974-2701

• pulcher (boschianus)radicans (lobbianus ‘Radicans’)rhododendron (longicalyx)sp. “Thai Pink”sp. abG1990-0903/New Guineasp. from Thailand

Alsobia (b)chiapensis (was sp. “Chiapas”)dianthiflora

• punctataAmalophyllon (D,F,h,l)

clarkii usbRG96-336ecuadoranum

Anodiscus (see Gloxinia)Besleria

lutea GRe14485• solanoides GRe10975 (G,t)

sp. GRe12396 (t)sp. GRe12500sp. GRe15025

Boeahemsleyana

• hygroscopicaChirita (see Henckelia, Microchirita, and Primulina)Christopheria (Episcia)

xanthaChrysothemis (F,lM)

adenosiphon (Nautilocalyx)friedrichsthalianamelittifolius (Nautilocalyx)panamensis GRe12735 (Nautilocalyx)pulchellapulchella (cv. villosa)

Codonanthe (b)• devosiana (pink)• gibbosa (was sp. “santa teresa”)

gracilis• serrulata• venosa

Codonanthopsis (Codonanthe)calcarata ‘Puyo’caribaeacrassifolia ‘Cranberry’

• erubescens

Codonoboea (Henckelia)sp. aff. curtisii

• sp.#1(white)• sp.#3(whiteandpurple)• sp./KledangHills(white)

Columnea (b)• ambigua abG2000-0195

brenneri GRe9833calotricha sel2010-0138ciliata GRe14300cf. eburnea GRe13879dissimilis GRe14287eburnea (Dalbergaria)elongatifolia

• erythrophaeafawcettiiguianensishirta ‘light Prince’kienastiana (dodsonii)

• linearis• linearis ‘Purple Robe’• mastersonii abG1992-1240

orientandina (Pentadenia) (lM)polyanthapulchra ‘orange Crush’purpureovittata

• rileyisanguinea (Dalbergaria)scandens var. fendlerischiedeanaschimpfii GRe12243sp. “Maquipucuna” abG97-0125sulfurea

• tandapianaCorytoplectus

cutucuensis (l)speciosus speciosus var. orbicularis GRe11721

Crantziatigrina

Cyrtandrasamoensissp./Malaysia

• sp.(white)/Java(T)Dalbergaria (see Columnea)Damrongia

orientalis (Streptocarpus)Deinostigma

tamiana (Primulina)Diastema (D,F,P)

latiflorum GRF9669a (F,h,l)racemiferum GRe12296vexans

Didissandrafrutescens

Didymocarpus• cordatus (G,t)• sulphureus

First Quarter 2017 57Return to Table of Contents

Drymoniachiriboganacoccinea GRe9980 (t)coccinea var. fusco-maculatus

• coriaceacuyabenensis (ined.)ecuadorensis GRe9769ecuadorensis ‘Red elegance’foliacea GRe12650hoppii GRe9863pendula sel1998-0223

• pudicapulchra GRF98113punctulatarhodoloma abG90-0528strigosa (b)sp. nova/Veracruzsp. (umecta ined.) (b)teuscheri GRe12405teuscheri GRe14923teuscheri GRe15017

Episcia (h,l,b,F)• cupreata

lilacina ‘Panama White’Epithema

saxatilesp. /N. Perak (M)sp. (blue)/N. Perak (M)

Eucodoniaverticillata ‘Cecilia’

Gesneria (h,F)christii (lM)

• cuneifolia (l)• cuneifolia ‘Quebradillas’ (l)

cuneifolia ‘tom talpey’ (l)reticulata ‘el Yunque’shaferi (l)ventricosa (M)

Glossoloma (Alloplectus)ichthyoderma GRe9836 (t)scandens GRe11235sp. cf. panamense GRe11118sp. nova GRe13880

Gloxinella (Gloxinia) (D)lindeniana (F,l)

Gloxinia (D)erinoides ‘Chapada dos Guimaraes’erimoides ‘teresina da Goias’ erinoides ‘Red satin’perennis (lM)perennis ‘insignis’ (l)xanthophylla (Anodiscus) (M)

Gloxiniopsis• racemosa

Haberlea (a,R)rhodopensisrhodopensis (ferdinandi-coburgii)

Hemiboeasubcapitata

Henckelia (Chirita)• anachoreta• ceratoscyphus (Chirita corniculata)

speciosa ‘Green leaf ’

Heppiella (D)ulmifolia

Kohleria (D)allenii (t)sp. aff. amabilis ‘Panama Pink’grandiflorahirsutaperuvianasp. GRe14985

Lysionotuspauciflorus

• petelotiiMicrochirita (Chirita)

caliginosa (lM)elphinstonia

• hamosa (aN,F,M)involucrata (F,l)

• involucrata (dark blue)lavandulacea (lM)micromusa (aN,F,l)sericea (l,R)sericea var. scortechinii

• viola• sp./Thailand• sp./Kedah• sp.(blue)/Phuket

Mitraria• coccinea

Monophyllaeahirticalyx (l,u)horsfieldii (u)

Monopyle• sp.GRE12131• sp.GRE12700

Moussonia• deppeana• elegans

Napeanthus (h)• andinus GRe11052 (h)• costaricensis

primulifolius ‘teresopolis’• sp.GRE12273

Nautilocalyx (see also Chrysothemis)sp. “Gothenberg”sp. “burle Marx” sp. “tuberifer”

Nematanthusalbus (b)

• brasiliensis• corticola• fluminensis

fornix• fritschii• sericeus (b)

wettsteinii (b)wiehleri

Neomortonia (see Pachycaulos)Nomopyle (Gloxinia)

dodsonii GRe12110Ornithoboea

• wildeanaPachycaulos (Neomortonia)• nummularium

58 Gesneriads ~ Volume 67 ~ Number 1Return to Table of Contents

Paliavana (s,t)gracilis (t)

• plumerioides (Cabral)prasinatasericiflora (t)sericiflora ‘Morro do Chapeu’sericiflora ‘Pres Juscelino’sp. cf . sericiflora ‘Cabral’tenuiflorawerdermannii

Paradrymonia• ciliosa• sp.GRE13182/Colombia

Pentadenia (see Columnea)Petrocosmea

sp. #2sp. #5sp. “Yumebutai”

• sp.“RobertsB”• sp.“RobertsC”/China

Phinaea (D,F,P)albolineatamultiflora ‘tracery’

• pulchella (F,h,l)Primulina (Chirita)

• balansae• bipinnatifida

flavimaculata• heterotricha

linearifolia• spadiciformis (l,R)• subrhomboidea

tabacum• sp.“V-27”

Ramonda (a,R)• myconi

myconi (blue)myconi (dark purple)myconi (lavender)myconi (pink)myconi (white)

Rhytidophyllum (G,h,s,t)• exsertum

rupincola (Gesneria)tomentosum

Rufodorsia (F,lM)• minor

Saintpaulia (F,R) 3. shumensis3. shumensis ‘Mather ee’

• 5a. cl. grandifolia No. 2995c1.cl. ionantha ‘Mather’5c. cl. tongwensis5c2. cl. uppsala #3083

• 5f.cl.orbicularis• 8.rupicola

Seemannia (Gloxinia) (D)gymnostoma (lM)nematanthodesnematanthodes ‘evita’ (M)

• purpurascenssylvatica

Sinningia (D)aggregata (M)aggregata ‘Pendulina’aggregata (yellow)aghensis (t)allagophylla (Mt)allagophylla (yellow)

• amambayensis (l)• araneosa (F,l)• barbata• bragae (was sp. “ibitioca”)

brasiliensis (s,t)brasiliensis ‘leopoldina’brasiliensis ‘santa teresa’bulbosa (Mt)bullata (was sp. “Florianopolis”)calcaria MP891 (F,l)canescens (D,lM)carangolensis (M)cardinalis (F,lM)cardinalis (compact) (F,lM)cardinalis (dark calyx) (lM)

• cardinalis (orange)cardinalis peloric mixcardinalis (pink)cardinalis ‘innocent’

• cardinalis ‘skydiver’ (lM)cochlearisconspicua (F,l)conspicua GRF9942cooperi (lM)curtiflora (t)curtiflora (yellow)defoliatadouglasii (red)elatior aC1409 (M)eumorpha ‘Clenilson’eumorpha ‘saltao’ (l)eumorpha (lavender) (F,l)eumorpha (white)eumorpha ‘telemaco borba’gesneriifolia (was sp. “sao Fidelis”)gigantifoliaglazioviana (l)globulosa (was sp. “Globulosa”)

• guttata (lM)harleyi MP 482hatschbachii (l)hatschbachii ‘Corupa’hatschbachii ‘iporanga’ (D,lM)helioana (was sp. “santa teresa”)

• helleri iarae (F,l)

• incarnata (s,Mt)incarnata ‘Maranhao’incarnata/Costa Rica (t)insularis (lM)leopoldii (F,l)leucotricha (F,l)

• leucotricha (pink)leucotricha cv. ‘Max Dekking’ (M)leucotricha ‘english’lineata (lM)macropoda (M)

First Quarter 2017 59Return to Table of Contents

macrostachya (lM)magnifica (pink) (lM)magnifica GRF91134 (red)

• mauroana (D,M)micans MP891 (lM)muscicola (dark) muscicola (light) nordestinapiresiana (l)polyantha (was sp. “Waechter”) (l,M)

• pusilla (F,P)• pusilla‘imbe’• pusilla ‘itaoca’ (F,P)• pusilla ‘White sprite’ (F,P)

ramboireitzii (M)reitzii ‘New Zealand’

• richii• richii ‘itamarahu’• richii ‘Robson lopes’

sceptrum (t)sellovii (Mt)

• sellovii ‘Purple Rain’• speciosa ‘buzios’

speciosa ‘Carangola’• speciosa ‘Cardoso Moreira’ (pink) (lM)• speciosa ‘Cardoso Moreira’ (purple) (lM)

speciosa ‘Guatapara’speciosa ‘imbe’speciosa ‘Pedra lisa’speciosa ‘Regina Domingos Martins’speciosa ‘sao Conrado’sulcata (lM)

• tuberosatubiflora (s,Mt)

• villosa warmingii (t)warmingii ‘esmeril’sp. aff. aggregata/ilhabella MP631

• sp.aff.reitzii ‘black hill’ (M)sp. aff. reitzii GRF9914 (magenta)

• sp.“Itaguassu”• sp.“Pancas”

Smithiantha (D,F,M)• canarina GRF9105• laui

multiflora• multiflora GRF9121

• multiflora GRF9122• zebrina GRF9104

Solenophora• tuxtlensis (l)

Sphaerorrhiza• burchellii ‘Rio belchior’ (F,P) • sarmentiana

Streptocarpus subg. Streptocarpuscaeruleusconfusus (u)

• confusus ssp. confusus/swazilandcooperi (u)cyanandrus (F,P)

• cyaneus (blue) (R)• cyaneus (lilac)• cyaneus ssp. cyaneus (albus)• cyaneus ssp. longi-tommii

daviesii (F,u)denticulatus (u)

• dunnii (u)eylesii (u)fasciatus (R)fasciatus/Krokodilpoort, e. transvaal (R)floribundus (R)formosus (R)formosus/e. Cape, transkeigalpinii

• galpinii/erasmushoop Farmgardenii (F,l)goetzei (u)grandis (u)grandis ssp. grandishaygarthii (F,u)

• haygarthii Jt04-03D/transkei Coast (F,u)

haygarthii Jt04-051/inchanga (u)haygarthii/Mkambati, transkei (u)johannis (light form) (F,R)johannis/Komga, e. Capejohannis/Weza, s. Natal (R)sp. aff. johannis (F,R)

• kunhardtii• lilliputana• meyeri/se transvaal (R)

meyeri/Ne Cape Provincemichelmorei (u)

• micranthus/Kowyn’s Passmodestus (R)

Seed Fund key (a) alpine or cool greenhouse (aN) annual, dies after flowering (b) suitable for hanging basket (D) has dormant period, forming tubers or rhizomes (F) blooms readily in fluorescent light (G) Recommended for greenhouses; requires space (h) Requires humidity and warmth (l) low growing; not more than 12”

(lM) low to medium height (M) Medium height; 1 to 2 feet (Mt) Medium to tall (P) Petite or miniature; under 6” (R) Rosette in form (s) Requires sun to bloom (t) tall plants; generally over 3 feet (u) unifoliate or single leaf (V) leaves may be variegated

60 Gesneriads ~ Volume 67 ~ Number 1Return to Table of Contents

• modestus/Magwa Falls, transkei (R)molweniensismontigena/Katzberg Passparviflorus (R)parviflorus (mauve)

• parviflorus (white) (R)parviflorus (white/mauve)

• parviflorus ssp. parviflorus/limpopo Province

• parviflorus ssp. soutpansbergensispentherianus (F,l)pentherianus Jt04-02C

• pogonites Jt10-307polyanthus subsp. comptoniipolyanthus subsp. polyanthuspolyanthus subsp. polyanthus/lg flpolyanthus subsp. polyanthus/Valley of

1000 hills, Natalporphyrostachys (u)primulifolius (F,R)primulifolius/Valley of 1000 hillsprolixus (F,u)pumilus (F,P)

• pusillus• pusillus Jt11-294

rexii (white)rexii Jt04-082 (white)/transkeirimicola (F,P)roseo-albus (F,R)saundersii (u)sp. nov. /shiyalongubo Dam

sp. nov. #2 (red)trabeculatus (u)

• vandeleurii (u)variabilis (F,R)wendlandii (u)wilmsii (u)

• wilmsii/Kowyn’s Passwilmsii/long tom Pass (u)

Streptocarpus subg. Streptocarpella• glandulosissimus• holstii• kirkii• muscosus• nobilis• pallidiflorus• saxorum(B)• thompsonii

Titanotrichumoldhamii (propagules)

Trichantha (see Columnea)Trichodrymonia

metamorphophylla GRe 13901Vanhouttea (s,t)

• brueggericalcarata

• fruticulosa (Mt)lanata

• pendula• Limitedquantitiesavailable.Packet

may contain small amount of seed

British streptocarpus societyhttp://www.streptocarpussociety.org.uk

To join from the USA/Canada, payment can be made by PAYPAL $10 for a Green Membership with pdf-form newsletter; hardcopy newsletter is $18 per year USA/Canada. A check in US funds for either type of

membership can be made out to Dale Martens and sent to 1247 Island View Drive, Sherrard, IL 61281 USA.

888-437-0022 • www.VioletSupply.com

First Quarter 2017 61Return to Table of Contents

Visit <http://gesneriads.org/resources/> for more information about websites, organizations, and Facebook pages devoted to gesneriads.Gesneriads is published quarterly by The Gesneriad society, inc., lawrence, Ks 66044-9998. Copyright © 2017 The Gesneriad society, inc. Postage paid at lawrence, Ks 66044. Postmaster: address of Record: The Gesneriad society, inc., 1122 east Pike street, PMb 637, seattle, Wa 98122-3916 usa.

The Gesneriad Society, Inc.A non-profit membership corporation chartered by the State of Missouri

HONORARY OFFICERSFounder — elvin McDonald Co-Editor of The Gloxinian — Peggie schulz* (1951–1961)Past Presidents — Mrs. h. e. Dillard* (1954–56); Mr. F. W. Mitchell* (1956–58); bruce a. Thompson* (1958–62); William

h. hull* (1962–65); Charles Marvinny (1965–68); Dr. Thomas e. talpey (1968–69); alice Courage* (1969–72); ann spencer* (1972–75); Martin tanner (1975–77); emma lahr* (1977–79); laura Progebin* (1979–81); David Masterson (1981–83); Patricia Van Deventer (1983–85); Michael a. Riley (1985–89); Jessie Crisafulli* (1989–93); lee linett (1993–97); Jon Dixon (1997–2001); susan Grose (2001–2005); Carol ann bonner (2005–2007); Peter shalit (2007-2011); Paul susi (2011-2015) *deceased

OFFICERSPresident (term 2015-17) — Julie Mavity-hudson, 1015 Park lane, Joelton, tN 37080 <gespres2015@gmail.com>First V-P (term 2016-18) — Mel Grice, 2019 Crosswind Court, englewood, oh 45322 <melsgrice@earthlink.net>Second V-P (term 2016-17) — Winston Goretsky, 32 scimitar Point N.W. Calgary, alberta t3l2b2, Canada

<Winston@goretsky.ca>Corresponding Secretary (term 2014-16) — Kathy spissman, 4086 brownlee Dr., tucker, Ga 30084 <mrsstrepstreps@comcast.net>Recording Secretary (term 2015-17) — leonard Re, 9144 helm avenue, Fountain Valley, Ca 92708 <buffboy@socal.rr.com>Treasurer (term 2016-18) — Mary schaeffer, 171 haut-brion avenue, Newark, De 19702 <schaeffermary@yahoo.com>

DIRECTORSTerm 2014-2017 — Paulo Castello da Costa, Jeremy Keene, Jo anne Martinez, Julie Mavity-hudson, leonard Re,

sally Robinson, Dave ZaitlinTerm 2015-2018 — barbara Festenstein, becky Fontes, Winston Goretsky, Mel Grice, stuart hammer, irina Nicholson,

anne VidaverTerm 2016-2019 — laura buckner, Karyn Cichocki, betsy Gottshall, eileen McGrath, Norah otto, Mary schaeffer,

Kathy spissmanCOMMITTEE CHAIRPERSONS AND STAFF

Awards of Appreciation — Molly schneider <molly608sch@comcast.net>Bylaws and Parliamentarian — sally Robinson <sm_robinson@me.com>Chapters and Affiliates — Norah otto <neotto@earthlink.net>Conservation Fund — stephen Maciejewski <teciu@verizon.net>

Jeremy Keene <jeremy496@mac.com>Conventions — Jo anne Martinez <4conventions@gmail.com>Development — betsy Gottshall <gottshb@verizon.net>Elvin McDonald Research Endowment Fund — alain Chautems <alain.chautems@ville-ge.ch>Finance — Michael Riley <riley2362@aol.com>Frances Batcheller Endowment Fund — tom bruning <tbruning@unomaha.edu>Gesneriad Hybridizers Association — Dale Martens <dalemartens@mchsi.com>Gesneriad Register — irina Nicholson <gesneriadregistrar@gmail.com>Historian — suzie larouche <suzielaro@sympatico.ca>Insurance — barbara Festenstein <barbfestenstein@aol.com>Internet Communications — Julie Mavity-hudson <julie.mavity@gmail.com> Membership — bob Clark <gesneriadsocietymembership@gmail.com>Membership Promotion — Paul susi <gesneriadpromotion@gmail.com>Merchandise — Carol ann bonner <cabonner@gmail.com>Nellie D. Sleeth Scholarship Endowment Fund — eric Roalson <eric_roalson@wsu.edu>Nominating — irina Nicholson <irina.nicholson.co@gmail.com>Photography — Julie Mavity-hudson <julie.mavity@gmail.com>Properties — Doris brownlie <jtbrownlie@idirect.com>Publications — David Zaitlin <dzaitlin@gmail.com>Review — Mel Grice <melsgrice@earthlink.net>Seed Fund — species: Carolyn Ripps <rippscs@aol.com>

— hybrids: Gussie Farrice <f.farrice@verizon.net>Shows and Judging — arleen Dewell <arleendewell@shaw.ca>

Awards — Paul susi <gesneriadawards@gmail.com>Speakers Bureau — Dale Martens <dalemartens@mchsi.com>Standing Rules — susan Grose <sagrose@mac.com>Student and Speakers Convention Fund — Jo anne Martinez <4jam@tampabay.rr.com>Student Convention Grant — Jeanne Katzenstein <jkatzenste@aol.com>

— stephen Maciejewski <teciu@verizon.net>RESOURCES AND FRIENDS

Judges Interest Group — Calendar year subscription to Appraisal newsletter, 3 issues, $6 (postal mail) or $3 (email/full color).send to Mary lou Robbins, 403 Mizdail Road, hunlock Creek, Pa 18621 <mlr07005@gmail.com>

Gesneriad Hybridizers Association — CrossWords, 3 issues, $8 ($9 outside usa). send to Martha lacy, 260 stoddards Wharf Rd., Gales Ferry, Ct 06335 <Martha_Gha@comcast.net>

“Gleanings” — a free monthly newsletter from The Gesneriad society (Mel Grice, editor). to subscribe, go to http://www.gesneriads.org/gleanings/index.htm and click on “subscribe to Notification email.”

Gesneriphiles Internet Discussion Group — Visit the website for instructions about joining the list: <http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/gesneriphiles>

62 Gesneriads ~ Volume 67 ~ Number 1Return to Table of Contents

FOR YOUR INFORMATIONBylaws: The Gesneriad society bylaws are available online to all members or by writing to leonard Re,

9144 helm avenue, Fountain Valley, Ca 92708 usa.Chapter s: Report changes of chapter presidents to the Chapters and affiliates Chairperson at

<neotto@earthlink.net>

CHAPTERS AND AFFILIATES — Presidents or Contactsarizona Desert Sun African Violet and Gesneriad Society — ann stoetzer <anncie@cox.net>California Culver City — Pat lesnansky <patlesnansky@verizon.net> Delta Gesneriad & African Violet Society — lynn lombard <lynn_lombard@att.net> Grow and Study — Jacquie eisenhut <jaceis905@gmail.com> Peninsula — alan laVergne <pgsinfo@burwur.net> San Francisco — alan laVergne <pgsinfo@burwur.net>Colorado Gloxinia Gesneriad Growers — ann Watterson <www.gloxiniagesneriadgrowers.org>Delaware Delaware African Violet & Gesneriad Society — Mary schaeffer

<schaeffermary@yahoo.com>Florida Bloomin’ Violets & Gesneriads of Palm Beach (Affiliate) — Martha spyridon

<spyfam@questie.com> Caribbean Basin African Violet & Gesneriad Society — Karen lieux

<klieux@gmail.com> Suncoast (Affiliate) — Jeanne Katzenstein <jkatzenste@aol.com> Tampa Bay — Nancy Crites <crites1@mindspring.com>Georgia Atlanta Gesneriad Interest Group (Affiliate) — Kathy spissman

<mrsstrepstreps@comcast.net>illinois Northern Illinois — bob Nicholson <pyramidgardens@yahoo.com>Kansas/Missouri Heart of America — susan Grose <sagrose@mac.com>Massachusetts New England — Marcia Kilpatrick <kalmia1234@gmail.com>Michigan Southeastern Michigan — Richard holzman <Richardholzman@comcast.net>Minnesota Twin Cities Area — Charles huston <chas55102@gmail.com>Missouri Gateway West — George Kloppe <gwkloppe@gmail.com>Nebraska/iowa Omaha — scott evans <scott.evans@unl.edu>New hampshire Granite State African Violet & Gesneriad Society — holly Walker <hew@tds.net>New Jersey Frelinghuysen Arboretum — Karyn Cichocki <kdc05@ptd.net>New York African Violet and Gesneriad Society of Rochester — stacey Davis

<stacey.Davis@rit.edu> African Violet and Gesneriad Society of Syracuse — Mary Ryan

<tommaryryan1@gmail.com> African Violet and Gesneriad Society of Western New York — Judy Niemira

<aVGsWNY@gmail.com> Greater New York — Gussie Farrice <f.farrice@verizon.net> Long Island — ben Paternoster <ben9@optonline.net>ohio North Coast Gesneriad & African Violet Club — Rick Pogozelski

<rickpogo1@att.net>oregon Mt. Hood — Vivian scheans <vscheans@comcast.net>Pennsylvania Liberty Bell — stephen Maciejewski <teciu1949@gmail.com>tennessee Tennessee — Julie Mavity-hudson <gespres2015@gmail.com>Washington Puget Sound — MJ tyler <mjtyler2@gmail.com>Washington, DC National Capital Area — Corey Wickliffe <president@nationalcapitalgesneriads.org>Canada Carefree — elaine stutt <midi4@sasktel.net> Edmonton — Doreen Dragon <dddragon@shaw.ca> Stampede City African Violet Society (Affiliate) — Winston J. Goretsky

<winston@Goretsky.ca> Toronto — Gillian smith <gillianesmith@rogers.com> Vancouver African Violet & Gesneriad Society — Marianne Moore

<mdmoore@telus.net>sweden Gesneriasts of Sweden — anton ledin <anton.ledin@hotmail.com>

Go to www.gesneriads.org for complete chapter meeting information.

First Quarter 2017 63Return to Table of Contents

Application for Membership — The Gesneriad Society, Inc.Welcome – membership in our international society includes quarterly issues of Gesneriads – The Journal for Gesneriad Growers, a copy of How to Know and Grow Gesneriads, a packet of gesneriad seeds and a wealth of information about our chapters, flower shows, publications, research, programs and seed fund. Membership begins upon receipt of dues.

New Member Date __________________________________________________________

Renewal Membership # __________________________________________________

Name _______________________________________________________________________________________ FaMilY NaMe GiVeN NaMe MiDDle iNitial

address ______________________________________________________________________________________ stReet

____________________________________________________________________________________________ CitY state ZiP CoDe CouNtRY

email _________________________________________________ telephone ____________________________Chapter affiliation (list only one) _____________________________________________________________________ Mailing in us Mailing in us Mailing outside us Mailing outside us (Rates in us$) 1 year 3 years 1 year 3 years

Individual $25 $70 $30 $85

Household $26 $73 $31 $88

Journal Subscription $25 $70 $30 $85(organizations, chapters, affiliates)

Individual Life Mailing in usa $375 Mailing outside usa $450

Green Option electronic journal copy (no print copy) for individual or household Members$20 (one year), $55 (three years) anywhere in the world

I wish to make a tax-deductible contribution of $ ____________________ elvin McDonald Research endowment Fund Nellie D. sleeth scholarship endowment Fund Frances batcheller endowment Fund students and speakers Convention Fund Conservation Fund in honor Memory of ____________________________________________________________________

Please make checks or money orders payable in US$ on a USA bank to: The Gesneriad Societyor, charge my Visa, or MasterCard Card # __________________________________________________________exp. Date ____________________signature ___________________________________________________________ amount __________________

Mail to: The Gesneriad Society Membership Secretary, Bob Clark, 1122 East Pike St., PMB 637, Seattle, WA 98122-3916 USA

For application online: www.gesneriads.org

DonationsThe Gesneriad society, inc. is a tax-exempt organization with an iRs section 501 (c)(3) status for donations. You can make your donations online at www.gesneriads.org. You may also send your donation (check payable to The Gesneriad society) to:

betsy Gottshall108 Godshall Road, Collegeville, Pa 19426 usa

For additional information, contact: <gottshb@verizon.net>.

Membership and Changes of AddressThe Gesneriad society Membership secretary, bob Clark,

1122 east Pike street, PMb 637, seattle, Wa 98122-3916 usaChanges of Address — send changes of address to the Membership secretary <gesneriadsocietymembership@gmail.com> 90 days prior to moving to avoid missing an issue. The society is not responsible for replacing issues missed because of late notification of address changes. back issues may be ordered from The Gesneriad society Publications.Renewals — send dues to the Membership secretary. a Renewal Notice is sent two months prior to the expiration date of your membership. (The expiration date is printed on your mailing label/ membership card received with each copy of Gesneriads.) Please remit your dues prior to the expiration date to avoid missing an issue as we are not responsible for replacing issues missed because of late payment of dues. back issues may be ordered from Publications.

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