I finally got one of these little plants which are not orchids (the plant itself looks more like a Geranium) but they create a slipper like pouch flower about 1-2" in size. I've been searching for them for years and I found it at walmart in bloom today for under $2! This linked image isn't exactly how mine looks (mine is spotted with yellow polkadots) but similar...
Anyway, I've been doing some online research and looking them up in my plant books and all say "throw the plant away when it is done blooming". Now. the plant is from Ecuador in the Andes Mts (a cool highland climate). I'm curious do the books say to do that because normal people do not have a highland growing chamber/greenhouse like I do and it's difficult to grow them on after flowering without correct temperatures or is it a merely a short lived herb? As far as I know the andes Mts do not have a specific winter season that would kill off plants.
Also, anyone know how to pollinate the flowers? I want to keep it in cultivation if only just for myself.
Anyway, any info/experinece you folks have and could relate on this great little plant would be appreciated!
edit:
Tilt!!! I located a nursery in england who has seeds of a number of true Calceolaria species with bizzare flower and leaf forms. Needless to say I bought them all! Seems after further research it is as I suspected, most people simply don't have the cool conditions to keep them in that I do. I can't ait to see some of these... pine needled and "spider webbed leaf" species among others!
Anyway, I've been doing some online research and looking them up in my plant books and all say "throw the plant away when it is done blooming". Now. the plant is from Ecuador in the Andes Mts (a cool highland climate). I'm curious do the books say to do that because normal people do not have a highland growing chamber/greenhouse like I do and it's difficult to grow them on after flowering without correct temperatures or is it a merely a short lived herb? As far as I know the andes Mts do not have a specific winter season that would kill off plants.
Also, anyone know how to pollinate the flowers? I want to keep it in cultivation if only just for myself.
Anyway, any info/experinece you folks have and could relate on this great little plant would be appreciated!
edit:
Tilt!!! I located a nursery in england who has seeds of a number of true Calceolaria species with bizzare flower and leaf forms. Needless to say I bought them all! Seems after further research it is as I suspected, most people simply don't have the cool conditions to keep them in that I do. I can't ait to see some of these... pine needled and "spider webbed leaf" species among others!
