Strep. saxorum

[DragonsEye]

An African violet relative, I was curious how it would fair if put outside this summer on my balcony -- full sun from 8am around 2pm .....

 

[theplantman]

Love that plant. It's always in constant bloom in the collection. I can't quite recall, but is this one from me?

 

[DragonsEye]

I can't quite recall, but is this one from me?

Indeed it is, sir. Had originally tried it in one of my terrs but, once it rooted, it quickly became obvious that it was not a good candidate -- got far too big too fast. So tore it out, chopped it up, gave away many cuttings and potted up the remainder. Didn't do much for a while but can chalk that up to both it readjusting to the abuse and radical change of circumstances. During that period, flowering was infrequent at best. (Didn't help that it also had to contend with our winter sun which is both weak and parsimonious in its frequency of appearances.) So this spring, just for kicks, decided to try it out on my balcony -- bringing it back in during chilly times. Seeing as it didn't seem to mind, I decided to leave it out and observe its reaction to the heat of summer with full sun. Thus far, seems to be quite happy. Even have a hummer that has been stopping by once or twice a day to visit the flowers.

 

[theplantman]

Indeed it is, sir. Had originally tried it in one of my terrs but, once it rooted, it quickly became obvious that it was not a good candidate -- got far too big too fast. So tore it out, chopped it up, gave away many cuttings and potted up the remainder. Didn't do much for a while but can chalk that up to both it readjusting to the abuse and radical change of circumstances. During that period, flowering was infrequent at best. (Didn't help that it also had to contend with our winter sun which is both weak and parsimonious in its frequency of appearances.) So this spring, just for kicks, decided to try it out on my balcony -- bringing it back in during chilly times. Seeing as it didn't seem to mind, I decided to leave it out and observe its reaction to the heat of summer with full sun. Thus far, seems to be quite happy. Even have a hummer that has been stopping by once or twice a day to visit the flowers.

Good to know it's done so well! I imagine it'd burn up outside for me, but your summers are probably ideal for it! Gesneriad seed capsules are supposed to be really cool, too, so I hope with the pollinators you will get some. I've never been able to see a single one on any Gesneriad species in the greenhouses.