BAY NEWS
Newsletter of the American Gesneriad Society of San Francisco
Volume 26, No. 3, March 2004
Next Meeting: Sunday, March 21, 2004
Program: To Be Announced
Message from the President
This month I have several plants blooming for me for the first time. Also, some of my older plants have been behaving well this spring. Right now we are enjoying a sudden heat wave in the Richmond-Berkeley area, after several months of cold weather and rainstorms.
The reference
photos are not from my own plants, but should give some idea of what the
varieties look like.
Kohleria rugata, pictured to the left, (http://www.gesneriads.ca/kohler13.htm) has a large, pale pink flower heavily spotted with red. So far, the plant has stayed compact in a sunny northeast window.
Kohleria amabilis has been growing under lights in a room that also gets some natural light. My first flower is a very attractive bright rose color outside. The inside of the bloom is white and rose with dark red veining. This species has attractive leaves mottled with brighter green spots on an olive background. All of my kohleria amabilis plants have stayed compact, after about one year of growth and occasional trimming.
My
very young smithiantha cinnabarina has three large, nodding orange flowers that
are mostly pale yellow inside. The leaves are dark orange-red and fuzzy,
and arranged in a fairly symmetrical rosette. This species would be a
beautiful show plant, and could be entered in a foliage class if it didn’t
bloom at show time.
Codonanthe luteola, pictured to the right, (http://www.robsviolet.com/cod__luteola.htm) seems to be serious about blooming this year. I think that I purchased this plant from Rob’s. Last year I got a flower or two, and it has just begun blooming again. The flowers are pale yellow, and look attractive against the bright green, glossy round leaves.
Outside, on a porch with some protection on three sides, I have several nematanthi blooming, including ‘Orange Elf’ and ‘Bijou.’ ‘Bijou’ has pendant, fuzzy, orangy-rose flowers.
This
photo of ‘Orange Elf’ (left) is from the Pat’s Pets catalog, but my plant grew
from cuttings from one of Jon Dixon’s plants.
I purchased my columnea ‘Early Bird’, pictured to the right, (http://www.gesneriads.ca/colum006.htm) at the 2002 convention in Morristown. I grow quite a few columneas, and this one is definitely the heaviest bloomer, in bloom most of the year. The flowers are yellow, tipped with red.
Lastly,
I would like to recommend saintpaulia ‘Buffalo Hunt’ pictured on the left (http://www.bluebirdgreenhouse.com/html/fimages/img_7754.jpg)
as a good bloomer. I acquired my small plant last fall, and it has been
producing large, ruffled, dark red flowers for months.
Minutes of The American Gesneriad Society of San Francisco
February 15, 2004 Meeting
by David Waugh, Secretary
President Terri Campbell called the meeting to order at 1:25pm. Members present were Terri
Campbell, David Waugh, Celine Chase, Jon Dixon, Irene and David Fey, Katherine Henwood, Ben Franklin, Alan LaVergne, Ken and Vera Parker, Kevin Daly, Lora Gross, and new members Dale Loughins and Alicia Morrison.
The President asked if there were any amendments or corrections to the minutes of the January 2004 meeting attached to the February Newsletter. There were none.
Treasurer’s Report: Our financial condition is still good. With membership renewals, raffle income, and pot sales we will easily cover costs for the rental of our meeting place and up front expenses for the Show and Sale in June.
Business: The President turned the meeting over to Lorah Gross who produced the February newsletter electronically. She again commented that there is no problem for her to send a copy of the newsletter by regular mail for those who do not have e-mail or for anyone with e-mail who would prefer to receive their newsletter by regular mail. Just let her know.
Lorah also brought up the idea of having our own web site with our own Domain Name. She advised that it would be only $15 a year and she also suggested that we pick AGSSF.org. That name is available and the “org” would indicate that we are a non profit organization. Lorah’s suggestion was put into the form of a motion. It was moved and seconded that we have our own domain name and web site.
The President then turned the meeting over to the Chairman of our June Show and Sale, Katherine Henwood. Katherine confirmed that The African Violet Society of San Francisco will be joining us in the Auditorium for their June Show and Sale. She met with David Waugh, and Gary Beck of AV Society of SF in the Auditorium and preliminary decisions were made for table arrangements. Each club will have their own judged show in separate areas of the auditorium and will join together to have a combined plant sale. Up on the stage, with the curtains pulled closed, after judging is complete, there will be a catered luncheon for the judges and also for everyone working on each of the Shows and the combined plant sale. We will also have our usual coffee pot on the stage.
The following jobs were filled as she talked about them:
Setup: David Waugh volunteered to follow up on preliminary plans, see that tables are arranged, and that the necessary materials are available to dress up the show tables and the trophy table.
Entries: Entries for the judged show will be received by Katherine Henwood. We purchased a computer program that is supposed to do the actual entries, individual cards, etc for judging by computer. This will be tested to make sure it will work. If it should fail the entries will be completed by hand.
Awards: Ben Franklin volunteered to set up gift awards from various Gesneriad retail outlets like Kartuz, Belisle.
Trophies: We have some items never used for awards. We can use these in addition to ribbons.
Classification: This is done on site. What plant is it, where does it belong for judging, etc. Terri Campbell volunteered for this job.
Judges: Celine Chase will find three judges. In the event the judges come from a long distance we need volunteers of spare rooms to offer to the judges during their stay here.
Hosts: To be in various areas to greet the public and direct them to the judged shows and to the sales area, as well as direct them to the cashiers.
Cashiers: Ken and Vera Parker and Irene Fey volunteered to be cashiers. We may need more, and there will be some from AV Society.
Education: We need some sort of education display(s). Suggested topics might be the various types of sinningias, pictures of differences in the roots of Gesneriads, types of soil they grow in at their natural sites, weather conditions, etc. Ideas should be passed to Katherine.
Grow: Plan now what plants you will grow and bloom for the Show. Also, plan on growing lots of plants for the sale.
David Waugh passed around an e-mail he received from the chairmen of the plant sale for the 2004 AGGS Convention at Long Island, New York in July. They want plants. Katherine Henwood pointed out that if we have any plants left over from our sale they can be taken to New York by those going to the convention.
We then did ‘Show and Tell’ covered in the newsletter.
Jon Dixon did a short talk on Gesneriad rhizomes summarized in the newsletter.
Alan LaVergne sold tickets and conducted the raffle. The table was full and is listed in the newsletter.
The meeting was adjourned about 3:50pm.
Rhizome Program
by David Waugh, Secretary
Jon Dixon gave a quick summary of rhizomes. If the pot does not seem to have rhizomes when it should, put it back and wait until the month of May to see if anything sprouts. Rhizomes all look different. Some are short and similar to pine cones, some are yellow, some are green, achimenes and kohleria are small, smithiantha are large. The growth from gloxinia and kohleria tend to stay green and stay alive rather than die down.
May is a good time to pot up rhizomes. Lay them sideways on top of the growing medium. The pine cone shaped ones sprout from the tip. You can also take the rhizomes apart and spread each scale on top of the growing medium, keep them damp and wait for them to sprout. Some rhizomatous plants make propagules, similar to rhizomes, on top of the soil. The propagules can be treated the same way as rhizomes.
As they sprout they can be covered with growing medium.
As the rhizomes spread horizontally pot them in a shallow, wide pot so they can spread more easily.
Raffle Table
February 15, 2004 Meeting
by Lorah Gross
Once again we had a wonderful raffle
table. This month it was filled with a lot of Rhizomes (mostly from Katherine
and Jon). Terri Campbell brought Smithiantha Cinnabarrina and cuttings of episcia
‘Silver Skies.’ Katherine Henwood brought Streptocarpus cyanandrus,
Streptocarpus rexii x primulifolis, Chirita ‘Kazu,’ Streptocarpus (unifoliate,
F.i.P.), Eucodonia ‘Frances,’ Eucodonia ‘Wasley Morraine,’ x Achimenantha
‘Salmon Fire,’ assorted Achimenes rhizomes, Gloxinia lindeniana, and Ludiscea
discolor. Alan LaVergne brought Sinningia aghensis and Sinningia Calcaria. I
brought new and used clay pots, a tin, some growing lights, cards, Violets Fun
magazine, and containers to use as mini greenhouses.
Show and Tell
February 15, 2004 Meeting
by Lorah Gross
David Waugh brought Sinningia Calcaria. Katherine Henwood brought Chirita ‘Kazu,’ Carytoplectus cucutienses, and Ludiscia discolor. Alan LaVergne brought Sinningia tubers, Sinningia ‘Toronto Ten,’ and Nematanthus ‘Othello.’ Terri Campbell brought Smithiantha cinnabarrina, a beautiful little plant. I brought a Sinningia F.I.P with red flowers and a mini phalenopsis orchid with a kiki and spike growing from the kiki.
Our New Website Address
by Lorah Gross
I now have the new website running at http://www.agssf.org. I will begin making this link publicly available to the Gesneriphiles list, AGGS, and others that are interested in posting our link. My server keeps track of statistics such as how many hits the website gets and which items are the most popular. I will share this information with the members periodically.
2004 Officers
President: Terri Lynn Campbell
Vice President: Jon Dixon
Secretary: David Waugh
Treasurer: Irene Fey (please request Irene’s address from Lorah Gross)
Newsletter Editor: Lorah Gross lorah@lorah.net
Meetings: Usually third Sunday of each month, 1-4 p.m. at Library of County Fair Bldg., Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. (Enter from parking lot North side of 10th Avenue and Lincoln Blvd., turn right through gate next to building, go to third door)
2004 meetings: 1/18, 2/15 (in the Recreation room), 3/21, 4/18, 5/23, 6/20, 7/18, 8/22, 9/19, 10/17, 11/21, no meeting in December.
Dues: $10 single, $11 family. Make checks payable to AGS SF, mail to Treasurer.
Website: http://www.agssf.org