Episode 234: flowering houseplants
African violets on display at the Chelsea flower show 2022: display by N1 Garden Centre. Photograph: Jane Perrone.
Transcript
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I talk to Lisa Eldred Steinkopf aka The Houseplant Guru about flowering houseplants and celebrate her new book Bloom. Plus I answer a question about intergeneric hybrids.
This week’s guest
The Houseplant Guru, Lisa Eldred Steinkopf, is a houseplant expert with several houseplant books under her belt.
Her new book, Bloom: The secrets of growing flowering houseplants year-round, is just out and it takes a fresh look at flowering houseplants.
You can find Lisa on Instagram and Twitter: she is the co-host of Houseplant Hour on Twitter along with me, Iane Perrone.
You can also hear Lisa on episode 99 talking about plants for low light.
Patreon subscribers at the Ledge End and Superfan level can listen to An Extra Leaf 95 where Lisa and I talk Gesneriads.
A peduncle on my Hoya villosa. Photograph: Jane Perrone.
Check the show notes below as you listen…
African violets are usually known as Saintpaulia but taxonomists have now moved them to Streptocarpus and they are classed as Streptocarpus section Saintpaulia. African violets are coming back into fashion - slowly! Here’s a Gardenista piece about African violets to try to convince you.
Here’s Lisa’s blogpost explaining why terracotta pots can cause problems for African violets.
Queen of the Night - Epiphyllum oxypetalum - is a forest cactus with huge scented blooms - check out Lisa’s blooming queen of the night here.
Check out the scented Phalaenopsis I mention here.
Lisa and I both love holiday cactus! Here’s her post on Thanksgiving cactus - you can also listen to more on forest cacti in this episode of On The Ledge.
Houseplant species are kickstarted into blooming by different factors, including day length (photoperiod), maturity and temperature. Many cacti require a cool period to prompt flowers.
The Hoya I mentioned with butterscotch-smelling flowers is Hoya sp. aff. burtoniae. The Hoya of mine that has just produced a peduncle is Hoya villosa.
Hippeastrum aka amaryllis make excellent flowering plants for Christmas. The two ‘old school’ cultivars I mention are ‘Red Lion’ and ‘Appleblossom’ and Lisa mentions the spidery cybister amaryllis.
Paperwhite narcissi are another flowering bulb with a strong scent.
One of my favourite flowering plants is the flame violet, Episcia cupreata, a member of the Gesneriad family.
We discuss cutting back Phalaenopsis flower stems. You can either cut the spike back right to the base once all the flowers fade, or cut back to one of the scales along the stem and allow the plant to put out a new set of flowers from that point. More on Phalaenopsis care in episode 181 of On The Ledge.
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Anna wanted to know where to buy variegated Steptocarpus in the UK - I have no suggestions for her as I don’t know of any … if you know different please let me know! Anna also wanted to know if anyone has successfully hybridised a Primulina with a Streptocarpus, creating what is known as a intergeneric hybrid (one you might have heard of is x Fatshedera lizei, crossing Fatsia and Hedera). Both of these genera are in the Gesneriad family, and although there have been some intergeneric hybrids of genera in this family - check the lists here and here - it has not been possible to do the same with Primulina and Streptocarpus species.
Want to ask me a question? Email ontheledgepodcast@gmail.com. The more information you can include, the better - pictures of your plant, details of your location and how long you have had the plant are always useful to help solve your issue
THIS WEEK’S SPONSOR
Thanks to True Leaf Market for sponsoring this week’s show. Download their free cover crop guide here. Get 15% off cover crop seeds at trueleafmarket.com with promo code OTL15. This discount is only available for cover crop seed products. Offer expires end of December 2022. Limit one use per customer.
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CREDITS
This week's show featured the tracks Roll Jordan Roll by the Joy Drops, The Road We Use To Travel When We Were Kids by Komiku and Namaste by Jason Shaw. The ad music is St Louis Tickle by the Heftone Banjo Orhcestra.