This is the beginning of one field
trial by Vicky. The plant is greenhouse grown
and now moved to indoor windowsill conditions.
It’s in the sunny West window.
This plant makes small rhizomes that
we use for propagation. Like all minor
Gesneriads, supply is the limiting factor.
But first we need to be sure it’s a
good plant that will be successful for casual indoor gardeners. Everyone wants small flowering houseplants. Why aren’t there more?
Garden center buyers will tell you
that they want variegated and flowering. And the underlying feature --- cute.
The Gesneriad world has many of
these plants that are hidden away --- only to show up occasionally in hobby plant shows.
The plant, Gloxinia erinoides, is a
species from South America that is tougher than it looks. Growing from a rhizome, the clone I have from
Barb, may be ‘Red Satin’. It has spotted
leaves and flowers easily with multiple spikes with delicate looking
flowers. It’s very cute close up.
I’m testing it on my west kitchen
window. So far, the flowers continue to
open and there are no brown leaves --- apparently it doesn’t need extra humidity. It can be in a terrarium, but who needs it.
This flowering houseplant has been
in cultivation for years by almost no one.
I will tell
you I have the World’s best Achimenes.
But who decides?
Wise men say: ‘Let the market decide’. What does that even mean? Put it out there. If they want it, they will buy it. If they buy it twice, it may be good enough.
Nobody knows about Achimenes nor is paying any attention.
The best Achimenes compared to what? Within all the known Achimenes varieties, my selection
is the best.
Achimenes ‘Blue Swan’ is very heat tolerant. It doesn’t wilt
at 100 F. With large (2”+) blue flowers
and dark green foliage, it grows vigorously all summer. It grows well in part shade and the flowers
hang on while other buds open.
Coming from the world class hybridizer, Serge Saliba, it will
lead other durable colors into commercial production.
But saying you’re the best is not good marketing strategy. You need to be different.
The heat tolerance will be the feature that will give it
repeat acceptance.
Achimenes 'Blue Swan' grown by Gary's Gesneriad Farm
“A major horticultural company has
decided to introduce a new commercial crop into the United States market.The CEO has gotten approval for the project
from the Board of Directors and a quarter of a million dollars has been
allocated for development.
A long forgotten crop --- Achimenes,
has been chosen to make a come-back to take advantage of the booming houseplant
market.
The search is on for the best
varieties in the world.Hybrids are
secured and trials will begin for the best production techniques. It’s apparent that day length will need to be manipulated,
so LED light stands are installed.Long
days can be used to start Achimenes growth in the winter, so flowering plants
can be complete for the spring market.
Trials for growth retardants are
started.Propagation of scales from
rhizomes is perfected.The best 10
varieties of various colors are selected.Production guidelines are quickly determined --- light, temperature,
fertilizer, water, fungicides are settled.
Perfect Achimenes crops are produced
the first year.
Garden centers sell out immediately
as the perfectly grown plants arrive weekly.
The spring demand absorbs this new
flowering shade plant in pots and hanging baskets.
Do indoor gardeners buy plants they
don’t know about?
Every garden center must stock
houseplants that are tried and true.We want
customers to have success with plants and be back for more.
But new plants are bought every
day.“This is pretty.I want it”.
Kohlerias are not a commercial crop
and are never seen for sale beyond hobby circles.It’s the classic chicken and egg problem.Nobody buys Kohlerias because there are none
to buy.
We are trying to grow 500 for
Christmas.Will that be enough?
Millions of annuals are grown from
seed produced by large international seed companies. Seed is the propagation method of choice because
it’s the cheapest.
Then what happened when some hybrid
seed got expensive? This allowed vegetative
cuttings to be produces by the millions.
Off-shore farms can ship unrooted cuttings into commercial horticulture
at a reasonable cost. This allowed for
selection of the best clones to be maintained vegetatively.
What if Kohleria, an unknown
flowering houseplant, could be produced by seed like annuals?
The very few Kohlerias maintained by
Gesneriad hobbyists and specialty retail mail order greenhouses are select named
varieties. Vegetative reproduction is
time consuming and costly.
Let’s get good seed lines, grow thousands
of a new flowering houseplant and make people happy.
By crossing the best Kohleria
hybrids together, the seedlings can make very good crops. They will be variable, but that’s a good
thing --- More variety.
Can Kohlerias grown from seed bring
them out of the woods into garden centers for all to see?
It is worth a try. The named selections will be the standard,
but seed crops will introduce a hidden gem to indoor gardeners.
A rare houseplant, by definition,
has low supply.The price can be high if
you can find one.
We constantly look for the next ‘hot’
plant.It’s where the money is.
A new plant I’ve found is Begonia
amphioxus.It’s small with bright spots
on pointy angel wing leaves.It can
survive drought, therefore an easy houseplant.What is it worth?
If I sell it for $5.00 wholesale, it
will be $10 - $15 retail.Is that a fair
price?
Because there are so few available,
some indoor gardener will want it enough to pay that price.
We need to get serious about naming
the Begonia something that is pronounceable and catches your attention. It has angel wing leaves that are pointy on
both ends.
So far, we have:
Spotted Lizard
Red Dot
Butterfly
Spotted Angel
Red Dot Angel
Shiny Spots
Spotted Double Point
Pointy Angel Wing
Rings of Fire
Poison Dart Frog
Cinnamon Red Hots.
Confetti
Speckled Lizard Tongue
Blood Dot
Scarlet Feather
Blood Drop
Whoever uses a good common name first
and sells the most plants, wins the game.
Gary’s Specialty Plants has a business
model that has been highly successful.
We grow houseplant foliage and
succulents in small pots (2.5”) and small hanging baskets (10 cm, 15 cm).
We sell to independent garden
centers and internet retail mail order sellers.By delivering on our own trucks, we provide a great service of retail-ready
plants, with a blue plant tag.
Our custom blue tag with common
name, botanical name, plant description with care, has become a recognizable
trademark throughout the east coast.
Our Florida competition must pack
and ship with all the problems of breakage and unpacking labor.
“Nobody does what we to with
plants. They could, but they don’t”
Is this still true?
My friend, Sam, has been telling for
years that there is someone out there who is watching what we are doing and
will decide to copy us.
My other friend, Bob, tells me he
knows of a greenhouse grower who is doing it.Will it matter?Of course, every
plant that they sell will take away from our sales.
But it’s a big market.There is room for everybody.
If you don’t have a plan, recessions
are mean.They can put you out of
business.
Or you can decide to not participate
in the recession.
Every financial advisor tells you to
save cash and reduce debt to ride it out.
Our plan is simple.If every customer buys half as much next
year, we need to have twice as many customers before that happens.
If they buy 75% as much, then we
only need 25% more customers.
If you like doomsday, where they
only buy 25% as much, then you are in deep trouble.
But free market capitalism allows for
infinite possibilities.If you have a high-quality
product, there are 365 Million people out there who are buyers.Stop complaining.
Begonia amphioxus is an interesting plant to look at.With narrow leaves and bright reddish spots,
it is worth having in your collection.We just need a good common name.
The one I have at the North window
does fine with no additional humidity needed.
But here is how it’s better.
I went on vacation, and it was not watered for 12 days.When I got back, it was very dry but suffered
no damage --- no brown leaves or leaf drop.The slight wilt perked up with water.
Begonia amphioxus is the perfect
houseplant.Everybody should have one.
Primulina 'Xuan's Party Dress' with Sinningia 'Prudence Risley'
It’s happening again.
My Primulina ‘Xuan’s Party Dress’ is
flowering with multiple buds and flowers at the west windowsill where it has been
for years.
Successful reflowering for Primulina
is a major test which it has passing again this year.
‘Party Dress’ is one of the best for
early flowering and the flower is blue, a change from mostly purple varieties.
This year it is joined by ‘Prudence
Risley’ with spectacular red flowers.This plant’s early life was in the greenhouse, but the buds have been
opening regularly here.
Flowering miniatures tout colorful blooms and space-saving options for retailers to market as attractive alternatives to larger, more traditional houseplants.
In the last 50 years, houseplants experienced quite the trend cycle. With interest peaking in the ‘70s and ‘80s, demand waned in decades that followed, only to be resurrected by plant-happy millennials in the last 10 years. Of course, it’s hard to predict what comes next without a crystal ball, but Gary Hunter, owner of Gary’s Specialty Plants in Drumore, Pennsylvania, believes the latest trend may be flowering miniature plants.
“When I started nine or 10 years ago, one of our sayings was ‘miniature plants for miniature gardens,’ and that was a thing that was going on at the time where people would make their own little miniature garden scenes,” Hunter says.
While people are no longer as interested in the trinkets, there’s still a spot for miniatures — and that’s alongside traditional houseplants. Right now, Hunter says retailers are still very interested in houseplants and notes string of pearls and the Chinese money plant are some of his bestsellers.
“We hope houseplant popularity continues but we don't have any control over this trend,” Hunter says with a laugh. “Why did it start? Why did it continue? Why did it go up? It will go down — we just don't know when.”
However, he thinks flowering miniatures will start to take off soon, especially varieties found in the Gesneriad family — all of which are flowering houseplants. These include African violets, Streptocarpus, Aeschynanthus, Achimenes, Smithiantha, Kohleria, Sinningia and Primulina.
“You can get a lot of plants in a smaller area for display and that’s a good thing. In general, the price went up on that stuff. When we started, the retail was about $4. Now it's almost $5 everywhere and some places they're selling it for $6,” Hunter says. “So that sounds like a lot of money for a little plant, but actually, if somebody can buy several little plants for not much money, that helps sell them and the customer gets more variety.”
Here are some varieties to get you started:
Achimenes ‘Golden Bells’
Photos courtesy of Gary's Specialty Plants
Achimenes
“Almost no young person knows about this one. We grew these 40-50 years ago. It’s most like an impatiens. It has pastel flowers and can flower in the morning sun and afternoon shade,” he says.
Hunter points out that Achimenes have always been grown by Gesneriad hobbyists, but it is not in the commercial system.
“The easy method for the homeowner is to grow it as a summer plant or a patio plant. In the fall, it will die back. You can either just put it in the basement and let it go until next spring, or you can knock out the pot and harvest those little rhizomes and save them, and start them in March or April and start the next year,” he says.
There are many hybrids in all colors — ranging from pinks, reds, yellows, white and lavender — with single and double-flower, upright and trailing varieties.
Sinningia ‘Li'l Georgie’
Sinningia ‘Li’l Georgie’
A micro-mini, Sinningia ‘Li’l Georgie’ is one of the world’s smallest flowering plants, Hunter says. Sinningia ‘Li’l Georgie’ contains many purple flowers on a compact plant, and, if grown from a tuber, can resprout if it goes dormant, he says.
“I have produced these before and am in the process of reestablishing a supply from tissue culture. The breakthrough with this micro-mini Sinningia is that it does not require the extra humidity of a terrarium, but can grow on a windowsill,” Hunter says.
Primulina
Primulina 'Loki'
African violets are already popular amongst houseplant parents, and Hunter believes Primulina is an excellent miniature option.
“I’ve been growing Primulina for 10 years as a variegated small plant in our assortment of 2.5-inch foliage. There are hundreds of species and hybrids in the hobby world. Primulina are like an African violet, but better,” Hunter says. “The plants can survive being dry, low and high light. They flower after one to one and a half years from being propagated by leaf, similar to African violets.”
According to Hunter, Primulina is in the same stage as African violets were 70 years ago, and he predicts that Primulina will eventually replace African violets. Native to South China and North Vietnam, most of these contain purple and blue flowers, but some contain white, pink and yellow flowers, he says.
This rare Begonia species was
discovered at Strange’s Garden Center in Richmond VA.It was in a terrarium display and I was told
it may need extra humidity.So, I bought
one to propagate.It is small and
delicate looking but it may be tougher.
I have a dome to cover it in the
house but it’s doing fine with no cover and no extra humidity.
I’ve never seen a Begonia with such
bright and shiny spots.It may only be
for collectors, but I like it.
Since then, I bought 8 stock plants
to cut from and to grow in 2.5” pots for the world to see.
It’s small so will take time.Prices will be high, but if you find one, how
can you not have one?
Sinningia 'Prudence Risley' - Coming soon from the farm
If you would decide to grow plants in the Gesneriad family,
what would you call the business?
First, you could reconsider your assumption that Genera
within the Gesneriad family are worth producing.The answer is if there ever is a time to try it,
it is now.Houseplant demand is so
strong, you can sell any new plant that you have.If it has a flower, even better.
These Gesneriads would feed into the Gary’s Specialty Plants
LLC distribution system.Nothing has
changed expect adding more varieties to the inventory list.
I want to call it --- Gary’s Gesneriad Farm.This will be my third plant business.Coming after Hunter’s Greenhouse and Gary’s
Specialty Plants, I like Gary’s Gesneriad Farm.
My son warns me against having ‘Gesneriad’ in my email
address.Nobody knows what that is or
how to spell it.It must be better than
tech companies that choose nonsensical combinations of letters.
So why Farm?The
standard is ‘Greenhouse’ or ‘Nursery’.They’ve always been wrong.I don’t
sell greenhouses or raise babies.
Since I grew up on a farm, I’m returning to my roots.
If you would start a Gesneriad Farm, what would you do?
Let’s suppose that the houseplant boom of the 1970’s is starting again.
The leading commercial horticulture trade magazine, Grower Talks, gave its lead story to this idea. The Sill, of NYC, gets a mention as a rising star by building a retail mail order source for foliage houseplants. They also just opened their second storefront in Manhattan.
If every apartment dweller in NYC suddenly sees the need for a plant, we will need a lot of plants.
The grower at Costa Farms, FL, makes this novel observation: “Urban markets are exploding with small apartments and rental units, and houseplants are, in a way, taking the place of pets.”
Last time, the supply never did catch up with the demand. Then it peaked, and houseplants proceeded to crash toward zero.
While starting with easy surviving foliage plants, it quickly moved into more interesting oddities and flowering plants. Enter---- Gesneriads.
African Violets, the leading flowering houseplant in the World survived ---- most others did not.
Are indoor gardeners ready for Streptocarpus, Nematanthus, Columnea, Aeschynanthus, Primulina and Sinningias? Since there is very little supply, nobody knows.
