Sinningia 'Kristobel' ----- Just because...

Sinningia 'Kristobel' grown by Ruth Coulson-- Australia

     

Story # 20,

            Sinningia ‘Kristobel’ ------ Just because it’s from the other side of the world doesn’t mean it’s any good.

            There is an impression that if a product is imported from afar it must be better, why else go to the trouble.  Sinningia ‘Kristobel’ was hybridized by John Nedwich in Australia and found its way to the U.S. in the hobby world.

            The picture is of the plant grown by Ruth Coulson, an advanced hobbyist and also a hybridizer of Sinningias.  I was fortunate to meet Ruth when she came half way around the world to the Gesneriad convention in Philadelphia in July 2011.  I offered to take her to Longwood Gardens as part of her site-seeing and had the chance to talk Gesneriads with her.  Somewhere in there we talked about this ‘Kristobel’ which she had grown so well for a show at home.

            It evolved that I got my original tuber of ‘Kristobel’ from Dale Martens who was growing it from plant material supplied by Ruth previously.

            Based on a picture and Ruth’s recommendation, I shipped it to be produced by tissue culture without actually seeing the plant myself.  Once we have quantities of this mid-sized Sinningia with terminal clusters of rosy flowers, will this gamble pay off?

            I should have S. ‘Kristobel’ in flower for sale in 8 – 12 weeks.