Who needs flowers?

Primulina yungfuensis grown by Drew Norris, Picture by Jim Roberts

Who needs flowers?

            Primulina yungfuensis is a distinctively different Asian Violet.  It has patterned variegation that makes it stand out.  So far it has only been shown in Gesneriad flower shows by hobbyists who are lucky enough to have one.

            I had speculated that it should be spread far and wide even before I had one.  I have about 20 small plants now from leaves shared by Arlene Dewell, Jim Roberts and Drew Norris.

            The leaves rooted quickly and produced multiple plantlets.  The patterned foliage shows immediately making interesting leaves at any size.

            This Primulina species could be a commercial foliage plant, unless it has some fatal flaw that is not apparent yet.

            From the show plants, we know that it can be grown as a specimen with many leaves before it flowers.  It can be a houseplant for your windowsill equivalent to Calathea, Agleonema or Dieffenbachia which are grown for their foliage. Maybe a more believable comparison is to the decorative foliage of a mini Cyclamen before it is covered by flowers.   Asian Violets survive drought without harm, take sun or shade and can tolerate hot or cold.

            We will need a variety name for this species if there is any hope of it being talked about.  Primulina yungfuensis will never flow off your tongue.  What should it be?

            Eventually the blue flowers will show up.  But we don’t need them for Primulina yungfuensis to be a successful indoor plant.

Will it happen again?

Blue Job's Tears  - Perfect for your windowsill  !

Will it happen again?

            Last year  in 2015, the week after Easter was the biggest sales week for the year.  Why did that happen?  There were four times the normal individual wholesale orders.

            Possible reasons are:

          There is retail space available after the Easter plants are gone.

.         It’s Spring and it’s time to get inventory of small plants.

           Finally, with Spring getting gardeners excited about plants and planting, there are many more people in the store.  Some of them will see and want small houseplants for their windowsill.

     It was just a random event.

 Nobody knows.

            We will know about this year’s big week after Easter soon.

Delaware AVS and Gesneriad Society Display and Sale

Primulina 'Loki'  for sale

Once again, Boscov’s will host the Delaware chapter’s annual Palm Sunday weekend extravaganza.

This year we’ll have an exhibit, sale and a few short workshop lectures.  With setup on Friday morning, we’ll be ready for the public by 12 noon on Friday. The event closes at 4 PM on Saturday. For those using a GPS, the address is 361 West Main Street, Christiana, DE. And we’re up on the second floor.

The plant sale promises to be something really special with plants from Gary’s Specialty Plants, Fancy Bloomers and some pretty unusual member grown plants. I know for a fact, we’ll have micro sinningias, some drymonias, some streptocarpellas, some sinningia hybrids and more.

Hope to see you there.

Mary Schaeffer