Sinn. speciosa "Regina" - Serra Da Vista

My plant is raised from seed, I ever saw a specimen from Brazil Plants which made me question on my plant because the foliage and flower seem different. Except the difference, I am quite happy with this one because the flowers are outstanding handsome among "Regina" form of Sinningia. There is less sunlight in this spring and I do not take it to a brighter position, so the plant is not compact as usual, the size is excessive.

Some HCY's Kohleria

HCY's Peach Queen

HCY's Sweet Sixteen

HCY's Berry Valley

HCY's Just An Affair

HCY's Black Moon (in the center)

Aeschynanthus rhododendron

One of the targets in our trip to Cameron Highlands in April was to find Aeschynanthus rhododendron in situ. We did not see a good specimen at first day during our jungle trekking along the way to Gunung Berembun. So that we expected to find it again in Gunung Brinchang where is famous with the view of mossy forests.

There are many tea plantation along the road to Gunung Brinchang. But some interesting plants appeared occasionally when our van climbed higher and got rid of the tea plantation. When we approached the entrance of the mossy forest, some of our companies screamed because they saw red and huge blooms hanged up high in the forests. Yes, that's it, Aeschynanthus rhododendron and so many ...

Aeschynanthus rhododendron grows as epiphyte on the tree trunk or branch, the habitat is wet and shade. The location that we observed the plant is about 1,800M above sea level. We were fascinated by its gorgeous color and king size. It's the biggest flower of Aeschynanthus I had ever seen.

Annual Gesneriad Show in Taipei

The annual show of Gesneriad plants was taken place in Taipei in 5th May, 2013. There were many well-groomed show plants together with new hybrids presentation plus plant sales. Most Gesneriads lovers came over to join this festival as yearly pilgrimage. You can meet many local enthusiasts in the fair and there are many new plants for sales. I did not enter show plants this time but those gorgeous plants in show are really eye-catchers. Maybe you should put Taipei into your consideration while arranging a trip for spring. :)  No preachy, let's check the show photos as below.

Kohleria "Designer's Rainbow Bridge"

pink orange tube, no pollen

hot pink lines and dots on pinkish petals
records of up to 4 flowers per leaf axil
undetached corolla from calyx, long lasting
petal size is about ± 1.5cm across, small bloom

shining grey foliage with slightly black vein

foliage color lasts for a long period, almost no change
a small grower that raises a bit high when flowering

suitable Kohleria for group planting display
upright, up to 6 inches height in 7" shallow pot

Columnea for sale in Cameron Highlands

There were 3 commercial varieties of Columnea found during our visit to the plant shops in Cameron Highlands, I believe all of them got ID but I'm not familiar with this genus. Personally I adore Columnea but many of them are native in the cloudy forest in Central/South America and a bit hard to tolerate the heat of subtropical summer.

Sinn. cardinalis

It takes about 10 months from seed to blooming plant. I received it as a medium size and several months later it gave flowers. It is an easy grower that requires the light as much as possible. A single flower lasted about a week.