Which shade of blue?

Go to the strep site: http://users.sisna.com/carlyn/indexstreps.html

Nancy

Link didn't work.

Linda

Here's the link. Blue is in the eye of the beholder...

Ones that I have seen that are pretty blue are Falling Stars, Bristol's Nightfall, and Bristol's Party Girl. I suppose Blue Gem would be blue too, but it died on me before I could see it.

-Mo (WV)

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.streptocarpus-info.com/

I really agree with Mo, about 'blue' being in the eye of the beholder. Very, very few plants of any kind are really truly blue, tho' many are called blue and considered blue by many folks. And then there's the camera's eye, which seems almost totally unable to see blue correctly, so plants that aren't really very blue appear to be, and plants that look blue in pictures seldom are. Good luck!

I think they all carry some kind of lavender or purple in their blues.

For me - Kim and Bristol's Bluebird are really of a deep royal blue. Bristol's Party Girl has a beautiful medium blue - just a bit of lavender in it - with fantasy streaks. A tough plant, doesn't get sick easily. The only problem - blooms are not sticktite.

Irina

On the back cover of AVSA magazine this month, The Violet Barn lists it's new varieties. They describe Bristol's Blue Bopper as "very blue-blue". But I have not ordered or seen it yet. As another blue-flower-lover on the never-ending, but usually unfruitful search for the TRUE BLUE flower, I can sympathize and wish you luck! I have found several for my outdoor gardens, but none yet for indoors. I do understand what you are looking for. Some call it sky blue or cornflower blue in lighter hues. To me it's as different as day from night to the lavanders, pale purples and darker blue-tone purples that are called blue in the plant world. Please post a follow-up and let me know how close you come and which variety best fits what you are longing for! Happy hunting!

i know what your saying about the camera, i bought a real dark purple strep yesterday and took a pic and put in on the computer and it looks blue, so be very careful when buying online, i would show you but i dont know how to put pics in here

once again, i'm confused. on the 'annuals forum' i got the impression 'falling stars' streptocarpus' could be used as an annual in a hanging basket!!! i've been googling seed for 'falling stars' for an hour -- i SOOOO don't know what i'm doing! the pix on the "annual forum" is breath-taking -- hanging outside a funeralhome in ohio, i think, posted by ohioamy6. maybe the responders were wrong?? -- anybody willing to take a look? thanks, phyl

Oh, LOTS of things can be USED as annuals! All you have to do is leave them out to freeze! One of the things that--well, I shouldn't say what I'm thinking, but lets go with 'seriously disturbs me'. Many begonias are sold as annuals, but I don't know any that actually are. Very few gesneriads of any kind are annuals, tho' there are some annual streps, but you really have to search to find them.

I looked up the posting on the annuals forum, and Eric of Ohio is precisely right. And they really are fairly close to blue. Used to be streptocarpus ssp. streptocarpella, now I guess just streptocarpella. I don't pay as much attention to streps and the vagaries of name-changes since they don't relly like it here, tho' I have heard I might have a chance with a big fan and some of the newer hybrids. There are so many gorgeous gesneriads I tend to go with the ones that like it here and pass on the ones that suffer.

Phyl,

You will not find seeds for Falling Stars - but you can find a baby plant or a leaf. It is a hybrid plant so the seedlings will not repeat the mother. It takes at least 6 months from seeds to bloom - doesn't make a good annual. So called annual streptocarpus can take 3 years from seed to bloom to seed. They just bloom once it their life and die after producing seeds. I would think to let streptocarpus freeze would be a waste - since they bloom so well inside.

I would think that it is a good idea about Streptocarpella. It really makes a nice hanging basket and takes too much space at home. They root so fast and easy from cuttings - I would say you can preserve a mother plant - and closer to the next spring put several baskets of cuttings for summer bloom - and preserve only one for the coming year.

Good luck

Irina