Hi Alan,

There was a post a little while ago about general strep care, a few pages down. I've made a link to it below. It will be difficult to buy fully grown plants mail order because they are generally too big to ship without receiving a lot of damage. If you are lucky you might find some in a high quality local nursery. You might also try sales from gesneriad plant groups. There's one in your area at the Frelinghuysen (sp?) arboretum next month. Actually I think it's an African violet society but they will surely sell streps as well. Usually those aren't huge either, though. Good luck.

Here is a link that might be useful: Discussion on basic strep care

When I have very young or variegated streps, I water from the outside in.....I water to the outside of the pot, not directly to the plant and let it soak into the rest...streps do not like to be overwatered, and will rot when they are really small very quickly. If I have not been clear just give a holler and I will try and explain better. I also do this with my young Chirita's, these 2 seem more sensitive of water than the rest of the gessies.

Maggie