In my shade house I have most of my nematanthus, some hardy columneas (erythrophaea, schiediana, 'Sundowner' and one or two others, plus seedlings of 'Sundowner' x self. Aeschynanthus garrettii (quite hardy), gracilis and parasiticus, Codonanthe gracilis and serrulata. Chiritas of the rosulate type are generally hardy, though somebody has been eating them lately--so they are all indoors now, Lysionotis and other Chinese gesneriads are hardy though Primulina is tender. Achimenes are outside but they didn't like our cool summer.

One good idea is to cover your plants if there is a light frost. I have some frost cover cloth that I keep in the basement for this purpose. I have only used it once--about four years ago when we had a pretty bad overnight frost. It saved all the plants under it. Another great and obvious solution is to bring in those tender plants on those cold nights. I have at times covered the floors with flats of plants. Its a pain, but it does save things. So, you might keep your tender stuff together and in flats for quick trips indoors.

Jon

Titanotrichum oldhamii is also quite hardy, and overwinters with dormant underground rhizomes. It seems to be reliably hardy to zone 7b. Lysionotus and Raphiocarpus are fairly hardy, although they haven't really been tested--I would guess zone 8a, at least. R. petelotii still looks great in my garden, despite some cool days and cold nights (but no real frost yet!).

Some of the true gloxinias, Gloxinia nematanthodes and G. sylvatica, are also quite hardy. My G. sylvatica is still blooming and has been undeterred by nighttime temperatures in the 30s. Tonight will be the real test; we're supposed to get our first real frost, down to 29 degrees or colder.

Jon PS I hope you can come to the gesneriad society meeting this month--third sunday of the month--so next weekend.

BTW, my first Sinningia leucotricha came from a succulent mail order nursery as "Rechsteinaria leucotricha", in the mid 70's. Shortly after this genus was submerged into sinningia, a botanist found an herbarium sheet of another older species and thought these two were the same. So, from about the mid 70's until the late 80's we all thought the name should be "Sinningia canescens". You will find that name still on plants of leucotricha. But, then the true S. canescens was discovered at its original location in Brazil, and from live material it was obvious that it was a different species. so the final name (for the moment) is Sinningia leucotricha. I grow both of these species. My two oldest leucotrichas date from the mid 70's or older. There must be something like 60-80 species of sinningia and they are almost all in cultivation and available from the seed fund. I have a lot of them though not all of them.

Jon

Chiritas come from China. Most if not all of China is known to have frost. But, chiritas often come from the more tender locals with that country. So, they can usually tolerate cold but some are more tender than others. C. speciosa is native to Hong Kong, and thus is more tender. I would give that one more protection. The others would be hardier. C. 'Diane Marie' has speciosa as one parent, but the other parent, fimbrisepala, is one of the hardier species, so should be OK. I have overwintered speciosa outdoors in mild years but I am in a mild climate on the San Francisco peninsula.

Chiritas should be able to handle heat as well. I suspect they come from places with hot humid summers, though some are mountain species and may prefer it indoors. Try some experiments to see where they grow best for you. Meanwhile, take some leaves to root. They propagate very easily from leaves, and from your propagtions you can experiment with various growing conditions. If you are near Sacramento, there is an excellent local chapter of AGGS, the Delta Gesneriad and African Violet Society.

Jon

Jon

Nancy