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Posted by karyn1 MD 7 (bhkalen@aol.com) on Fri, Dec 4, 09 at 8:33
Hi. I'm new to this forum but not GW. I have what I thought was a Temple Bells but am not sure. Last year it died back to the soil . I thought it was due to a power outage in my greenhouse during single digit temps. I just stuck the pot in the back of the greenhouse figuring I'd recycle it come spring but was surprised to see new growth a couple months later. It got to be about 20" tall and bloomed continuously but it has begun to die back again. The greenhouse is heated but I only keep it in the mid to upper 50's at night. Does this plant normally die back or is it really a goner now? I cut back the softening stem and all that's left is a few inches of bare stem now. Does it grow from a rhizome? I've never dug into the soil to check. This is what it looks like in bloom. Can I also get an ID.
Thanks
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Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Help
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Hi
Wish I could help but struggling with mysterious dormancy or lack there of with the only two gesneriads I grow .Sinningia, Chrysothemis. Have only grown the two above for around two years. Can't get the Sin to go dormant at all while the chrys goes to sleep for a couple of months.Yet they are selling them as landscape plants in full glorious bloom not two blocks from my house!!!
Maybe we'll both get some answers??lol gary |
RE: Help
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| Looks like a Kohleria to me, perhaps the cultivar "Longwood". These do produce rhizomes, but dormancy seems to be very sporadic, and very rarely complete. They'll grow in spurts, bloom, and die back or rest for a while. In my experience, they like more warmth than many gesneriads, and, like most, are very sensitive to overwatering. Your greenhouse may be a little cool for continued growth through the winter, but if you keep the pot on the dry side it should regrow next spring. |
RE: Help
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| Thank you Bubba. I did bring it into the house so it's considerably warmer but I did water it. Hopefully it will dry out and not rot. |
RE: Help
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| Karyn - Bubba is right about kohlerias. What I would do is to shake the pot out, collect the rhizomes, put them in a baggie with just a bit of barely moist sphagnum moss - and wait until they start growing again, select the biggest and fattest rhizomes and plant them in a new pot. You can keep them on a bright window and they will bloom for you at home. Kohleria is not seasonal - Achimenes sleeps all winter - and kohleria is sprouting again in a month. It will try to grow in your greenhouse, die back, grow again - until the rhizomes will get wasted.
You can enjoy it at home - and take it back to the greenhouse when it is warmer. Just do not put too many in a pot. They shade one another - 3-5 rhizomes is enough for the medium pot. Irina
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