Easter surprise.

16 years ago

Hi all,

I went to Irina's house on Sunday to pick up a cutting of Aeschynanthus humilis and a couple streptocarpuses. She was very nice to invite my wife and myself down for Easter lunch. After lunch she showed me her plant room. It's pretty amazing. She has all kinds of gesneriads. Quite a few I knew and quite a few I'd never heard of. Instead of the three plants I had thought I was getting I left with quite a few more. She would go from plant to plant and ask me if I wanted a cutting. Before I knew it she had given me a total of 18 plants, cuttings and rhizomes! Which is kind of a problem because I don't have room for 18 more plants at my house. Basically my gesneriad collection just increased by 50%. So now I have to be pretty creative. All in all, Irina was extremely generous!

As you can see below five of them will take up residency in front of my terrarium. With some reorganization of my present plant stands I can get a few more there. I figure I can hang up a few plants on hooks from the ceiling and it looks like the dresser is going to be full of plants from now on.

She gave me two African violets: Carousel Pony and Rob's Dodo Bird. She also gave me a crown cutting of Pony Ride. I lost my Pony Ride a few years back when my wife was ill. For you gesneriad people, Irina also gave me three streptocarpuses, a mini sinningia tuber as well as a Sinningia gloriosa tuber. There was a Petrocosmea sericea, cuttings of three episcias as well as Aeschynanthus humilis and Columnea linearis. There were four ryzomes. Three of them were kohlerias and the other one is something I've never heard of. Unfortunately it's in the bedroom where my wife is sleeping at the moment and I can't go and look at it.

I am going to show you some of my haul.

Episcia Pink Smoke.

Petrocosmea sericea

Sinningia HCY's Icy Blue x self. You can see that it's developing a new tuber under the bloom.

One I potted. Episcia Thad's Pinka Dot

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Comments (16)

nwgatreasures
16 years ago
One of the things that I have valued the most about the people I have come into contact with in this hobby (especially with this board) is the desire to share and spread the violet/plant love.

While they are so generous to share plants/cuttings.....they also feed our addiction. LOL

Dora

PS> Congrats on your new haul :)
contrarymarypat
16 years ago
What a nice Easter! I especially like Episcia Pink Smoke and the Petrocosmea sericea. AV people are very generous and always willing to share their knowledge and plants. Life is good!
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irina_co
16 years ago
Folks - I would give them more - but they keep saying - no,no -we don't have space, and even when I could see Larry's eyes are saying "yes" - his Missis - kept him under control.

I am thinking one day I will fill the box, put it on their porch, ring the bell - and run.

Irina
snappyguy
16 years ago
What a great set of plants you got, and that's awesome of Irina to do that!
fred_hill
16 years ago
Irina,
You are too much. I congratulate you on getting another person hooked....lol.
Fred in NJ
larry_b
Original Author
16 years ago
Lol. Oh, Fred. I have been hooked for years. Now I'm drowning! lol :-)

Seriously, it was very sweet of Irina to be so generous. Added to what I had before, I have quite a gesneriad collection now.

Larry
irina_co
16 years ago
Fred -

Larry is the most experienced AV grower - he started 20 years before me - at that time I was growing a huge orchid cactus and 3 varietes of Wandering Jew. And tomato seedlings on a windowsill.

Irina
larry_b
Original Author
16 years ago
I grew my first two violets from a leaf cutting in 1979. I have been hooked ever since. lol
threas
16 years ago
Wow, Larry! Congratulations on your new plants. Irina,that was so nice of you! Sounded like you both had a wonderful Easter day! :)

Theresa
shaggybirdman
16 years ago
i'm green with envy. i'm just starting out in my addiction to AV's, and don't think i'll beat it. lol like i want to either. i'm loving the ride :)
bspofford
16 years ago
Larry, keep in mind that Irina just came back from the national AVSA convention. Is it possible that her unwavering generosity is partly due to needing to make room for newly acquired plants purchased there? I saw a lot of people carrying a lot boxes......

I was feeling very disciplined having purchased 6 minis, and giving two of those to friends. Then I went to the local show in Massachusetts the following weekend, and somehow ended up with 21 plants.

I'm envious that you get to see her in the flesh on an ongoing basis. I'll have to wait until the convention in Philly next year.

Barbara
larry_b
Original Author
16 years ago
Hi Theresa,

I just read your bio. This is a little off violet topic, but I see that you built a pond. I wish I had a pond too.

Larry
larry_b
Original Author
16 years ago
Hi all,

Well the reason this thread began in the first place was because I went to Irina's house to get a cutting of her Aeschynanthus humilis. Well the cutting had buds that I didn't remove. I know, me bad! They opened up and here they are. You can see why I wanted one!

{{gwi:362959}}
threas
16 years ago
Wow, Larry! She is beautiful! Enjoy!
I love my pond. If you can, I highly recommend one. Here's a couple of photos.
Theresa

{{gwi:362960}}{{gwi:362961}}
larry_b
Original Author
16 years ago
Hi Theresa,

Thanks!

I really like your pond. It is a nice size.

Larry
leslie_virnig221
16 years ago
i have been hooked since i got my first one in high school this was before i knew they had names, i found out you could grow them from leaves, so i just asked all my moms friends for leaves. i had 23 blooming when i was in high school.