Wednesday 6 January 2016

Bloom Event - Primulina 'Erika'

I have been growing Primulina (under the old name Chirita) for a few years now. I have a liking for Gesneriads in general, but tend to steer clear of Streptocarpus and Saintpaulias as they are rather addictive and seem to multiply. Primulina seem to thrive on a windowsill for me in a way that Streps don't (they don't like it too warm), and they don't complain when its too dark in winter. In fact, as evidenced below, some of them like to flower at this time of year.


The flowers are pretty, though not dazzling. I have a few other colours of Primulina, mostly variations on a theme, but some do come in yellow or pink. Pastel shades. Here's a photo of the whole plant.


As you can see, it really resembles a narrow-leafed Saintpaulia, but is probably even easier to grow. I rather suspect that I'm not the best grower of them by far, but they don't seem to complain too much about my care. I grow them on a window sill in my living room. I guess they enjoy the cool nights behind the curtain in a way that no orchid ever would. I just have to be careful to keep them out of the sun in summer as they do burn quite easily. They can be put outside during summer, provided they are kept shaded and well watered (don't be tempted to let the rain do it for you!) but I've not done this so much recently as the vine weevils LOVE them to the point the plants have no roots whatsoever before damage is noticed (me being inattentive I guess). I shall attempt to feed them more this coming season. I may be tempted to do a full length post on them at some point because I'm rather fond of them to say the least.

2 comments:

  1. That a bloom to spend time looking at..would it do on a Kitchen window sill?

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    1. Hi! Treat exactly as you would an African violet. Perfect for a kitchen windowsill, I'd say. You can get quite a nice selection from Dibley's; I don't know if you're familiar with them ?

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