I first became acquainted with Streptocarpus, known to most as Cape primrose, when I was a freshman in college at the University of Minnesota. We propagated them using leaf pieces and Horticulture Club sold them. They were all the standard blue cultivar that has been around forever. I bought one at the annual Orchid Sale at the U.S. National Arboretum about two years ago, and I'm hooked again. Last winter I bought a box of plants from The Violet Barn and was amazed at how much Dr. Robinson has improved them through breeding. This one is 'Bristol's Goose Egg'. I bought it because I was intrigued by claims of fragrance. Most Cape primroses are not fragrant, but this one is indeed. It's a hard fragrance to describe; a bit floral but sharp, too, like hyacinths or paperwhites, but not strong at all. The flowers are huge, delicately colored, and the petals are even a bit crisped (technical term for irregular indentations at the edge of the petals, as in a carnation) and they have lasted a long time in my office. They are very easy for me when grown under my Sun System combination HID and fluorescent light fixture. Last year I made the mistake of trying to summer them outdoors. They did not appreciate the scorching heat, and all but three died. This year I will keep them indoors in filtered light in the air conditioning.
Fragrance is a good thing.
ReplyDeleteFor a couple of years I was the African Violet (and miscellaneous gesneriads) grower at Behnke's. We grew a couple of different Cape Primroses every year and they were quite popular plants. They were one of those plants that you didn't used to see much in nurseries. They often elicited stories of some relative who had kept a plant for years. I've only grown them a few times and they seem to be a bit more sensitive to seasonality than most gesnerieads.