We had a chapter member many years ago, who heavily doused a badly infected strep with alcohol, only to see the plant die. But, she didn't wash the alcohol off the foliage. It is best to brush on the alcohol with a sponge brush and then wash it off. Any bugs will lose their grip immediately after coming into contact, so there is no reason to leave the alcohol on the foliage. Alcohol will remove natural waxes on leaves, so may affect the foliage in some way that I can't predict. But, I expect that you'll have no damage. The problem with using alcohol or any contact insecticide is that newly hatching aphids will reinfest the plant, so many treatments might be necessary. With a systemic, the problem usually goes away within weeks of treatment. However, systemics can be much less effective when pests like aphids are on flowers and buds. For some reason, the insecticide doesn't reach the floral parts after they have matured to some extent. I am having that problem now with aphids on kohleria flowers. Even my "wonder drug" Marathon hasn't stopped the aphids from reemerging. However, the rest of the plant is clean. So, I have to disbud or use a contact treatment, or both--ugh. Jon

Hi Byron, I'm Patrick in the Seattle area. Until recently, I was a member of both the Gesneriad Society and the Puget Sound Gesneriad Society (which has/had a few members in the PDX area). The main GS is sometimes referred to as the Mother Ship, to differentiate between it and any of the regional "clubs" or subgroups, such as the PSGS. You might consider joining the GS's Hybridizers' Group, where you can not only get fresher seeds but also newer hybrid seeds. Altho some Gessie seeds have a long shelf life, not all of them do. And I don't believe the GS seed banks keep track of the age of the seeds. I hope you enjoy your membership...Gessies can be really addictive! I've had fluorescent lights set up in the dining room, living room and 2 bedrooms and ran out of room everywhere. I'm looking forward to seeing pics when your Sinn. speciose seedlings bloom.

This is Vincent in Portland, Oregon, sitting at my desk at work, while the convention is going on only a few blocks away :( I did get to go out with eveyone to the local gardens tours yesterday, which was nice. LOL Jon, that should be "partially enclosed"- I didn't even bother to close the door to the greenhouse all winter, because cats and raccoons had already torn out a big section of a wall, and the heater had been doused by a leak, so it wasn't even plugged in all winter. The plants had some shelter from the rains and snows, but that's about it. Temperatures dipped into the upper 20s F a few times, and went to below freezing many times over winter. Our weather is of course colder than Sac., anything that can take the cold of winter and heat of summer in a greenhouse here should be hardy there. Here are exerpts from what I posted on gesneriphiles recently about the survivors outdoors. There are a few more not listed there, like Aeschynanthus 'Red Elf', which started blooming in the open 'greenhouse' in early spring in still-cold weather. Also Gloxinia 'Odyssey', which is resprouting, and there are lots of healthy looking undamaged rhizomes in there. The Smithianthas that didn't dry to a crisp last winter, and them mold when I watered, are thinking about growing. They always start late anyway. Unfortunately most of the Smith's tags were dumped out by animals and only a few will ever be labeled with certainty again. It wouldn't surprise me to see Smithiantha survive, at least some species and hybrids that are descended from plants from higher parts of Mexico & Central America with cold nights. =============================================== Posted May 12, 2005: "...we have very dry, low-humidity summers. Dry sun still didn't bother S. sellovii at all, and S. tubiflora only a little, from what I saw last year. Growing now after being in the ground since last Spring: Sinningia tubiflora (Full sun and loved it) S. sellovii (Full sun and loved it) S. "black hill" (Part-sun, about 8-9 am to noon-ish) It's too early to tell about the S. schiffneri 'red leaf'. It's near the "black hill" but I don't want to dig around it yet. Those are the only 4 I had planted outside in exposed ground. Hands-down winner for hardiness here is the Sinn. known as "black hill", formerly a.k.a. "aff. reitzii" I think? The plant under cover in the open-air greenhouse continued blooming all winter, right through the freezes, until I cut it back recently because it was leggy. (S. glazioviana did the same thing, but I hadn't planted it in the ground. I will this year.) The "black hill" in the ground died back almost to the ground in December or January, but a few inches of stem aboveground are re-sprouting. It's doing the running-tuber thing, too: It was put out last spring near an East wall in part-shade. Now there are sprouts 6-8" from the original stem coming up. I accidentally pulled a couple of those with weeds, before I realized it had spread!" [S. tubiflora also spread a lot, and sticking a spade under it was like lifting a pile of miniature potatoes! I even sliced a few in half that were further from the center than I expected] ======================================================= Posted May 15, 2005: "As promised earlier, here's a list of most of what survived the neglected, unheated, and rarely watered greenhouse, open to the outside air at all times. Min/Max thermometer said lowest temp was 27 degrees F; there were many freezing nights over a few months, I didn't count how many or how long. Everything marked "***" is being propagated for convention, and more that's not listed here! Not a great many of each though, usually 2 to 10, so don't leave yours at home if you're propagating the same ones. Species/cv. Result/Damage Chirita tamiana Medium. Discolored leaves, flower bud blast. Quick recovery. Ironically the bowl of 9 plants indoors died of neglect. [now blooming again] *** Chirita USBRG 98-083 Light or none. Some older leaves limp (Possibly too dry) *** Chirita gemella Light or none. Some older leaves limp (Possibly too dry) Chirita 'Kazu' Heavy. Leaf loss, slow recovery. Weak/attracted insects. [now in bud again] Chirita sinensis Light or none. Some older leaves limp (Possibly too dry) [now blooming again] Chirita 'Aiko' None. Held all flower buds & leaves despite dryness. Leaves turned partly purple but are all green again now. [now blooming again] Petrocosmea flaccida Light or none. Dormancy as small tight crown. Locals have been keeping these outside with only overhead protection for years. Petrocosmea 'Momo' Light or none. Dormancy as small tight crown. Primulina tabacum None, partial dormancy, some bud blast. [now blooming again] Hemiboea subcapitata None, of course. Went dormant. Nematanthus (all) Light to Medium. Leaf loss, some branch loss, but quick recovery if not dried out completely for too long. All of mine are gregarius/wettsteinii types, plus 'Stoplight' and ***'Black Magic'. ***Codonanthe gracilis Light to medium, as with Nematanthus. Codonanthe devosiana 'Paula' Medium, some lost. Probably too dry. ***xCodonatanthus'Tambourine' None, continued light bloom all winter ***xCodonatanthus 'Sunset' None. Aeschynanthus speciosus Light or none. ***Aeschynanthus 'Rigel' Light or none. ***Aeshcynanthus 'Big Apple' Light or none. [add: Aeschynanthus 'Red Elf' -No damage, resumed bloom in early Spring] ***Lysionotus serratus None. Flowered through some freezes. This is a beautiful and sturdy plant, if a little ungainly when unpruned. I love it. ***Lysionotus pauciflorus None. Flowered through some freezes. Also appears to have set seed- but pods were open and empty when I noticed them. [now blooming again] ***Raphiocarpus petelotii Light or none- some stems went dormant to soil level. Early recovery. Already known to be hardy. Sinningias are not considered damaged if they tops died back, but the tuber survived undamaged and recovered well. Nealy all grown with tuber exposed. Sinningia (various minis) Medium. Went dormant to tuber, some were lost. Surprisingly, about 3/4 of these are growing again. Sinningia 'Carnaval' Heavy, died back to below ground, but thickened stem part (almost a tuber) is still alive. Sinningia 'Apricot Boquet' None. Went dormant. [now growing fast] Sinningia lineata None. Went dormant. [now blooming again] Sinningia brasiliensis? x(?) None. Went dormant. Sinningia "black hill" None. Bloomed through freezes, until cut back. Sinningia glazioviana None. Bloomed through freezes, still blooming. Hoping for seed. One tuber is sending up many sprouts, will root them for convention as soon as tall enough. ***Sinningia cardinalis x leucotricha None. Went dormant. Young sprouts look like they might take root. Sinningia (cardinalis x leucotricha) x leopoldii None. Did not die back. setting flower buds now. Could be "Black Hill" rather than leopoldii, tags lost due to animal activity. Will know soon. Sinningia leucotricha None. Did not even die back, but flower buds blasted. [now in bud again] Sinningia 'Georgia Sunset' x self F3 various colors. None. Went dormant. [now blooming again] Sinningia speciosa (wild type from seed mix) None. Went dormant. --S. speciosa 'Sao Conrado' died though, Waaaaah :( S. tubiflora, S. sellovii None of course. Went dormant. Lived over in flower beds unprotected. Already known to be hardy. S. schiffneri 'red leaf' Medium. Died back to below ground, surviving parts slow to recover. Same story in ground, unprotected. Cutworms got this one too, should re-grow. S. ibitioca: Commenting even though dead- kept its foliage green late, like the other hardier ones, but then ended up under a drip where they rotted out. I'll try again when I can get more. All 3 of my ibitioca were still in one "temporary" pot together- dumb mistake! S. calcaria: Deceased- but same story as S. ibiotica above. Scaly Rhizomes: Too early to tell in most cases. Can't find rhizomes in any Phinaea, Niphaea, or Diastema pots. Some various Kohleria, Smithiantha were healthy looking but started to mold when it warmed up a little. No noticeable rhizomes in some Achimenes pots (including the hardy 'Purple King'!) - but A. misera SI 88-039 is full of fat, healthy ones. xGlokohleria 'Scarlet Letter' and xSmithocodonia 'Dave's Tree' have some live rhizomes resprouting. There were of course many more gesneriads than that in there, but I did lose a lot of them, and there are many others I haven't checked closely yet- there may be more dormant survivors. I don't know if I'll make a list of what froze out- too depressing! On the bright side, most of the cacti (no surprise) and other succulents (some surprise) were fine. The ones that died were under broken roof where they got rained (and snowed) on. Some other tropicals surprised me too, but I did lose my favorite Hibiscus and about half the Hoyas. Oleanders I got while at the AGGS Convention in Sacramento (Hey, did I mention there's a Convention here in Portland this year?) are already beginning to bloom, even though I discovered that they had been getting poured on and soaked for a good part of the winter too. ============================================================ Vincent

I've never grown 'Amizade' but have grown both parents, which are hard to grow. I lost kautskyi and, it seems, so has everyone else. Hirsuta is famous for going into prolonged dormancy. At last week's meeting someone brought in a plant in flower. We were all commenting on how frustrating this species can be. Seeing it in flower was like seeing an old friend again. But, 'Amazade' appears to be much easier to grow, though, by no means, is it a fool proof plant. I've seen spectacular specimens in shows, though. It was Best in Show at last year's convention show in Portland, and I think, it was a Best in Show at a previous convention as well. Jon