Thanks! I love Helen Van Pelt Wilson! I remember her books from way back when, she wrote about other plants as well. I was recently given a copy of her book. I think it was a revised edition. I love the charming illustrations. I am surprised you read only one book, in Hort school, were there a lot of scientific or academic books to read? Or did you learn by doing and by lectures by the professors? I found an older thread in which Melvin Robey's books are recommended. I am just wondering if they overlap in the information or if each one is a little different. (I just enjoy books and reading and hand-drawn illustrations.) Joanne

I am interested in getting any Gesneriad, African Violet and Hybridizing books that I do not already have. Thank you Kristina

I haven't had much experience with the saintp's. I know they behave a little differently for some reason (I guess because they have a separate society). AI did once self a species, forgot about it, and was surprised later on to see a nice little conical seed pod on the plant. With pollinating the mini-sinns (again not much real experience) it is easier to remove the corolla and then pollinate the stigma. I feel another trivia coming on......wait.......almost.....oh, yeah: All gesneriad flowers have the boy parts attached to the corolla with the stigma separate. So, it is an easy thing to pull off or tear off the corolla to remove the anthers and have the stigma bare and vulnerable to your meddling. This is especially useful when dealing with small flowers like the minis, or ones that self pollinate--i.e. you can remove the corolla while the stigma is still retracted and unreceptive. It will grow out and be ready in a day or two. Also, handling the corolla separately can make it easier to gather the pollen, or you can hold the torn corolla so as to daub the anthers directly onto the stigma. Sometimes the corolla doesn't want to be tugged off. Sometimes in pulling the corolla the whole flower pulls off the pedicel. Two ways to prevent this. The first is obvious, tear the corolla off rather than pull it off. The second, which often but not always works: gently squeeze the base of the flower at the calyx and then gently tug on the corolla. Or, hold the calyx with one hand and grab the corolla with the other to tug it. Remember, even if you have no use for the seeds, it is educational and fun to pollinate flowers, just to learn the sequences. Producing seed from selfing of species teaches you the techniques that you use later on when hybridizing with that genus. Two well known self pollinators that we forgot: Chirita tamiana. This one is also ever blooming, and makes a great addition to a collection. Someday it will be quite common but it is still little known outside of gesneriad circles. It was only introduced for the first time in 1999, when leaves went for high prices at the AGGS convention auction. The next year, everyone had it, from all the selfings that people did that year. It also blooms in three or four months from seed. I don't think anyone has had any success hybridizing with this species though. Chirita annuals. Seed of these comes in the new member packet of mixed seeds. They grow fast with big single leaves and later thick watery stems. They quickly grow to flower, loving constant moisture, warmth, and high humidity. The three or four or more species of annuals come in lavender or yellow flowers, which self pollinate as they bloom. Grow these from your own seed each year. They aren't much seen outside of the new member experiences though, and that's a shame. They are neat little strange things with pretty flowers. I always mean to grow them again, but, sigh, there are just too many plants I want to grow. Jon, home of the daily tidbit

Hello! Thanks to another member of this forum i have known that this plants is not a Gesneriad, but some species under the genus Hemigraphis. Thanks to everybody that helped! Jorge Joel... Emilia's Garden