PBS Forum

I have grown Lapeirousia orogena from seed for over 10 years in small plastic 2" seedling pots. The mix is 3/16" pumice with fines and a pinch of local southern red clay.  I was thinking of combining the small pots into a larger pot to make a better display. My question: should i stick with plastic or use terra cotta pots?

Does anyone grow Lapeirousia orogena
in masse with luck keeping them happy?  How do you grow them?

 https://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/Lapeirousia

Seedling presumably from Sinningia 'Bananas Foster'

I have had this for almost 10 years from Telos and don't ever recall a flower. It is supposed to be summer dry and active Au-W-Sp, unlike many other rainlilies. This past winter i repotted it in pumice and kept it inside under lights on a bed of wet gravel with no direct watering. A week ago i saw some shoots through the pumice so i gave it some fresh rainwater. Blooms at last!

I try to grow a lot of things from seed, some work out some don't and many are misidentified by the source. 

Last year in BX 481 ( actually an SX before they went back to the old numbering scheme) i received seed labelled as Sinningia leopoldii. A species i had wanted for a while. The seed was part of PBS annual allotment from Brazil Plants.  This sinningia grows on rocks and has a rather large tuber

https://www.brazilplants.com/gesneriaceae/sinningia/sinningia-leopoldii.html

I start all my sinningia seed in small trays of fine seed mix covered with plastic domes over a tray to hold some water.

Three seeds germinated and grew on.  They never looked like the sinningia leopoldii i was hoping for, being very hairy with a dense cluster of leaves close to the tuber.

To gow these on they were gradually up potted to larger and larger pots (now in 10cm pots) on a layer of wet chicken grit with a fan on them. 

Finally it was pointed out that  my seedlings were actually Sinningia hirsuta., A humid loving plant that prefers terrariums. And, apparently, not so easy to please.
 
https://www.brazilplants.com/gesneriaceae/sinningia/sinningia-hirsuta.html


I was away recently and the gravel dried out completely, as it dose periodically. So the humidity was controlled by the weather outside a closed attached garage. Probably  close to 80-85°F, 80% relative humidity.  The plants faired much better than the white Sinningia eumorphia plant a few inches away in same conditions that did not like drying out.

So the purpose of this post is to shoew some results from the SX and to give a view of some growing procedures that work unexpectedly.

Rimmer
Southern Kentucky, USA
Zone 6

Some of the yellow Aurelian's in BX

Below are some photos of the plants i put in this BX. I redid a lily bed and thinned out the multiples about 2 weeks ago before the cold snap. With the demise of the local regional lily societies. I have no other outlet to share excess.

Sinningia tubiflora one bulb from PDN turned into 1000s in a few years left in the ground.
Sinningia warmingii in ground year round in zone 6b sunny position in raised bed of well drained loam, makes a single huge "bulb" over time.
RG tet OT Sunset from Bob's rescue
Nutcracker 4n on right. Crosses with 3n Asiatic lilies.
The bed i dug and re did. Photo is mostly OTs and ATs before the aurelians bloom.

Several of the yellow aurelians were single bulbs found when mixing the soil so they are unknown and were separated by location. I cited yellow because most lilies were yellow in this bed but they could be whites with orange

Massonia sp? ex Gouritz River Brodge west of Vlees Bay. This is a large Massonia, leaves the size of your hand

Massonia roggeveldensis. This one keeps a leaf all summer

Massonia pseudoechinata-Nieuwatjiesfontein

Massonia inaequalis Elandsbaai

Last Milla magnifica last week, 10 Nov

Polyxena pygmaea

Daubenya stylosa

Polyxena pygmaea Alba
An older plant from Roy Herald and more recent seedlings

All the rainlilies are safely inside for the winter