A hardy gloxinia -Sinningia tubiflora

I think I have finally mastered growing Sinningia tubiflora, one of the many new ‘hardier’ gesneriads, those plants in the African Violet family, which are getting more and more collectable by those in-the-know. This week, my gravel container garden has been overcome by a magnificent specimen, which, I have to admit, was an accident. This Sinningia tubiflora  is growing in a deep terra cotta pot, and its become essentially, a giant lemon scented air freshener, yes, its evening fragrance lingers across the garden in our hot, humid summer weather.

Thanks to fellow blogger, reader and friend, Brian Morely, who shared this plant with me last year. He had send me a few tubers in the mail, wrapped in newspaper. Thanks Brian!  I’ve tried Sinningia tubiflora twice before, with little luck. Apparantly, I am not alone in finding this species difficult to bloom. Lots of foliage, ( which often spotted and became sloppy) and when flower stems finally did appear, they flopped over before blooming, leaving them twisted and deformed. Last year, I only had three stems with a few flowers.

This year, it’s a whole other story. I can only guess that a few changes in how I treat my plants may have helped, I can say, that I have not fussed with the plant, if anything, I have ignored it. First, I didn’t divide the tuberous mass of potato-like tubers, instead, I dragged the overgrown pot into the greenhouse on a cold, frost-threatening day in October last year. Yes, it says ‘hardy’ but it is not deep-freeze hardy here in New England. I grow Sinningia tubiflora in containers. Once in the greenhouse for the winter, the plant stumbled along at near freezing temps. Once in mid-winter, I had decided to toss the plant, but I decided not to since Joe would see the rootball on the snow ( he hates that, and I am too lazy to drag my butt out to the compost pile. Once I unpotted the mass of tubers, I was impressed, and a little overwhelmed, so I like any guy who is lazy, I shoved the mass under a bench and forgot about it. There it spent the entire winter, never looking worse for the wear.

In spring, I noticed that the giant ball of tubers and roots, was sprouting all over, and I briefly thought about separating it into a few dozen tubers, to share, plant and maybe to sell on eBay. But I never got to it. So one day in May, I just decided to try potting the entire mass of shoots and tubers. It was so big, that it only fit in one giant 14 inch clay pot, so in it went, and I set it on the hot gravel bed in full sun.

Here is what I think happened. First, the mass of tubers probably preferred not to be separated, hence, the mass of sprouts evolved into growth, and the stems are stronger, holding each other up. Then, the ratty foliage never appeared, which I feel is the result of the hot gravel below the plant, which dries the foliage off early in the morning, and the good air circulation keeps the foliage dry. Third, the full sun helps keep the plant strong and dense. Fourth, the cold winter in the greenhouse probably helped the plant vernalize more, or whatever. I have found many notes online that colder winter temps have resulted in more flowers, not sure if this is true or not.

Regardless, I now have an incredibly stunning specimen plant as a container plant, and it’s fragrance fills the entire side yard, drifting over the garden even giving the lilies a run for their money. You can find this plant at Plant Delights Nursery, or, you can find friends who will share tubers with you. Plant Delights states in their catalog that the plant is a hummingbird magnet, but I have yet to see one on it, even though the Hummers visit this garden every few minutes. I see them on the Agapanthus next to it, on the Nepeta sibirica, and on the  Humminbird feeders, but never on the Sinningia. I imagine that their beaks are too short for the totally tubular blossoms, but in other areas of the country where there are  more species of Hummingbirds, such as Arizona, this might work well as a Hummingbird plant.