Other Gesneriads in Demand – Kohleria#/TITLE#

Other Gesneriads in Demand – Kohleria#/TITLE#

Kohleria (isoloma)

Kohleria, also called Isoloma or Tydea, comes from scaly rhizomes and is easily grown. You can make money on it as a flowering pot plant or by propagating rhizomes. The rhizomes retail from $1.00 to $2.00 each, depending on size. One tuber divided into separate scales will propagate as many as fifty to a hundred plants, the scales being planted just as you would plant good-sized seeds.

Flowers vary from bright red to red-and-yellow, rich maroon, a real “shocking” pink, and cream with a blue margin. Foliage may be green, green margined with red, brown interlaced with green or vice versa. Culture is the same as for achimenes.

The variety most commonly grown is K. eriantha. This can be a tall plant which needs staking, or it can be handled as a trailer. Smaller-flowered K. amabilis has as pleasing flowers as can be found on any pot plant. Of the brightest pink, they have maroon dots on the throat. Single flowers are long-lived, often remaining on the plant 3 or 4 weeks. The pale green leaves are threaded with rich brown. This one would be an instant hit in any plant counter or at any florist shop. K. Lindeniana has brown-and-green leaves and cream-and-blue flowers. This too is of easy culture and unusual enough to be a most profitable item. Cecilia is another charming variety.

Hybridizing possibilities are good, as there is a wide range of colors, foliage forms, and heights. While most kohlerias set seed rather easily, their pollen supply is short-especially on K. amabilis and K. Lindeniana. Select a sunny day for pollination, obtaining pollen from a newly opened or 1-day-old flower, and place it on the stigma

75, 76. The haemanthus seed can be packaged and used for dry sales or it can be grown into salable plants. In that latter case, the first step above is to remove the berry husk from each seed, then the shelled seeds can be sown (below) in a pot of friable soil mixture. (Photographs by Archie Schulz)

of a flower that has been open about a week. Seeds ripen in some 6 weeks. While a number of growers include Kohleria seed with mixed gesneriad seed, I know of no one offering seed from the special varieties. Labeled specifically, such seeds would certainly prove good sellers.

Tags: home greenhouse

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