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Gloxinias and Triffids...

Hi All,

        Firstly, Gloxinias... About the only plant I managed to bring up
here with me when we moved 9 years ago (apart from cactus pups and seeds
from my 1000+ collection, which I had to sell :-(.) was a Gloxinia corm -
we had to stay in a hotel for weeks, our stuff was in store so no plants
made the move [there should be 'boarding kennels' for plants at times like
this...]  This corm must be at least 12 years old now, (I have never since
been able to keep one going for more than two or three years)  and just
about fills the surface of a 9"pot.  Every year it pops into growth at the
end of February, whether or not it has been watered, but it no longer has
the compact growth of a young plant; it puts out long rambly stems each
carrying the same amount of flowers as the original growth point had, so is
a mass of colour by July.  From observation, I would guess that this is how
the plant matures and if I wanted a plant like the one I bought, I would
have to cut the corm into pieces each with a growing bud.  But, I am so
pleased to have kept it alive all this time, that I shall just let it grow
old in peace, if not particularly gracefully :-).  The only problem that I
have with it is that the stems are quite fragile, so anytime a cat, dog or
human brushes up against it, a piece falls off - I would think these could
be potted up (after removing the flower buds) and grown on as new plants.

        Triffids:  If you see a report in 'The National Enquirer' about a
car seen driving south towards Glasgow on the A9 in Scotland this
weekend, apparently being driven by a Triffid, you can discount it as an
urban myth!!  It was simply me taking my largest plants to my son's new
flat.  It has very high ceilings in the large living room, just the place
to rehome my overgrown Cheese plants (Monstera) and Rubber plants (Ficus
Elastica).  I have a feeling that my son was hoping to escape from the
clutches of these plants, but it was an opportunity not to be missed, maybe
I shall get to see fruit on the Cheese plant... besides which, it gives me
an opportunity to visit with the excuse 'I only wanted to check the
plants...'  Cunning eh?

        Hope your Midsummer's day was better than ours - cold, wet and
windy;  I suspect we'll go straight to Autumn now, by-passing summer! 
Well, the days *are* getting shorter now and it's all down hill to
Christmas...

Liz Bradbury in a slightly drier Scotland.
(visit my website at its new address:
 http://www.triumvirate.demon.co.uk )
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