A Streptocarpus Tour of Britain. It was a lovely thought -- seize the opportunity presented by a summer vacation in Britain to check out some of the local Streptocarpus growers and experts, and see just what was going on with this genus "over there". And a lovely experience it turned out to be!
Britain has particular resonance with those of us fond of Streptocarpus, as much of the its history in cultivation has been initiated and played out in Scotland, England and Wales. Hilliard and Burtt, authors of the ultimate reference Streptocarpus, an African Plant Study (1971) hail from Scotland, where Dr. Burtt is still active at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh. The John Innes Institute (now the John Innes Centre) in England introduced many Streptocarpus hybrids in the 1940s through the 1970s, which formed the basis for much of the subsequent work with the genus. More recently, Dibley's Nurseries in North Wales has been propagating interesting Streptocarpus hybrids on an unprecedented scale, and producing spectacular new hybrids of its own, which have found a large market in Britain and Europe.
Of course, the British propensity for producing amateur horticulturists of considerable skill and productivity has resulted in some very successful Streptocarpus hybridizing as well. I had communicated with Chris Rose in Bristol, England for some time, initially in my capacity as an editor of CrossWords, the newsletter of the Gesneriad Hybridizers' Association. I knew that he had been doing a lot of work with Streps, and hoped to connect with him while I was in the vicinity.
Fortunately, I was able to realize my intentions. I visited first with Chris Rose, and was astounded at what he has accomplished in the limited space available to him. His hybridizing direction is interesting, and some of his plants are quite spectacular. Some of these will, I hope, obtain commercial distribution so that more of us can grow them.
After a pleasant sojourn on the sunny and hot beaches of South Wales (not the usual condition, I understand), we travelled to the north part of Wales, where I visited Dibley's Nurseries. Located in the deepest Welsh countryside, it wasn't easy to find, but with the assistance of a farmer in a truck (I had to back up in the narrow country lane to let him by) I did get there, just an hour or two late. I was amazed at what I saw.
While Dibley's is a small operation, in the general run of commercial horticulture, one simply doesn't often see a large greenhouse packed with many thousands of streptocarpus plants in full bloom. Founder Rex Dibley and two of his adult children, Lynn and Gareth, along with a number of staff, were busy packing up spectacular large plants for transportation to one of the British horticultural shows. The Dibley displays at these shows are a primary marketing strategy, and regularly receive the highest awards in the competitions for commercial displays.
A few days later I was able to journey north and east to Edinburgh, where I visited the Royal Botanic Garden. The RBGE has one of the most important and influential collections of old world gesneriads, not to mention spectacular grounds and interesting horticultural vistas. The work of Bill Burtt and others has led to greatly increased understanding of Streptocarpus, and the holdings in the public and research collections are spectacular and important. In addition, I was particularly impressed with the Aeschynanthus collection, and pleased that Mary Mendum, of the RBGE staff, is in the process of revising the taxonomy of the genus.
The links below are primarily to Chris Rose's plants, and to plants at Dibley's Nurseries. A separate tour of the RBGE collection may be entered by clicking here. To see a large photo of a plant, and to see any associated text, click on the image. Return to the tour by clicking your browser's "back" button.
Chris Rose: Purposeful Hybridizing
Chris Rose has a number of explicit hybridizing directions, to some degree complementary but largely independent. One of those directions is the production of strong and floriferous hybrids with flowers of a clear red. One of the early results of his efforts was a plant with smallish flowers of a saturated pink tone, that I found particularly eye-catching. In fact, two others with pinkish tones were among those of his hybrids that I found most attractive. One of these has a clear red center, with red netting on the lower lobes against a clear pink background. I would love to grow this plant, and hope that it gets distributed. The other is a hybrid named S. 'Ruby Anniversary', in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Saintpaulia and Houseplant Society in Britain. This plant, also part of a complementary attempt to produce hybrids with large areas of yellow in the throat, is beautiful and floriferous.
Chris's red-hybrid strategy often makes use of the hybrids S. 'Joanna' and S. 'Elsi'. He has produced some good strong reds, which have moved well away from the pinkish colors we often see. Among these are two sibling seedlings of the pink/red netted flower, mentioned above, which also involve the hybrid S. 'Ruby' (click here and here). Perhaps the best red he has yet produced has the species S. johannis (in its white form) combined with 'Joanna' and 'Elsi'. Note the prominent "watermark" on this flower, a region of slightly different color in the center of the corolla.
Chris has also made extensive use of S. formosus, formerly known as S. primulifolius ssp. formosus. This is a large-flowered species of elegant form and delicate color, with a distinctive flower shape. The flower generally has a yellow patch in the throat and lines also in the throat that break up into distinctive spots. While generally light lavender, the flowers do vary in color from lighter to darker, and the corolla lobes are often outlined in darker lavender, particularly in younger flowers. Unfortunately, this species is not free-flowering, generally producing only one or sometimes two flowers per stalk. This characteristic influences hybrids descended from it, but Chris, as well as others, are working to retain desirable characteristics while increasing bud count. The large size and interesting shape of some of the hybrids from his formosus work may be seen by clicking here, here and here.
The spotted lines in the throat of formosus represent an opportunity, in Chris's mind, to expand the spotting into the corolla generally, and that has been one of his objectives. He crossed formosus with the dark hybrid 'Elsi', in order to obtain the saturated colors that seemed more likely to break up into the spotting he wanted. One of the seedlings, shown here, had fine, but clear, spotting, as intended. It was subsequently crossed to a white-flowered, floriferous, plant, descended from S. 'Falling Stars', producing the best of Chris's spotted hybrids to date.
Other species have been used for various purposes. S. parviflorus, normally more floriferous than shown in this photo from Dirk Bellstedt in South Africa, has contributed high flower count to Chris's seedlings seen here, here and here. A number of the parviflorus hybrids are visible in this photo of an upper bench in Chris's greenhouse, with S. 'Falling Stars' and a white S. johannis in the foreground. S. porphyrostachys has a characteristic reddish-purple leaf back, as well as numerous small flowers -- these characteristics are passed on to another of Chris's hybrids. And plants grown from seed received as S. gardenii (although there is some doubt of their authenticity) has produced hybrids with interestingly shaped flowers in large numbers on at least one seedling. Chris also grows a number of unifoliate species, including S. eylesii (flowers here) and S. cooperi.
Dibley's Nurseries: Streptocarpus as a Horticultural Crop
Dibley's is a rarity -- a successful large-scale propagator of gesneriads, for the retail and wholesale markets. And that's without selling any Saintpaulias!
Almost all of Dibley's production is of Streptocarpus, although a few other gesneriads such as Codonanthe, Codonatanthus, Columnea and Aeschynanthus are also grown, along with Begonias and Coleus. The sight of the Streptocarpus range is awesome -- thousands of plants, with the varieties in blocks of color that produce an almost abstract effect. Much of the product is sold by mail order within Britain and the European Community, although Dibley's has about a hundred garden centres throughout Britain which also carry their plants. Most of the Streptocarpus sold by Dibley's are their own hybrids, but they also carry a number of the older Innes Institute cultivars, a few hybrids from the United States, and several species.
Dibley's is particularly well known for the hybrid S. 'Falling Stars', and its pink sport S. 'Gloria'. These are spectacularly floriferous cultivars, with the potential for hundreds of flowers at a time. The flowers are not highly interesting on their own, although they do have an attractive elegance (click here and here).
Other Dibley hybrids are known for their beautiful flowers and adaptation to home growing. Among these are such hybrids as 'Kim', 'Lynette', 'Cynthia', 'Lisa', 'Megan' and 'Heidi'. My favorites, without doubt, were the spectacularly beautiful mauve and purple flowers of S. 'Sandra' (whole plant here), and the more subtle beauty of the sky-blue 'Bethan'.
American hybrids grown and sold by Dibley's includes the very attractive 'Happy Snappy', of a most unusual red shade (flowers here), and the double 'Chorus Line', with attractive mauve tracery against a white background.
Lynn Dibley has a number of hybridizing projects underway, some of which involve the use of unusual species. Streptocarpus kentaniensis is a narrow-leaved plant, with many small white flowers on long stems -- its most attractive feature is that it blooms well during the winter. Most growers of commercial hybrids in Britain are using natural light, on windowsills or in greenhouses. Britain occupies a very northern latitude, and winter days are short, leading most plants to discontinue bloom. Finding plants that will continue to bloom during the winter months is a priority. One of the results of Lynn's work with kentaniensis, shown here, has great promise, and propagation of it has begun.
Dibley's also grows and sells several of the caulescent (stemmed) Streptocarpus, including several forms and hybrids of S. saxorum. I was particularly taken with the compact form of this species, which had large pale blue flowers on a very compact plant.
Dibley's Nurseries holds the British National Collection of Streptocarpus, and has a large number of the species under cultivation. Among those grown and on display are S. fasciatus, S. cyaneus and the blue form of S. johannis.
Many other cultivars not illustrated here are also grown in the greenhouse. Dibley's welcomes visitors, and invites anyone visiting North Wales to tour the facility and see the wonders on display.
Unfortunately, it is not possible for Dibley's to ship plant material to the Americas. However, an agreement has been reached to have their hybrids propagated in the United States, and these cultivars should soon be available there.