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d many have asked about various aspects of petrocosmea culture i ve decided to use those questions as a guide for future posts since those of you who have written have often mentioned that you know of others who are having similar questions the support for this blog is overwhelming i never envisioned it being as popular as it has become the level of interest in pets has grown over the last few years and continues to grow from what you are telling me so i decided to kick of the new posts with this one which is basically just an update on what my pets and i have been up to first something fun below is a photo of my newest seedling to flower i am very excited that it is flowering now in summer a time when most pets are in active growth here in southwestern pennsylvania where for a couple of weeks now we ve been having a record setting heatwave and drought why does that excite me well as a hybridizer one of my goals is to extend the blooming season for the normally strongly seasonal winter flowering genus most pets for me flower between october and march having a seedling flower now gives me hope that it might provide a plant that will flower both in summer and winter thereby extending the season of the pets for the home grower and for summer shows the second exciting thing about my new baby is that the flower is white bright sparkling purest white with a sunny yellow center the cross is p forrestii x begoniifolia p begoniifolia often flowers in summer so i m sure that is where the bloom time for this seedling comes from it also is a white seedling of a cross where one parent is lavendar p forresttii so that means that p begoniifolia may be dominate for color over p forrestii this is only my second hybrid seedling that has ever had white flowers the other p keystone s bantam was a white seedling from among nearly forty siblings all of which were purple or lavendar it will be fun to see how this current seedlings siblings flower the first seedling to flower from p forrestii x begoniifolia is pure white no sign of the lavendar flowers which it s maternal parent has will the other seedlings in the cross also be white time will tell i m growing out 13 seedlings from this cross all that were produced few seeds were produced and only these 13 germinated the seedlings germinated last january and are now six months old only one has flowered none of the other are showing buds foliage is more like p forrestii but with the rounder shape and deep bubbly veining of p begoniifolia i had hoped for some of the burgundy purple undersides to the leaves from p begoniifolia but so far none are showing that characteristic i would love to self and sib cross some of these to see what happens to flower color and foliage in the f2 but often pet hybrids have been reluctant to produce pollen for me of all my crosses this is the one i would most like to sib cross to get an f2 generation the tray of p forrestii x begoniifolia seedlings the dark green foliage makes the white flowers of the first seedling to flower really stand out i will soon have to seperate them and give them more room they are going to be more like the p begoniifolia as far as plant size goes it appears some are producing lots of offsets which i detest in hybrid seedlings i often select against offset production in seedlings so once they flower unless the flowers are truly spectacular those will likely go into the garbage bin so that s the most exciting thing in the pet cave right now i look forward to getting back to the blog and talking petrocosmeas with you again tim posted by tim at 5 21 pm tuesday november 29 2011 petrocosmeas and this blog in the news finally petrocosmeas are in the news and getting the attention we all knew they deserved i was delighted by an article in the rhs publication the plantsman back in september that announced a new name for one of our most popular pet species the former petrocosmea rosettifolia the new and proper name for this plant is petrocosmea cryptica as described and published by julian shaw of the rhs i am attaching a link to the article here www rhs org uk plants rhs publications journals the plantsman 2011 issues september petrocosmea petrocosmea cryptica 3 formerly known as p rosettifolia 3 shown above there are several variants or clones of this species in cultivation the one above has attractive leaf markings and large pure white flowers with yellow throats mr shaw finally did some of the much needed taxonomic work on one of the more popular species in cultivation now for around ten years in his article mr shaw mentions the fact that this species has been improperly labeled p rosettifolia and has also been distributed under various other names such as g25kc00 which i ve discussed here in previous posts in my collection i ve accumulated at least nine plants which i believe are simply different clones likely from different collections of this species dna analysis which we did with niagara university has shown that these various clones are all very closely related genetically so close in fact that we believe they are all the same species it is common from a species to contain individuals with quite different characteristics pictured above is a plant in my collection which i call p cryptica 5 formerly labeled p rosettifolia 5 this form has less distinct yellow veining in the leaves and lavendar flowers pictured above is p cryptica 4 formerly labeled p rosettifolia 4 this form has white flowers and a distinct and vibrant yellow veining to the leaves the flower form on this clone to me is less attractive than that of 3 but it tends to flower more heavily and later than 3 the photo above shows the variability in the foliage of p cryptica clones in cultivation this photo shows my plants of p cryptica 4 at the top and p cryptica 1 at the bottom two forms 1 and 2 both have leaves that are nearly totally green and more rounded in shape with smooth margins other clones show the distinct yellow veining and toothed leaf margins clones 1 and 2 also grow much more compact and have flowers in light lavendar to pink shades dna analysis though does show them to be the same species as the showier forms mr shaw s article has lots of good information in it and it mentions this blog and three of my hybrids using p cryptica p rosemary platz p keystone s bantam and p keystone s harvest moon the first two are registered with the gesneriad society and show p rosettifolia as the parent since that was the name applied to the species at the time in the future i hope to see more taxonomic work done on the many pet species still being grown and distributed under names that are clearly incorrectly applied p minor and it s various forms being one in this group p sericea and sp ht 2 are also suspect in my opinion so the question i am getting is should i change the labels on my plants i have changed my labels on the plants which i am reasonably certain fall under this newly published description if i am in doubt however i say what i always say keep the plant labeled as you acquired it along with a notation of where and when you acquired it one day perhaps we will have the mess with pet names sorted out for the time being though enjoy growing the plants as they are posted by tim at 6 07 pm a sincere thank you petrocosmea sericea in my plant room this morning i ve missed blogging about my favorite plants sometimes one is blessed with lots of passions in life and priorities must shift with only twenty four hours in a day and only one of me the time left for plant passions is limited to only enough time for watering and maybe a little fertilizing and repotting i m happy to say though that at least for the moment i m finding a bit more time to not only water and fertilize but also to stop and smell the petrocosmeas see my last post most importantly i must stop to say a most sincere thank you to all of you who have taken the time to write share photos seek advice and tell me of your experiences with petrocosmea it means a lot to hear that you have found the posts here on the blog helpful to your enjoyment of pets in the time that i have been away from the blog i have continued as time permitted to do some experiments study both old and new species and to continue to grow and evaluate new seedlings for future release i continue to learn so much about these plants every time i work with them the feeding watering and fertilizing may have been scarce but my enthusiasm for the pets remains in your letters you have given me many ideas for future posts and i will do my best to get to those as soon as i can thank you for the suggestions comments and questions so this morning having a rare day off i arose early and went to the basement to work with the plants i was welcomed by the plant pictured above petrocosmea sericea giving it s annual show of bloom the plant pictured is now about ten years old it was one of my earliest acquisitions as a gift of two leaves from a friend this senior amoung my collection has been in the same pot for about four years now it is potted in a 1 1 1 ratio mix of peat perlite and vermiculite and is in a five inch pan pot it sits on an acylic matting that is occasionally moistened for humidity humidity in my basement never gets below around 50 year round and is often higher this summer as my work schedule has gotten busier this plant has wilted several times and has only been fertilized maybe twice in the last year but it is happy this photo reasserts my advocacy of letting pets dry out between waterings and for going light on the fertilizer one of the most common questions i get is why won t my pet bloom often with some questioning i hear that the plants are kept constantly moist and fertilized often it is true that his treatment makes lovely and lush foliage but i fear it is at the expense of flowers pets in nature often grow in rather harsh conditions where they dry out between rains prior to taking the photo i removed 17 spent flowers and there are 68 flowers still on the plant if i counted them correctly it makes a lovely sight and you can see the flower potential if given proper culture so this morning being greeted by this lovely sight i took the time to stop and smell the petrocosmeas i have three of these p sericeas in bloom now and remember this species is fragrant the scent is great i hope you have some pets in bloom to enjoy too posted by tim at 5 10 pm sunday july 24 2011 petrocosmeas with fragrance i ve posted about this before but wanted to remind those of you who are growing p minor or p sericea or p sp ht 2 to sniff the flowers when they bloom for you this year in the gs convention show paul kroll entered a flowering p minor this was an unusual entry since p minor rarely blooms at this time of year i used this opportunity one morning in the showroom to conduct an informal survey with those who were viewing the show i asked ten people to sniff the flowers of the p minor seven of the ten people could detect the fragrance it was mid afternoon and for me the flowers are most fragrant very early in the morning but still the fragrance was there of those who could smell the fragrance i asked them to describe it all said spicy four also detected a floral scent along with the spice two said it reminded them of carnations three people could not detect the scent at all i find that for many of the gesneriads that have fragrant flowers there are always a good percentage of people who cannot detect fragrance covering or enclosing the blooming petrocosmea will also help to concentrate the fragrance i also feel that some clones are more fragrant than others the veined leaf form of p minor the one often labeled p sp 5 is the most fragrant so just a reminder to take the opportunity to enjoy yet one more incredible trait of these fabulous gesneriads so take the time to stop and smell the pets posted by tim at 8 19 pm petrocosmea minor kinship group this year i entered my first petrocosmea kinship collection in the gesneriad society convention show a kinship group is an effective way to showcase a parent and its offspring dominant characteristics can easily be illustrated with this type of entry as well as utilizing the entry to introduce new hybrids i chose to showcase petrocosmea minor and four of its hybrid offspring since p minor has been quite the challenge to hybridize with it has never performed successfully for me as a seed parent and has only functioned as a pollen parent in three crosses so far i must have pollinated a hundred flowers actually likely more than that last year i think i applied pollen to every p minor flower that opened all failures the crosses that have worked have been p minor crossed onto p forresttii p sericea and p rosettifolia the cross with p sericea which like p minor has fragrant flowers also produced fragrant offspring pictured above is my petrocosmea minor kinship collection starting with p minor at the top and moving clockwise there is p paul kroll an unnamed seedling of p rosettifolia x minor p keystone s blue jay and p keystone s slippery rock i used tan fabric as a unifying drape for the collection since i like the brown tones against the green pets pictured above is a new hybrid p keystone s slippery rock which is p forresttii x minor this cultivar had lots of flowers and inherited a nice compact rosette from p forresttii and the shiny round leaves of p minor it was my favorite seedling from the cross slippery rock is a city about an hours drive north of my home in pittsburgh in western pennsylvania the glossiness of the leaves reminded me of a slippery quality so the name was to honor a great university town in pa pictured above is p paul kroll a sibling from the p forresttii x minor cross that produced p keystone s slippery rock this plant has flatter leaves with more prominent veining a dark green round leaf with a bluish coloration and a nice combination of glossiness and hairness to the leaves it was the most floriferous plant from the cross producing lots of flowers you ve heard me mention my friend paul on here before paul is a skilled grower of pets and has shared lots of new petrocosmeas with me over the years so i wanted to honor him with this new hybrid the kinship group got lots of positive comments and received a first place ribbon from the judges i had lots of requests for leaves of the new hybrids so i hope they will be enjoyed by other admirers of pets soon posted by tim at 7 57 pm sunday july 17 2011 petrocosmeas go to convention well the annual international convention of the gesneriad society is but a fond memory now but what a great time we had philadelphia was the site for this years convention and the fast paced week was full of fun friends and of course gesneriads while i do love the plants i always leave convention reaffirming that the chance to spend a week among friends who also love gesneriads is the best part and this year was no exception on the petrocosmea front pets got their fair sha...