PlantFiles: Kohleria
Kohleria 'Longwood'

This hybrid Kohleria has been a very pleasant and welcome surprise to me. I first saw it back in the early 1980s at Longwood Gardens and never forgot it. I obtained it just a few years back from Logee's Greenhouses. I find it very easy to grow and bloom in pots. As I had several pots by the end of last summer, I left a couple of them over-winter outdoors last winter (2011-12). They both survived! Very easy to propagate from either cuttings (even in water) or from "bulbs" that are formed prodigiously in established pots. While it can bloom indoors at any time I find it blooms best outside in late summer through fall. My next project with it will be to try growing it in the ground.

This is the first time I saw this flower. I think it is pretty and I'll have to try and get some for my garden.