PlantFiles: Hardy Gloxinia
Seemannia sylvatica 'Bolivian Sunset'

Very beautiful plant. I inherited this plant, had no idea what it was called until today.

The first plant I had I accidentally killed by over feeding, however when emptying the pot out I found little shots which are now happily growing where I throw them.

Very easy plant to go.

One of those plants that when you first see it "you got to be kidding me".

This stuff is fantastic. Did very well in the deep freeze last year. Blooms in the drought conditions. We did have a slight freeze the day after Thanksgiving and it all turned black... and now there are new green shoots going wild a few weeks after this.

A funky plant. Love it.

My husband and I found this plant in a little garden shop in Key West, early December, several years ago. It had no label and the sales person had no idea what it was, but I fell in love with the beautiful orange flowers and the dark green foliage. I planted it in my garden in Pascagoula, Ms on the Gulf Coast and it came back every year and bloomed around Nov - Dec. However, when the first frost came, it would die back. I finally found what I thought was the plant in my Southern Living Gardner's Book(which I love by the way) and have since found it here. I am delighted to be able to purchase another plant. It's easy to grow and very nice to see the blooms in early winter !!

The correct name for this species is now Seemannia sylvatica.

Hello,

The 'Bolivian Sunset' or Gloxinia sylvatica is also growing in Indonesia.
I took some plants home and will send pictures as soon they flowering again.

Regards,

Yanthi Syamsihono.

I have been fooling with these plants a lot lately in the plant shop I work in. A few weeks ago I was doing some major cleaning, and a piece of this plant broke off and hit the ground behind the shelves, out of my reach. Well, today I was playing 'snake wrangler' and trying to get a snake out of the shop when I happened upon the piece that had broken off a few weeks back, and much to my surprise, it was growing!!! Right there on the concrete, it had started rooting and growing! Not only is this a unique and beautiful plant, it seems to be rather easy to propagate!

When I asked a friend to purchase a Gloxinia for me, she brought the Brazilian Sunset. I thought she made a BIG mistake and went to the garden shop where she purchased it. Was I in for a BIG surprise! It has died down now, but I expect (from reading the entries) that it will come back to life soon. I KNOW I'm going to LOVE it! Thanks to all for the info.
Joyce

This plant does well as far north as extreme N. Florida (8b-9a). It gets nipped back a bit in the late winter, early spring, but comes right on back from the rhizomes and is a "neat" non-aggressive spreader. It could be grown for the attractive dark, shiny vegetation alone, but the bright orange blooms, especially in the winter when nothing else is blooming, are quite eye-catching. If you can tolerate a fairly bare patch in your garden for a couple of months before the plants re-awaken and start to fill in, I would highly recommend giving it a try.

First saw this plant in Yahala FL, at the Yahala Bakery. It formed a lush bed, with innumerable blooms, about 2 1/2 feet tall. A few months later, we stopped by and it had been trimmed to about 6 inches.
I picked up a few plants in Daytona Beach. It grows fast and spreads. The plants with at least partial shade, fare better. They will die back on their own, then pop up again. We live in Central Florida.

luvferretstoo

Bought this plant as a small specimen - grew in kitchen window for months, when it looked like it needed to be thrown away I took it out side, decided to plant it in the ground and now have a large bed - growing larger every year. One year with a colder winter than usual it froze back, but came back in the spring. I love the color in winter and like that it grows in the shade - great plant for north side of house. It's fascinating how it sets blooms as soon as we have a few nights in the 50's and blooms all winter.

Grown outdoors in dappled shade with plenty of water, the density of the foliage and flowers makes a spectacular show. Mine died down in the spring , then came back during the rainy season.

This is a great fall to early winter flowering perennial in central Florida, in moist soil in partial shade. It spreads rapidly from rhizomes and forms a dense ground cover. I give flowering starts of it from my garden as Christmas presents!

The above was written in 2003, the patches of Gloxinia that I have now occupy about 20 square feet or more of solid cover. The first flowers appeared in late October, and it has flowered continuously until now (April 4, 2005) and the last of its flowers will be gone in a few days.