Alpine Garden Society Victorian Group

                                 Petrocosmea minor.

An evergreen perennial from the mountains of Eastern Asia, China where it grows only on the shaded, limestone rock faces of Yunnan. Usually rosette forming, they belong to the mostly tropical family Gesneriaceae, which contain the more familiar African violet. Petrocosmea minor can't be grown outside in my climate, they need protection from the cold and they don't like to be too wet. As you can see below  the five lobed bell shaped flower's with an open white throat, with a deep purple centre are very pretty and sit above the rosette's. 

Petrocosmea minor downy rounded leaves form rosette's, started out as leaf cuttings that were given to me. I have grown them on but they have gone backwards lately so I thought I had better do some cuttings while our weather was warm enough to promote root growth. 

Leaf cutting's taken a few months ago, I took two leaf cuttings one where the leaf was half buried into the perlite and peat mix. The other just as you see it above, the one half buried rotted so just up to the leaf is the way to go. I used hormone powder #03 on the bottom of the leaf stem.

Leaf cutting ready to pot on into a free draining mix. 

Our next meeting is on 24th April by Ange our very own knowledgable Botanist  speaking on Seed growing and stratification. It will be a zoom meeting at 8.00pm so people interstate and in our county areas can watch and learn without the long drive. Contact Fermi if you would like to see the talk.