I just love this cute little plant 'under' a Thanksgiving cactus (on the right, Aptenia on the left.) I've had this since Feb and it's grown quite a bit, but as you can see, still a tiny thing. It was just 2 stalks of leaves, but I've pruned it to encourage many more tips/branches. I love the way there's bits of pink in the leaves of most of the plants in this pot although the Aptenia isn't showing that at the moment.

Who has a Columnea? What kind? I would love to see pics!

Very pretty ... looks like Columnea 'Broget Stavanger':

http://www.gesneriads.ca/colum...

http://www.gesneriads.ca/colum...

or possibly the sport 'Maarsen's Flame': http://www.gesneriads.ca/colum...

I love columnea. Not something one typically sees in houseplants anymore.

Yeah, I had no idea what it was when I saw it, and never heard of Columnea before. As small as it is, it's about 3x bigger than it was when I got it in Feb. So cute, wish they were more common! I'd like to have much more of it around.

Lin, those are amazing pics, the flowers are huge compared to the leaves. Hopefully mine will feel up to the task someday! I'm sorry, I thought I said above, it's 'Frosty Hills.' It had a lot more pink on the leaves when I got it. Not showing in the pic well at all, what little there is. The summer sun may have been a little much for it, even in the morning.

Aptenia loves full sun but Columnea are Gesneriads (same family as African Violets, Streptocarpus etc.) and don't like direct sun at all. 'Frosty Hills' has such pretty foliage and from this photo the blooms are gorgeous against those variegated leaves: http://www.kartuz.com/pc/10217...

I just submitted a proposal to add cultivar 'Frosty Hills' to the database; I hope once it's approved you will add a photo of your plant.

Yeah, that's what I thought, too much sun for the pink. Thanks for the help! It's hard to keep everybody cool and shaded here, plants, pets & people. The east end of the porch where this pot hangs is the lowest-light area I have. Sounds like it should be having more pink soon, especially when it comes inside. When this pot gets a re-do, I'll move the Columnea to the shady side, if the combo stays the same.

The Gesneriads are a whole group of awesome house plants that are rare to find. In almost 7 years, I'm still looking for Streptocarpella here. Even AV's seen out of fashion currently.

purpleinopp said:

The Gesneriads are a whole group of awesome house plants that are rare to find. In almost 7 years, I'm still looking for Streptocarpella here. Even AV's seen out of fashion currently.

It is an awesome group of plants - I love the lipstick vines as well. The Gesneriads have always been one of my favorite groups.

I have a couple of Lipstick plants too ... love when they bloom.

Hi all I just saw this post...I have a couple cuttings mine is called 'Lava Flow' and I've never seen it bloom (I've had it for a couple months) and it just now seems to be getting settled and looking like its not going to croak!

I just did a google search and didn't realize how cool the blooms are going to be - mottled orange!!

Greg, cutting looks great! I got some 'lipstick plant' cuttings this spring and they didn't make it when the unscheduled monsoon season came up this summer. I wonder if that's a common name for all Aeschynanthus? IDK. Aeschynanthus and Columnea are 2 diff plants, AFAIK, but they are very similar. I hope you'll add a pic *when* you get those awesome flowers!

Here's a pic of my Col today, from above, with flowers starting on its' companion (Schlumbergera truncata.)

Nice shot Tiffany! And yes I will add photo once I have blooms!

purple---

Your picture above is of a Thanksgiving cactus--It is NOT a Columnia.

Columneas are the "Lipstick Plants"--"Goldfish plants"--etc...

Here is a good link that shows the many faces of Columneas....

http://lyndonlyon.com/CP%20Lis...

Gita

Sorry--
I just realized you were talking about the small plant growing under the CC.
Please ignore my comment--but the link is good!

Gita

Well I'm glad if we got that awesome link out of it. I had no idea there was so much variation in the flowers, or that there were that many diff Columneas at all. Thanks so much for sharing it!

Took a new pic of this little cutie yesterday. It seems to like looking east inside as much as outside.


How are other Columneas out there coping with winter?