Although Cape Primroses greatly benefit from regular feeding, do not feed a young plant as it does not have a well-developed root system. We are the holders of the U.K. National Collection of Streptocarpus. We have been awarded many prizes for our plants including 33 Gold Medals from the Chelsea Flower Show. If your Streptocarpus is still wilting after a few days of sitting in moist soil, there could be an issue with its ability to update water. In this case, we recommend to save the specimen by taking leaf cuttings and placing them in water for 24hrs. After this period, discard any still-wilting/floppy leaves as these won't root and will soon die when potted up. For the rest of the leaves that have hardened again, follow our tips on leaf cuttings in the 'Propagation' section below to restart your plant from scratch. I thought all Streptocarpus required mollycoddling until I stumbled upon Streptocarpus saxorum. In truth I didn’t know what I had stumbled upon for about three years as I couldn’t identify it at first. Every summer I would stay in a German castle on a business trip, and there the window boxes in the courtyard would be filled with a plant possessed of soft, felted, green leaves, bearing lilac flowers on long wiry stems. They had the appearance of little butterflies fluttering in a breeze.

In their native habitats, Streptocarpus species often grow at the edge of and in forests, and also under the forest canopy where they thrive in shade in humid conditions.

Actually, this particular ‘feature’ offers an interesting and enjoyable way to introduce children to gardening. All these pests can be controlled but the best course of action is to regularly carefully inspect each plant, particularly during spring and summer, so that any infestation can be spotted early and dealt with before it spreads and becomes hard to control. Buying Streptocarpus Lawrence’s studies also suffered from the extra workload imposed on him by the reduction in staff as more and more of his gardeners were called up for war duties. In 1972 John Innes released its first batch of seven new varieties of Streptocarpus named; Diana, Fiona, Karen, Louise, Marie, Paula and Tina through the National Seed Development Organisation (NSDO). Later Brown developed further varieties, both by traditional breeding methods and by X-ray and chemical-induced mutation.

William Lawrence began his career in horticulture to save his eyesight, after the family doctor told his parents ‘the boy may go blind unless he gets a job out-of-doors’. At a hardiness rating of H1C they are frost tender yet cannot be kept outdoors in even part sun in the summer as they are also ‘sun tender’! 2 Streptocarpus glandulosissimus. (n.d.). Royal Horticultural Society. Retrieved March 24, 2023, from https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/17816/cape-primrose/details Small whitish papery spots – often elongated or in a line across a leaf.These dead patches are caused by the sun’s rays concentrated by irregularities in window glass or water droplets I will take cuttings before the winter sets in, as the plants are not frost hardy. In the meantime all I have to do is deadhead regularly and feed with a high potash fertiliser every fortnight. Plants usually need re-potting into a slightly larger container every two to three years, in spring.The new John Innes varieties received considerable attention from plant breeders in Holland (where they were awarded a gold medal), but the British market for these new houseplants was slow to develop. pictures submitted by the hybridizers (when available). The underlined hybrid name links to the official description.