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Howdy from Ohio!  I've been gardening here for 25 years and my 3 favorite families of plants are Irises, Gesneriads, and Amaryllids.  I'm especially fond of the species from the Americas... and even more so those that are locally native.  I'm doing lots of hybridizing work with Iris (outdoors) and Sinningia (indoors)... and I've dabbled in hybridizing Smithiantha, Eucodonia, Hippeastrum, Polianthes (now Agave), and Hymenocallis.  Another hybridizing obsession I have is with Opuntia (some are geophytic, some are not) also known as prickly-pear cactus.

With Opuntia my focus is crossing the native Ohio species with nearly-native species from the east coast, deep south, and central plains.  The idea is to expand the color pallet of what will happily grow outdoors here.

With Agave my focus is crossing the native Ohio species with fragrant and colorful species from the south & southwest.  The idea is to get colorful, fragrant, showy plants that can happily grow outdoors here year round.

With Iris there's almost too much to talk about.  To say I'm obsessed would be an understatement.  For about 20 years I was the webmaster for the Aril Society International, and for over 20 years and counting I've been the webmaster for the Species Iris Group of North America.  I have grown dozens of Iris species from around the world and hundreds if not thousands of hybrids.  I've gone on Iris expeditions in Greece, Ohio, Kentucky, Newfoundland, and northern California.  I love to hybridize irises too.  Each year my focus shifts a little bit.  Sometimes it's strictly arilbreds, sometimes it's Louisianas, and then this year it's crossing bearded irises with Iris tectorum.

With Sinningia, it's just pure fun.  For reasons which defy my comprehension, I can easily grow species that other growers can't.  And that gives me unique opportunities at hybridizing with them, and my success has been astonishing!  Here in Ohio we get 4 to 6 months of wintery weather that keeps me indoors.  That's when I play with my Sinningias.  I do not grow them outside, and I am not hybridizing for hardiness.  My overwhelming success with them indoors means that they are strictly indoor plants for me.

Despite all of my hybridizing activity I have only named & introduced one plant into commerce.  It is ×Smithicodonia 'Clara the Storyteller', a hybrid between a Eucodonia and Smithiantha.  Picture attached.  It has pink flowers with yellow throats dotted heavily in pink.  The leaves are chartreuse-green with red veins.  There aren't a lot of ×Smithicodonia in commerce, and this one is totally unique.

Hi Dennis,

Welcome to the Forum.  It seems we share a mutual interest in Iridaceae and Gesneriaceae.
With Gesneriads my focus is on the few genera and species that will survive 15F.

Hello!  Gesneriads won't survive winters outdoors here so I don't even try anymore.  I know Dr. Lindstrom was hybridizing Sinningia for cold hardiness in the South, I'm not sure if that was Z7 or Z8.  I have some of his seedlings but they're houseplants for me.  Do you grow anything like that?  I've heard some of the Gesneriad species from Chile have been grown outdoors in PNW but I don't remember the details.

I have tried several times with Sinningia tubiflora

outside - no survivors at -7°C. The only gesneriads that work outdoors for me, planted in a vertical wall, are Ramonda myconi and Haberlea rhodopensis, both not tuberous.

Quote from: Dennis Kramb on June 21, 2022, 08:19:58 PMHello!  Gesneriads won't survive winters outdoors here so I don't even try anymore.  I know Dr. Lindstrom was hybridizing Sinningia for cold hardiness in the South, I'm not sure if that was Z7 or Z8.  I have some of his seedlings but they're houseplants for me.  Do you grow anything like that?  I've heard some of the Gesneriad species from Chile have been grown outdoors in PNW but I don't remember the details.

I grow Sinningia sellowiana [sellovii], and 3 Ourisia hybrids where minimum temperature reaches 15F -9.4C. I understand that Secret Garden Growers in Canby, OR offers several other hardy Gesneriads.