Chirita speciosa 'Crug Cornetto'
31st October 2015
A spectacular gesneriad collected by Bleddyn Wynn-Jones at 1900m in the mountains around Sapa in North Vietnam in 2003 (under the number HWJ.1056).
He describes it as easily grown in warm conditions and untried for hardiness.
12th June 2016
29th June 2017
I grew it in a cold greenhouse with reasonable success for a couple of years but in the early months of 2018 the 'Beast from the East'
froze the garden solid for a fortnight and plants in the greenhouse did not escpae. Unfortunately this Chirita fell victim
as soon as it froze. No hope of recovery, it has very succulent leaves and stems. Once dead they were very clearly dead.
It is a pity, but hoping a Chirita would be cold hardy was always a long shot.