Gloxinia

Capable of blooming anytime during the year, regal gloxinias produce rich, colored flowers. Exclusively cultivated for indoor gardening, gloxinia will not successfully transplant outdoors. But that's just as well, because you'll enjoy its tropical blooms better inside. Growing 8 to 12 inches tall, the soft, fragile-looking gloxinia blooms are surrounded by large, dramatic-looking leaves.

Few indoor-blooming plants can boast the richness of color of the velvety trumpets of gloxinia.

• Gloxinia blooms 4 to 10 weeks after you've planted it.
• If you are potting up a gloxinia for the first time, place one tuber per container.
• Use a 6-inch pot with adequate drainage.
• The soil mixture should allow maximum drainage; a commercial African violet mixture is good.
• Set the tuber in the soil with the round side down, and leave its tip barely above the soil.
• Water generously.
• Gloxinia does best in bright, but indirect, light and enjoys temperatures of 60 to 75 degrees F.
• When the first buds appear, feed with a dilute solution of liquid houseplant food.