2025 Convention – Speakers

Gesneriads Gather in the Garden State

June 29 to July 5, 2025

Olive Ma Robinson (New York)“Take Me to the Jungle”
– Finding Gesneriads in the Dominican Republic
Olive has been the co-owner of Violet Barn since 1998. She is the breeder of the Ma’s series of standard African violets and a few Bristol’s kohlerias and sinningias. Olive was born and raised in Taiwan. At 11, the answer to what to be when grown up was to grow and sell flowers and plants. Though growing plants has always been her passion, in high school, one afternoon strolling into the deep woods and wowed by the abundance of ferns, at that moment she thought studying and researching ferns would be her future. Since then, participating in a botanical expedition has been on her bucket list. Though not about ferns, her trip to the Dominican Republic to see and find gesneriads is even more exciting. She can’t wait to share this experience with everyone!

Dirk Bellstedt (South Africa)“Streptocarpus –
Diverse Habitats and Implications for Cultivation”
Although trained as a biochemist, Dirk Bellstedt has always had a passion for plants, particularly African violets and Streptocarpus, which he has cultivated intensively. He trained in South Africa at Stellenbosch University. In the mid 1990’s, Dirk was able to apply his biochemical expertise to DNA sequencing technologies in the then-embryonic field of plant molecular systematics.  He advanced up the academic ranks to full professor in 2010 and retired at the end of 2019. He remains scientifically active in retirement with more new species descriptions to follow. Extensive field work on Streptocarpus in southern Africa and Madagascaar was conducted during various project. Dirk’s talk will provide an overview of our current understanding of the genus Streptocarpus, with particular focus on the diversity of habitats in which it is found and the implications for cultivation.

Panel Discussion – “Growing Streptocarpus”
As a companion session to the presentation by Dirk Bellstedt that will have a substantial focus on Streptocarpus “in the wild,” we are going to be treated to a panel discussion on growing these wonderful plants. The panelists are all expert growers, much awarded and with a great many years of collective experience. Each will briefly present on their conditions and growing strategies, leaving plenty of time for discussion, questions and answers.

Bob Stewart (Massachusetts)Bob (and his wife Dee) have been growing gesneriads for about 50 years now having grown unifoliates and other species in novel ways. He has grown most of the available genera at some point, with varying degrees of success.
Hung Nguyen (California) Hung’s journey with gesneriads started with Streptocarpus ‘Falling Stars’ bought at Long’s Drugs. Over the years his collection has grown to include many alpine or cool-temperature genera along with Streptocarpus, with many grown outdoors thanks to the temperate climate where he lives.
Ralph (Rob) Robinson (New York) Rob began growing African violets, later gesneriads, as a teenager in the early 1970’s. He made a career change starting the Violet Barn (then Rob’s Violets) in 1991, growing and selling African violets and other gesneriads as a full-time career. Rob has been hybridizing African violets, specializing in miniatures since 1981, and Streptocarpus (the “Bristol’s” series) since the late 1980’s.
Terri Vicenzi (Indiana)Terri grows Streptocarpus, Smithiantha, and many other gesneriads.  At her first Gesneriad Society convention in 2019, Terri won Best Streptocarpus and Runner-up to Best in Horticulture with Streptocarpus ‘Little Kan’. Terri is passionate about sharing her love of growing these plants.

Ron Myhr (Canada) – “Great Beauty, No Flowers”
Ron has been a member of The Gesneriad Society/AGGS for almost fifty years. He grows a small selection of a wide variety of plants and has won many ribbons over the years. Throughout his years of taking and studying pictures of gesneriads for the Gesneriad Reference Web and our Society, Ron has always been enthralled by the beauty of many species and cultivars even when they had no flowers. The beautiful foliage and form of these plants is just as rewarding to the eye as the flowers. And sometimes more so! Ron will be talking about the range of beautiful foliage (and stems and tubers) within the Gesneriad Family, with a bit of focus on how those leaves get to be so beautiful.

Margery Anderson-Clive (Portugal) – GHA Speaker
After Margery was introduced to sinningias at the AVSA International 1987 Convention in Dallas, TX, she began hybridizing compact and miniatures in the’90s with her purchases from Small’s Nursery having attended the 1993 Gesneriad Society International’s convention in Tampa, Florida. The demand for sinningias was rapidly increasing, but not for many of the gesneriad cousins, which, much to her chagrin, were often referred to by the uninitiated, as “weeds.” It wasn’t long before she was referred to as the “Weed Lady.” Hundreds of crosses later, she admits that after thirty years, it seems the “Weed Lady” has earned the last laugh. Margery is now retired and living in Portugal on The Silver Coast.

See Gesneriads 1Q25 for additional information and pictures.