Blog 2010 (May thru August 15th )
I have moved on to another Blog page (August 15th - December)
August 15, 2010
As I have the chance to meet more folks involved in this hobby/passion/whatever, I continue to be amazed at the generosity of some of the biggest names growing today. Today I attended the monthly meeting of the Northern Illinois Gesneriad Society to enjoy a presentation by famed grower and hybridizer Dale Martens.
To say that I enjoyed her program is a HUGE understatement. It was akin to being in a lecture/lab in graduate school with a Professor that motivates and inspires. I may have learned more about growing the "other gesneriads" in the first 10 minutes of her program then I have in the last 5 years.
Shown below holding two of her hybrids, the white flowering plant is streptocarpus Heartland's Baby Egrets (See the photo on the top of the home page!!! Really, go look!)
and the other is a seedling of Heartland's Baby Egrets x S. lilliputana.
Below are a few more of her strep hybrids she brought to show the society members and guests.
Streptocarpus 'Heartland's Tanzania'
Streptocarpus 'Heartland's Peacock'
Best in Class 31A
Old World Gesneriads in Flower – Fibrous-Rooted
Streptocarpus, subgenus Streptocarpus, hybrids (larger growing)
Streptocarpus 'Dale's Scarlet Macaw' exhibited by Bill Price
hybridized by Dale Martens
The photo below shows just a portion of the leaves, cuttings, and plants she gave away to the group. All of them were rare finds all carefully labeled and fresh as can be!
I won't be able to fit all my raves in a single night's entry, so I'll close tonight with a reminder from Dale herself. Next years Gesneriad Society Conference is in Philadelphia opening on July 5th. Get there if at all possible!!!!!!!
She's promising it will be an unforgetable event.
August 13,2010
Okay, so I've been playing around boasting about some of my plants as we approach show season. Here's where I reveal that not everything is growing picture perfect.
Below is a photo of two plants growing in Andrea's cool basement. On the top is 'Celina Elegance' and the bottom 'Sierra Sunrise". Both look great.
Below is my 'Celina Elegance' showing a substantial culture break as a result of the hot house upstairs before I moved all show prospects downstairs prior to going out East last month. The second photo shows what I had to tear it down to and start over.
Crap-a-roo!!
August 11, 2010
So let me admit that it was actually I, and not Andrea, that made her prediction of BIS. She just predicted she would win best miniature at athe FVAVS show on Oct. 9.. So today while grooming my plants I came across my plant of 'Little Tyke' which will hopefully upset her prediction!
I've been following the wise advise of my violet mentor and have been madly tearing down and shaping my plants and repotting if needed. I do NOT take the drastic measures that Andrea Worrell does when she chops off sometimes as much as 85% of the root ball to bury a neck! I'm usually around to scoop up the pile of leaves to put down, but this photo series shows how she puts down the chapped off root mass to produce a cluster of plantlets! We'll have to check back on it in a few months to see how this root clump of 'Sassy Angel' is doing!!!
Above show the small amount of potting mix in the solo cup. Following photos show the top and bottom of the root mass.
The stump is dropped in, watered, and domed before going back under the lights.
My plant of 'Chantspring' is bulging out of the solo cup. Now I have to get it to bloom!!
Below is Andrea's 'Yukako'. I've had 3 plants off this for 6 months and they refuse to grow! They may be headed for the trash.
August 3, 2010
Spent a good part of yesterday over at Andrea Worrell's plant room watching once again her technique for tearing down plants for repotting an advance of show season. She agressively prunes the violets and attacks the root ball with a giant butcher knife. It's a dramatic process compared to my technique which is more akin to playing the game 'Operation'. You will hear it here first folks, but she has proclaimed that her plant of 'Jolly Ace' shown below WILL win Best Miniature and perhaps Best in Show at the upcoming Fox Valley AVS show! Bold claim my dear Mentor!!!
I thought i would also mention here that there is now a Facebook page for the Illinois AVS. A simple search on FB will get you there. I finally got my act together and put in an order at ThreeOakViolets. Can't wait to get my hands on those leaves. I've decided to go back to using vermiculite for my propagation cups and lose the bags to decrease loss to dampening off.
Here are a few more plants I recently groomed to get ready for show season.
On a completely non-violet ralted topic, August is wedding season and a wedding this weekend requires over 1000 large pink hydrangeas from Holland. I've been telling our flower broker that I wished i could see them now to ensure their quality, so today I rec'd this photo in my inbox with a note that read 'Sent the guys out to greenhouse 17 to take this photo of your benches we will cut on Wednesday and ship FedEx to you overnight. Relax and get ready to smile when you open the boxes!"
It should make the bride quite happy!!!
August 1, 2010
Okay, I'll admit that some days or weeks the violets lose their appeal and I avoid them until they scream. Fortunately for them that doesn't happen often. Lately though I've been spending lots of time with the plants even getting up at 4:00 a.m. to work in a few hours before work and then 3 more hours after work. Without a doubt the time spent pays off in making the violets look much happier.
Fall show season is now 10 weeks away, and I think all my repotting and early grooming and disbudding is over. Now I'll start boosting a bit more fertilizer ( I bought a kind today that was recommended by my violet pal Harold A. His violets always look dynamite.) and start misting the plants with distilled water twice or three times a week to clean up the foilage and keep them cooler in the hot August weather without air conditioning.
I'll undoubtedly have a few more leaves to remove in the last few weeks before, but overall I'm pleased with their growth, centers, and form.
Here's one of my 'Pixie Storm' plants ( actual size)
This is 'Jolly Treasure' just starting to grow into its mature size from a leaf put down in January.
At the AVSA show in Raleigh this past April, I saw a plant of 'Handmade' exhibited by Catherine Thompson that was lovely. The blooms are a vibrant blue/purple but I really loved the foliage more. It gets very round with a cream-pink variegation. It almost reminded me of geranium foliage in miniature. I found a source for some leaves when I got back home and now the plantlets are starting to fill out.
July 30, 2010
I've been working in the basement where I moved all of my show plants when I went to Cape Cod, stripping down leaves to encourage a better symmetrical form and stimulate new growth. As I have posted many times before, the task quickly becomes almost overwhelming.
Over the last year I've been transitioning from standards to semi's and mini's to conserve space, and have been collecting some slightly more unusual violets rather than the typicalRobinson selection. As a result, I feel obligated to get those leaves down to propagate if for no better reason than to have a spare or two (thus the space problem!)
Here are a few shots of my many many shelves of plants after a bit of grooming.
Now I will not reveal here how many stands I have, but previously these two shelves each held a single plant of 'Tiger' each over 36" across! That craziness just had to stop!
The plantlets that I divided up in May are starting to develop into young maturing plants. Here are a few of the 12+ trays of them from that potting session.
I came across this video on YouTube of Holtkamp's commercial production in TN. I need all this space and the staff to go with it!
July 26, 2010
I was at brunch with some violet pals yesterday, when one of them casually said something like "that was around the time that Darryl Hoover introduced 'Chicago Flair'"!!!! Well Chicago Flair is one of my favo0rite standards and I didn't make the connection between the D Hoover on FC2 and Darryl.
When I got home I emailed Darryl to tell him "good work" and he shared that the parentage was Mindi Brooke x Maggie Lee. Kudos Darryl!
July 24, 2010
This is an exciting week for planning ahead in violets. The show schedule for the Missouri Valley AVC arrived via email this week. Their show, planned for mid-October in Joplin, MO, will be the first show of theirs I'll be attending.
Following my theory that you should jump into new experiences with gusto,I've already sent in my check for registration, emailed my design reservations, offered to bring some foodstuff for the hospitality room, and find stuff for the goodie bags! (It was only after all this that I actually looked to see where Joplin was on the map!!!!!!!!! HOLY COW! It turns out to be about 10 minutes or so outside of the Oklahoma state line. I better start driving now. Maybe it just all sounds overwhelming having just returned home from driving 2600+ miles back and forth from the Provincetown AVS show.
I also heard last night that the show schedule for the local Fox Valley AVS has been approved and is about to go out to the members. That also promises to be a fun show.
Both shows offer a design class using a non-blooming violet. That sounds like a creative idea it will be fun to explore.
July 22, 2010
Holy Cow! Is it possible that I haven't posted since July 8th?? Well, in my defense I was out of town until yesterday evening visiting New England. The weather was HOT!
I was fortunate enough to spend several days in Cape Cod visiting with members of the "Provincetown African Violet Society". The photo below shows me with club member Mr. Pixie, and club president Cashetta Frances.
PAVS Pres Cashetta, an unknown club member and Show Chairman Agnes Ridgefield ready for the Safari-themed dinner opening the 3 day show
Cashetta shown here trying to solicit new members
Ms Ridgefield was happy to have some of the P-Town police around for show security.
The closing night dinner dance for the violet society had a theme of
"Holidays with Violets"
Agnes Ridgefield, show chairman debuted her Easter nest of chicks and violets on the streets the night before the dinner(above) , and in the end went for the classic look of St. Nick!
Looking at all of my photos Of the colorful members and show attendees, I find now that I forgot to photograph the VIOLETS! They were all lovely too!
Below is a photo of the dinner dance from the last night of the show.
July 8, 2010 Not a lot new to report. Still stripping down plants to get them ready for the shows in fall. That means that I'm also still putting down leaves! Almost gone through 700 cups in the last few days.
I need to correct an earlier comment I made about the Magill Cup award I was given at the IAVS show at the end of June. Earlier I had said that the award may have started in the 80's and not been awarded since 1994! Well, both of those statements turn out to be wrong. I understand now that the award is believed to have started in the 60's and at some point all the engraved names were removed and placed on a plaque which is now somewhere.? I was also corrected that the cup had been awarded since 1994 but the IAVS hasn't gotten around to getting names added since 1994!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Add that to the fact that the other traveling award for design has gone AWOL and it would all suggest that our state group needs a good kick in the awards department!
I got a call this week from a fellow violet grower in the state who called to tell me that I MUST get thank you cards out to those folks who provided cash awards for the show. When I responded that indeed my cards had gone out in the mail the Tuesday morning following the Sunday show I was admonished for not getting them out on Monday! Just so we're clear, I spent Monday designing and making the cards I sent. Following that, and knowing full well that I had most of the designs entered and awarded in the show, this fellow violet grower said that the quality of designs being entered was declining and the state group needed to have a design clinic!
(Sometimes I don't wonder why membership in clubs is declining)
July 4, 2010
Happy Fourth everyone. I had an enjoyable day at a BBQ with some violet pals, trading plants and talking "shop". I'm still busy tearing down plants to stimulate some fresh growth for the next wave of violet shows in October. Lots of leaves going down to root that I'm sure I'll be sharing with friends in the violet and gesneriad clubs.
Prior to the judging of the recent state show where I worked not as a student judge, but as a clerk; I had the chance to talk with judge and IAVS member Adrienne Rieck. As you can see on the home page, she grows amazing violets and has been judging for quite some time. We spoke about what makes a good judge, and therefore a good exhibitor.
While I do all my driving along the country roads I know so well, I sort out all of the unfiled bits of information floating in my mind, and I've been remembering something Adrienne said that I have also found true in art.
She told me (and may have attributed this to Bill Foster) that a good judge needs to approach the entries in a show committed to avoid the word "like". Like is an emotional word that can result in emotional decisions. I teach my art students to never use "like" when responding to the work of other artists for the same reason. We may all have our own lists of favorite varieties we grow or envy but that is not the purpose of the judging/critique process.
The judges handbook teaches us to judge a plant on its merit alone. Points are assigned to specific aspects of the plants form and culture. Judges are expected to be active growers to ensure we know how to advise. Plants need good care and proper cultural conditions to thrive. Like art, designs are evaluated within the elements and principles of design. We must know color structure and dynamics. Understand the delicate dance between actual line and implied line. Focal area, balance, texture etc. These are the evaluative tools that offer the exhibitor specific and constructive criticism.
While clerking the show and judging still in process, some of the general public strolling by commented to me how devastated they would be to receive the comments of the judges. I asked them to be specific and one woman brought me to a red ribbon entry that said "Nice plant but needs more open blooms. Learn to remove the yellowing immature leaves on the outside to improve form."
Now as I stated, that was not a grower but a member of the public that seem horrified at this advice. We need to remember that as a panel of three judges plow through all of the entries taking the time for helpful comments is a gift.
June 29, 2010
The routine of growing violets for show is such an odd process. As I spent the day yesterday disbudding all the plants around the house, I'm reminded of all the effort that went into coaxing them out and hoping they would survive the heat waves we've had in the Chicago area the last eight weeks or so.
Naturally, all of the plants that had such great form but no matter what trick I tried, refused to bloom are now all sending up dozens of bud sprays. There was some mild satisfaction in pulling those off!
June 28, 2010
Just playing around with a few photos of plants from the IAVS show.
June 27,2010
OMG! I didn't realize that it had been so long since the last update. I've been fighting some substantial computer Internet troubles. Yikes!
Well, lots to report on following the Illinois African Violet Society at the Chicago Botanic Gardens in Glencoe, IL this past weekend. BIS went to Adrienne Rieck with her standard 'Mid-America' (see home page photo). Second BIS went to Judi DuPont and her only entry in the show; 'Baby Brian' that also won Best Trailer.
Andrea Worrell won Best Mini with her 'Jolly Ace', and also won the Helen Rhoades Challenge with her plant of 'Jolly Mischief'!
BBAVS club member Cindy Chrisos entered her first violet show, and came home with 3 blue first place ribbons, 2 green best in class, and 2 red second place ribbons. WAY TO GO CINDY! One of her BIC awards was the Best Streptocarpus!
Frances Jarnowski also of the BBAVS club won best in class with her terrarium.
So, if you've been following us on Facebook, you know that we've been challenging the members of the Fox Valley AVS in this show. Luckily for them, FVAVS club pres. Tomi Griesnauer and her girl scout troop entered a whopping 35? plants and in the end beat me out for the Hort. Sweepstakes by one ribbon. This is her AVSA Semi Collection that won Second Best Collection.
Adrienne Rieck also won Best Vintage with her plant of 'Gail', and Best Species.
Okay that's enough for tonight of the other folks. I too had success at this show. Thanks entirely to the selfless mentorship this past year by Andrea Worrell, I took home my own pile of ribbon rosettes and a silver cup!
I entered 15 plants and 7 designs and won blue ribbons for all of those, 19 Best in Class ribbons, rosettes for Best AVSA Semi/Mini collection, Best Semi, Best Design, Second Best Design, Design Sweepstakes, and The Magill Cup Collection (An IAVS Challenge class for a collection of 5 plants of one classification size (i.e. 5 standards or 5 semi's, etc. AVSA registration not necessary)
According to the engraved plaques on the base of the silver cup the award started in the early 80's yet hasn't been awarded since 1994!
June 12, 2010
Sorry that it's been several days since my last post. Between the shop being busy and getting ready for our state AV show at the end of this month, I've been too preoccupied. The temperature seems to have leveled off to a more normal range over the last week, but the plants are now showing the effect of the very high sudden temps we had a few weeks back. The buds on most of my standards have either melted from that heat or wilted from the very high humidity. Not sure right now what will be looking ready for the show.
I had hoped to have as many as 40-50 entries but that won't be the case now. After years of saving this large terrarium bowl made of thick glass, I found a cover for it this week that seems to fit it perfectly. Didn't want to have to go with the Saran Wrap as a cover!!
I got a shipment this week from the Violet Gallery in PA and Lyndon Lyon in NY. Both orders seemed to have arrived in good shape. How can it be possible to back ordered on leaves from such a large place?
June 7, 2010
Back home from the MVAVC spring meeting. It was nice to have the chance to hang out with other violet growers. Many of the members were folks I had met in Raleigh, but it was nice to meet other folks for the first time. Kent and Joyce Stork brought starter plants of three of their 2010 new hybrids. They went very quickly in the plant sale.
Sadly, the meeting opened at 10:00 followed by a private executive meeting, pot-luck lunch, and general business meeting which ended at 2:00 when I had to leave to make it home by 10:30 p.m., and I had to miss the Stork's presentation on their trip to Russia.
June 2, 2010
I rec'd a note today from an Ohio grower looking for help locating 'Coon Valley', so I've added it to the BOLO tab. Check it out if you have the chance. It could really help a grower out with their collection.
Speaking about adding to a violet collection, I've been redirecting my focus from large and standards to semiminiature and miniature violets. The space issue was really driving me a bit nuts! Several of my violet pals have been educating me on growing a good yet smaller violet. So today, on the way out the door to get work done on the truck at the dealership and then off to the detailer, I grabbed a stack of older AVM's. I do that frequently because they're like rereading a favorite novel. So I'm sitting there in the dealership waiting room and I'm reading the March/April 1997 issue, when I turn to the the "Thinking Small" column. In this issue Pat Richards from KS, (maybe I'll meet her this weekend?) invited Darryl Hoover to guest author her column which as you may have guessed by the name is about growing semiminiature and miniature violets.
In typical AVM and Darryl Hoover fashion, it's a great article you should all revisit if you have that issue still around. Lately I've been on the hunt for some high quality smaller violets that were a little different than I typically see for sale on other sites on-line. As you all know, I have been screwed over with buying plants via eBay in the past and vented to you all on pages of this website.
So, I'm happy to announce and share a successful find on eBay. Darryl Hoover as mentioned above, has long been known as a grower and hybridizer of some amazing small violets. Selling under the name of hooverhybrids on eBay, the plants I've rec'd from him over the last several months are stellar. They are well-grown, more developed, and in many cases a bit more unique. He also has a blog about his tips and techniques for growing violets. ( I went out to Home Depot and bought a couple of a pump sprayer he recommended for around $7.00, and he's right, it works great to mist the plants.
Check them both out, BUT heaven help you all if you outbid me!!!!!!!!!
June 1, 2010
The weather here in the Chicago area has been wildly inconsistent. We've had several days in the 90's and now tonight they say we're gonna get hit by aggressive thunderstorms delivering 2" of rain in an hour and winds up to 60mph. Crazy spring.
Our state show is just a little over three weeks away and everyone around here is on "Bud-watch"! The crazy temps have made trying to get the violets to behave and not peak too early a hero's task.
I'm heading down to the spring meeting of the MVAVC (Missouri Valley AV Council) outside of Kansas City, MO where the forecast once again predicts temps in the 90's! I'm eager to have the chance to visit again with the folks I met in Raleigh and have the chance to get to know the other folks too. Joyce and Kent Stork are presenting a program on their trip to Russia with Vladmir Kalgin (sp?)
I made a few new buttons early this morning. Both are chimera violets. One is of 'Yukako', and the the other is from a photo I took in Raleigh of a chimera I hadn't seen before grown by Adrienne Topping of 'Pixie Redhead'.
May 28, 2010
I'm trying a new method of leaf propagation on some semiminiature and miniature leaves. I've shown folks in previous blog entries how Andrea Worrell of The Franklinhouse roots her leaves with good success. This short video will demonstrate what I'm trying out in hopes of losing fewer leaves to rotting.
May 27, 2010
The Stampede is on! My earlier efforts at violet propagation continue to consume every available spot in the house. Thank goodness that I have reclaimed the screened porch as a potting area. I have tray upon tray of leaf pots bursting out with plantlets. The trays look like violet turf they're so dense.
The photos below are 36 pots of Wrangler's Stampede that came from 5-6 leaves I put down in January. The trays never end.
May 25, 2010
I rec'd a few cool strep leaves today at the shop that came to me via Holland. I have a terrible track record propagating streps, but I'm going to give it another try. Wish me luck! (later note: It turns out not to be a strep leaf but my dutch grower and I are working at trying to communicate despite our language barriers!)
Sorry for the lack of posts, but I've been spending the time taking care of the plants in the recent May heatwave we've been having. When I went to bed lat night, it was still 86 in the bedroom, so I finally broke down on turned on the small air conditioner I keep in that room. It seems absurd to have to use it in May.
I just found out this morning that Jan Bruns has been ill, so I'm asking that we rally as many violet people as possible to send a card to Janice Bruns, (wife of Joe Bruns, ala FC2) who has been dealing with some difficult pneumonia complications. Jan used to grow some amazing violets, and I recently found a plant of one of her hybrids from the 80's.
Both Joe and Jan are busy getting her back in good health, so please NO calls right now.
Please send your cards and get well wishes to
Janice Bruns, 1220 Stratford Ln., Hanover Park, IL 60133-2667 and forward this request on to other violet folks.
May 18, 2010
I had been looking all around this spring for a few specific violets that I wanted to add to my collection. I've bought on eBay before with both good and bad results. I felt I had culled out the bad folks and was only searching the sales listings of trusted sellers.
However, I've been burned once again. I had finally found a plant of Elizabethan Ruffles that was described as a well established plant in a solo cup. Sadly what came was mostly busted up and I don't believe it even has an active growth center!
This was from a well-known national vendor. I think I'm done buying any plants I can't see first. I'm done with paying for garbage!
May 17, 2010
If you haven't checked out our Facebook page yet, make plans to do that soon. There is a link at the top of our home page here.
Yesterday I attended my first meeting of the Northern Illinois Gesneriad Society. It was a fun group of folks and I'm excited about becoming a new member of their club.
NIGS member Sherry Burtchett gave a presentation on her method of hybridizing streptocarpus. Check out the three short videos below for a glimpse.
The third part of the video doesn't seem to want to load up here, so I'll work on it more later. You can see it on YouTube at this link.
May 12, 2010
As our local state show scheduled for the last weekend in June at the Chicago Botanic Gardens (which oddly enough aren't really in Chicago at all) quickly approaches, myself and other local members are all nervously looking for buds!!!!
This year's challenge plant is 'Jolly Mischief', so nearby violet pal Andrea Worrell and I have been exchanging photos of our plants in the smackdown spirit of the challenge. Sadly hers seems to be ahead of mine!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I posted photos of her sorting thru her past show rosettes that I took this evening on our Facebook page (see link on our home page at the top). Perhaps it was a thinly veiled intimidation tactic!?
May 10, 2010
Sheila Jones from Canada has been kind enough to keep me up to speed with what's going on in the Lakeshore AVS of Toronto and the African Violet Society of Canada.
Their recent show "Canadian Gold" was, by all reports, a HUGE success. Violet icon Doris Brownlie was the big winner with this plant.
Bev Williams made a big splash at the show with violets like these.
I'll post a few more photos from their show another day.
Check the meetings tab for information on our May and June events. Come join us!
May 9, 2010
Sorry for missing a few days, but this has been an 80+ hour working week at the shop. Today is the Saturday before Mother's Day and our club bought a booth at the Garden Party / Garden Fair. Our goal was to raise money for a show and maybe lure some new members.
******Bad News Alert*****
The temperature suddenly dropped down to the low 40's overnight and during the 8 hour fair we had three rain storms and two hail storms!!! In between there were brief bursts of sun that teased but did not remain long enough.
Sales were terrible, but I tip my hat to Cindy, Jan, Harold, and Lana that stayed outside all day and laughed and visited with one another the entire time! I'm lucky to be in a violet club with such great folks.
BBAVS member Cindy, managed to find an occasion appropriate use of her chair cup holder!!!!!!
May 5, 2010
Busy and long day at work today. Don't have the energy to work on the violets at home tonight. My shop assistant, Dan, is getting excited about his upcoming high school graduation. He is already enrolled and taking classes at the local college during the current spring semester.
He's a sharp guy that learns fast. He's been enjoying growing some violets at home over the past year, so today I gave him a nematanthus plant to expand his gesneriad experience.
May 4, 2010
Yes, I'm still trying to tackle the job of tearing down plants to make more room on the shelves. It's less than 8 weeks to the state show and I haven't found a single bud coming up on the plants that have decent symmetry.
Our club is having a plant sale this weekend, so I hope to have recovered some space. It turns out that I actually have a fairly decent collection of semi and mini violets. They were just hidden between the large ones!
Even trays I've worked over need to have more space between the plants.
May 3, 2010
I've been working most of the day at repotting and separating leaf pots. I found many plants that honestly I didn't remember I owned. That's most likely a sign that it's time to reduce the collection.
That said, although it seems like forever, it was just 2 weeks ago that I returned home from Raleigh. I mentioned that i was lucky enough to win the raffle on Bill Price's Trailer collection.
I was concerned about how well they would survive having set out on the raffle table all week at the show and then the drive home. I was diligent in putting them down to root within 30 minutes of getting home. With the exception of #3 Demers Pixie Belle that passed away somewhere before getting home to Chicago, everything seems to be looking okay!!
May 2, 2010
Sorry for having to redirect you all to yet another new page, but the other was playing havoc on my PC and beginning to take too long to load before I could add more to it. I suspect that once everyone gets used to looking for the new page it won't be much of an issue.
Well this is the time of year everything gets so busy on the plant shelves and my regular world. If you're a routine visitor to the blog, you've seen the photos of the thousands of leaves I've been putting down over the last 8 months. The big load I put down to root in late December of 2009, are all bursting out of their solo cups crying out for their separate homes. Problem is obvious... 1000 cups too quickly becomes 3000 cups!!!!! It's like breeding rabbits. Some plants that seem not to be thriving are being culled out of the collection, and as much as I LOVE a beautifully-grown large standard, the mature size of 24"-36" makes the space situation absurd. When I went to AVSA I abided by my rule to only pick up new semiminiature or miniature violets. Damn that Paul Sorano for tempting me with his Lyon's Red Rocket!!!!
I had hoped and planned to attend the AVSC conference, but at the last moment other obligations arose that trumped those plans. I'm eager to see some photos from the event!! Anyone??
My judges card arrived in my mailbox this weekend! I know that many of our readers have been AVSA judges for decades, but I'm confident they can empathize with the thrill of your first card!
I've been preparing for spending today working at transplanting leaf pots. I had already burned holes in 320 solo cups, but quickly realized that would never be enough. I went to the store and bought 10 more packages of 80! I sat outside for 90 minutes and made holes in about 2/3 of them.
I will confess that I actually enjoy "harvest season" when it comes to new plantlets. Many cups were of leaves I had forgotten all about, while other varieties I have in bulk amounts.
I've shown photos before on the blog of odd results from leaves in terms of where the plantlets emerge, and the trend seems to continue.
Shown above and below is a leaf of Irish Castles that produced no plantlets in the cup, but instead 3 new plants emerged from a crack in the leaf blade well outside from the cup and potting medium.
Here's a leaf from one of Rob's hybrids that decided to send the new growth out of the hole in the bottom of the cup.
Finally for tonight, if you didn't see the new head banner on the home page then you may not know that the Barrington Bloomers African Violet Society is now on Facebook. See the link on the homepage. I'm gonna try to keep the content different from the Blog if possible.
If you're in the Crystal Lake, IL area on this upcoming Saturday, May 8th, check out our plant sale as part of the downtown Garden Party. We'll be outside the flower shop at 30 N. Williams St. from 10-4!
