Membership
Membership in our club is welcome to all individuals. Annual dues are $10.00
Our meeting locations vary by month depending on our planned activity.
Current society membership is small compared to what it used to be, but we enjoy our violets too much to give it all up!
Hopefully our current campaign to boost membership (such as this web site) will allow our membership roster to swell.
Click on the Meetings and Events tab to the left for information about dates, locations, time, and topic of upcoming events.
You can learn about some of our members in their
"african violet" bio's below.
John Regan, Genoa, IL
" I began growing violets when I was a young boy growing up in Palatine, IL. In high school I formed a Horticulture Club that became very active. In was during this time that I became interested in the study of plant propagation, hydroponics, hybridizing, and greenhouse production.
By the time I left for college I was growing over 600 violets under lights in my parents basement. African violets are so grower-friendly, diverse, quick to mature, etc. that they were the perfect genus with which to experiment.
30 year gap without violets and now my interest in violets is thouroughly renewed. The ever-expanding scope of new varieties along with favorites from the past serve to fuel my violet addiction! There are so many intriguing mini's, semi's, and trailers that grow great in the home environment, but my focus is on growing the large standards.
I have an aesthetic fondness for most things "mid-century", and african violets were wildly popular then."
Email John at
Sandy Fuller, Palatine, IL
“I have been growing African Violets for approximately 16 years and my collection has been as large as several hundred. Currently it is a modest size of about 60 violets which are grown mostly under lights. My favorites are miniatures, trailing violets and violets with variegated leaves. I also grow orchids, streptocarpus, hoya and other tropical houseplants.
The reason I love violets is that there are so many different varieties, they are so easy to grow and propagate, they bloom much more often than most other blooming houseplants, and they grow quite easily in the home environment.”
Frances Jarnowski, Barrington, IL " I became interested in african violets in 1983. A friend at work needed some assisitance putting together several reports. I was a fairly fast typist, so i offered my help with the reports. That friend gave me my first violet ("Rhapsodie Gigi") as a thank you gift for the help. Well, violets are sort of like potato chips - you can't have just one! The next one was a lovely white semi-double in the Ballet series called "Ballet Abby".
So the collection just kept on growing. By 1989 I had about 350 plants not counting the cacti and orchids. My collection has been reduced over the recent years due to illness in the family, long trips, and the rigors of a full-time job.
My violet collection now numbers seventy, plus the cacti and orchids. That original Rhapsodie Gigi would today be considered a vintage violet. The flowers were originally white with a purple edge, but the plant would later revert back to solid purple blooms as it grew older.
I enjoy showing my violets when they cooperate and manage to crank out an impressive head of blossoms. I also design dish gardens and terrariums for fun and show."
(Editors note: Frances is also an AVSA accredited judge!!!)
