African violet 'Irish Laughter', 'Splatter Kake'

 Just a quick update to tell you we're back. Between some trouble with the Google blogs and a little trouble with photos to post it's been a while. Sorry

But now! Let's have some more African violet fun!

This is 'Irish Laughter'. I've always been a big fan of the green flowers and this one has it all!

 It's got the really nicely frilled double flowers, with a wavy edge of bright green! It's also got lots of blooms even when the plant is relatively small.

My grandma was going to violet meetings in the 60's and 70's when they were just dreaming of green blooms. It was one of her biggest wishes to get a hold of one something like this.

 This one is in a pot that says 'Arctic Frost'... haha. Someone has been mixing up the labels again and I'm going to blame the cats.

Nonetheless, it's bright and pretty in the middle of a cold day in winter.

I only had two of the aging blooms of 'Splatter Kake' left but I like to think this has all the mutations anyone would ever want. The Geneva edge, the fantasy speckles, the star shaped bloom etc.

It's hybridized by Bann, a Minnesotan too! Not bad eh?

Questions, comments???

And we do answer questions too! Thanks for the patience.

Lyon's 'Lavender Magic'

 Saw this the other day and I was chuckling. I've heard over and over you don't want the parent leaf to use all of its energy growing, you want it to use the time to make roots and babies.

 This leaf started out as a normal size leaf less than three inches across. It's petiole was also a normal size roughly 1/8 inch is diameter. It got stuck into a solo cup and tucked into the back of a prop box.

It came out of the prop box because it was overtaking it's neighbors!!!! I think it was trying to eat them or something.

It's over 7 inches across the leaf and the petiole is over a half inch in diameter. Wow. Now we'll see if it starts to put up some babies. Maybe they will be mutant extra large or something!

Comments???

Saintpaulia Hybrid Roots, A Look at What's Under the Soil.

 A young Ness' Crinkle Blue suffered for this post. Here are some of it's roots washed off for the most part and exposed for your viewing enjoyment!

The following photos are somewhat similar but interesting in that you usually don't get to see how the roots of your plant branch and attach themselves into the soil.

 Wikipedia describes the basics of roots in their article, which is one of many about the subject.

Roots preform a multitude of tasks for the plant including: "The four major functions of roots which are 1) absorption of water and inorganic nutrients, 2) anchoring of the plant body to the ground and 3) storage of food and nutrients and 4) to prevent soil erosion."

 Here is a root hair, which is also like the hair that sometimes occur on plant leaves. It's function is to increase the surface area of the roots for nutrient absorption.

 The roots grow from the tips, or the region known as the apical meristem. It elongates the root. Wikianswers describes it thusly: "An apical meristem is of each root tip a dividing zone that forms new cells in two directions. The meristem produces new cells in front of itself that become a loose fitting rootcap. Layers of cells in this cap are continually brushed off as the root elongates between soil particles. The cap is perpetually renewed by tiers old cells being formed and pushed down from the meristem.

 Another shot of the cool root hair which are usually single cells that become elongated and rarely branched.

 Here is the transition between the roots and the stem.

And finally, where the nutrients and water go after they are extracted from the soil.


Comments???

Violet Grooming for the Non-Violet Grower

 At first glance most people would be pretty happy to have this violet on the coffee table. It's got nice shiny leaves and plenty of flowers. But, after a closer inspection, you'll see that there are a few grooming needs that will make this violet much more attractive and improve it's growth and overall health in time.

I'm going to say right now that for a serious violet grower/shower this plant would never have made it onto their shelves for starters and if such a plant was in their collection they would strip it down to about three leaves and start it all over again. This tutorial is for the person who doesn't want to start their plant all over again but just wants to spruce it up and see that it's healthy and will continue to provide pretty bloom and enjoyment at home for a long time to come.

 When you peak under the leaves you see all sorts of tiny (baby) leaves. Ideally, a violet should have the largest of its leaves in the outer most row and then have them decrease proportionally with the smallest leaves in the center.

In the very center of this picture besides the small leaves you will note the two leaves that are close together but not in the center. This is called a sucker and needs to be removed so that the parent plant will not create a twin plant side by side and ruin the round "rosette" shape that violets are grown for. This is the very start of another new plant.

 Here you see some spent blossoms that are dead. It's a must to remove these and keep your violet clean so that bugs and pests don't have a place to hide and make your plant sick over time.

Besides, fresh flowers are lovely to look at, dead ones just look like the plant is neglected.

You can see some of the larger leaves twisting and bending instead of being straight. This problem is a little harder to fix but there are things to try besides taking off that outer leaf.

Ideally, these twisted leaves probably be removed but sometimes you really don't want to make your plant into a tiny "starter plant" because it's looking good otherwise. So... you can try gently moving the leaf into the position you want it to be in and inserting a straw, coffee stir stick or toothpick next to the leaf stem and holding it in the place that you wish it to grow.

 If you look closely you will see that the main stem of this violet is not in the center of it's pot. This won't hurt the plant persay, but it looks so much better if you have it centered.

Take the plant gently out of it's pot, loosen a little of the dirt in the root ball and place the violet back in the center, filling in any extra soil you might need to fill the pot again properly.

 Here's the plant with some of the extra leaves removed and the dead flowers taken off. There are gaps and holes where leaves should go but with time and placing the plant in even lighting these issues will right themselves for the most part.

You can see the stake moving one of the rouge leaves into a more desirable position. A couple more well placed sticks and soon the violet will be much more symmetrical. Remember to occasionally turn the violet so that it gets the same light on all sides and doesn't tend to grow to one side like this one did.

This violet also shows that it perhaps had a little less light than is optimal, the petioles (stems) of the leaves are longer than they could be. More light will make them grow shorter and make the plant appear rounder.

By taking the time to tend to your violet now and then, you get a plant that uses it's energy to grow proportionally, bloom more regularly and make a more pleasing display. It' well worth the effort!

We'll see if our grooming helps this plant make some pleasant improvements in a few weeks. Stay tuned for future photos.....
Comments??? Questions??? Disagree???? Tap the comment button and let's hear what you wish to tell us!

What's Bloomin' Today

 Isn't this a pretty bloom? This is Saintpaulia 'Amy Lackner'. Amy is a member of the AVSM and long time grower and this plant was named after her.

This is 'Emerald City'. It's a nice chimera with a delicate blue streek with the green highlights.

 This is a Chirita tamiana. It's a really pretty little plant that is about the size of a semi miniature with the blooms that stand up above the foliage. It's an easy plant to grow.

How about this one? A Streptocarpus that was unnamed but looks a whole lot like 'Purple Panda'. Really eye catching with the clear white upper petals with just a hint of webbing on the tips.

Artic Frost

This is a violet grown by Terri. Note the giant flowers! The hand in the shot is for comparison purposes and those blooms are over three inches across.

Nice plant!!!

How to Plant African Violet Seeds

Here's a "how to do it" for planting African Violet seeds. This is a seed pod from a "chimera" violet called Emerald City. It's got a green and white "chimera" or pinwheel pattern. Here's a visual set of photos about how to get the seed planted.

 Take a clear container from the deli and put in pre-moistened soil mix. Make super sure the mix is only moist, not soggy, drippy, sloppy or soaking.

 Gently pat the soil mix in place, but do not pack it down. A smoother surface makes finding the baby plants a little easier.

 Some people say that powered sphagnum moss will inhibit some fungal problems. It can't hurt and might help, so... rub some long fiber moss between your hands and make a powder out of it.

 Sprinkle the sphagnum moss lightly over the surface of the soil mix.

 This is a seed pod from 'Emerald City' African violet.

Note how small the seeds are when spilled from the open seed pod.

 This is an ordinary pencil and it is magnified SO much that you can see the wood fibers of the pencil clearly and yet the seed is still so tiny. Gesneriad seed is very, very small.

 Using a sheet of white paper (so you can see the seed as it falls) place seed onto the SURFACE of the moistened soil-dusted-with-sphagnum mix in the container. The seed needs light to germinate, so do not cover it or bury it.



Cover the deli box with it's lid. Label and date the box with a Sharpie marker. Put a couple of small air holes into the container. Small holes will allow air to be exchanged, but it won't allow the soil to dry out too fast.



The last photo is a shot of the seed as it looks sitting in it's pod. Think of how peas lay inside their pea-pod. These are just a ga-billion times littler.

Comment on this article please.

A "Crown" fit for a King.

How about these two lovely violets??? The bright coral pink of Kate's Rendezvous is highlighted by the pink variegation in the center of the plant. The purple fantasy, called Festival on Ice, also shows the dark outer leaves and the nicely contrasting inner leaves. This type of plant patterning, generously allowed to be photographed from Sharon's collection, is called "crown variegation".

According to the fine folks at Optimara, the crown variegation is defined as:
Crown Variegation: Characteristic of African Violets which develop variegated leaves on the crown. While all variegated cultivars will normally have crown variegation, the term most often applies to those African Violets which have crown variegation only, while the rest of the leaves remain completely green.

Variegated plants usually show the coloration better when grown in a cooler than average environment. Do you find this to be true? What about variegation do you like? Leave a comment.

One more shot of something really lovely from the Har Mar Spring Show. This is the tricolor winning plant grown by KL. It's 'Von Mariner'.