Happy 4th of July

Boom

 Always a pleasure to see the fireworks and enjoy a nice summer evening.

Ker-boom!

How are the violets growing in the hot weather???

Make a comment and share how yours are doing....

Martagons and Meetings

 The June meeting was held at a wonderful home! Here there are Martagon lilies of all sorts and colors. One of the leading hybridizers of Martagons has spent years creating the most lovely and newest forms of this lily! Click on the photos to enlarge them.

 Martagons come in whites, yellows, oranges and, as you will see, some stunning reds.

 Aren't these cool?

 These lilies can do well with a touch more shade than some of the other sorts of lilies that you might be familiar with.

 They are upright growers and certain ones get quite tall and majestic.

 They do well growing with hostas, as you can glimpse in this photo.

This is the greatest part. To keep the pollen from a random source off of a flower that is due to be crossed with another particularly chosen flower, a little bag made of bridal tulle is placed over it. It's very light weight and lets in sun and air, but keeps out bees and insects that may come to pollinate it. This flower will be hand pollinated and labeled and the resulting seed with be harvested and grown out to see what the new hybrid will look like. It can take nature up to 7 years till the newly seeded plants will be mature enough to produce the first blooms. Patience is golden in hybridization! For more information on Martagon lilies email the blog at nsavctc@gmail.com and you can privately be put in touch with the hybridizer.

May Meeting Minutes

We had a fun meeting at the Old Country Buffet in Fridley. Nine members and two guests were welcomed to the evening's get together. We all chatted and talked about various things including the lady at the convention that uses bleach to disinfect her plants. No one can believe that such a strong alkaline solution would not harm delicate plant tissue.

The meeting started at 7:00 pm. and there were no changes to last month's minutes. We talked about the upcoming Pot Luck Picnic at S. O.'s house on June 16th, 2010. Everyone brings a dish to pass.

We will try to have the new show schedule ready for the meeting to introduce a couple of new categories and give everyone enough time to prepare their plants for the show.

B. W. asked about who else to send publicity information to regarding the fall show. The AV magazine needs to get the notice by June 1st. Everyone is asked to give B. W. contact ideas.

M. E. took care of the tax exempt materials and it was noted that this needs to be done by January of each year now. Rules have changed in the past couple of years regarding club's status with the IRS. The end of the club's fiscal year is the end of Feb. We need an audit this summer. Our club CD matures and the club will decide what to do.

It was noted that the dues are current. There may be a club matching idea for fall awards. The club will match the amount donated by individual members for awards to be given out at the fall show. This will reduce the financial burden on the treasury. The meeting ended at 7:25 pm.

One member brought a really LOVELY 'Artic Frost' with huge blooms (look back a couple of blog posts) and a problematic baby plant. Discussion was focused on what the problem might be and solutions to make it grow in a more robust manner. Many idea were brought up and it was a good time to learn about different aspects of growing.

A clear deli-style container was passed out with leaves from the leaf exchange being used for the next club contest. The first member to get their leaf to BLOOM will get a ten dollar prize. Other members that didn't get a leaf at the last meeting will get a chance to get one at the Pot Luck.

Hope to see EVERYONE at the next meeting and picnic. Submitted by J.S.

Test Puzzle

Online jigsaw puzzles from JigsawSite.com

Pretty in White

 Out at the U of M Landscape Arboretum Monday there were some pretty cool sights. One of them was the spider you can barely see on the lower left of the peony.

If it weren't for the bee the spider caught you almost couldn't see it. That's pretty awesome camouflage

Here it is larger. Look at the perfect color match except for the red "v" on it's abdomen. I'm feeling sorry for the bee though.

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!!!

TASTY and Fun Too!

WEDNESDAY MAY 19th, 2010 Starting at 5:30 PM

Supper and meeting at the OLD COUNTRY BUFFET in FRIDLEY, MN.

This will be the leaf exchange and general good time get together. A nice meeting to come to if you are thinking of joining or want to check out the club. Everyone is welcome to bring a leaf or two to exchange and we're going to start a club experiment to see who can take a leaf from May, 19th and be the first to get it to bloom. We'll discuss starting techniques and culture at a meeting next fall/winter. Ten dollar prize for the winner!!!!

Email nasvctc@gmail.com for info, questions, directions, miscellaneous comments, etc.

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.

Violet Extraordinaire

How about this violet??? Violet enthusiast, Leah, took a regular "store" violet and turned it into a show plant! Excellent flat leaves and symmetry, really lovely blooms! 
 

Nicely done! Can't wait to see this (and more of it's friends) in the October show!

Before and After...

Ok, so I had to include the "after photo" from the previous situation.

I thought they made a lovely display. : )