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Violet ReflectionsNewsletter - Issue 18 April 2002
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Spring in the Mayer household is definitely here when the African Violet catalogs show up in our mail box. For more than a week now I have been studying mine and watching for new plant names with mosaic variegated leaves to add to my collection of mosaics. I promise myself every year that I will be sensible and stick to them, yet still lose my mind when filling out my order sheets. I find myself reading every description and there is something about every description that makes me add it to my order form. I bring out the old worn pencil eraser, upset with myself, and start rubbing out all the names…only to fill in the page again. Again reaching for the eraser I mutter to myself "why not scan the catalog and mail it in with a payment instead of going through all this?" LOL In the last couple of years I accepted every swap offered to me. I was buried in hundreds of leaves that became more hundreds of babies and since I couldn't throw such beautiful things away. I didn't have time to take care of them, much less enjoy them. My hobby was fast becoming a job I was beginning to feel tied down by. I had so much to do and by not getting it done I risked not only hap-hazard, lopsided, and cramped growth but left myself wide open to be attacked by the African Violet gremlin's none of us want visiting in our home. Then I see the article in my last AVSA magazine "AV Vendors 101" getting
the plants you want by Richard Follett and wish I could be as practical
as he. Alas, though I must be the original Miss Piggy, I want every one
I see and every description makes me fall in love all over again. Richard's
article is a fantastic one and I recommend you all read it. I especially
like his attitude towards vendors and how to treat them. Richard is a
member of this mailing list and I would like to congratulate him on this
very well written piece. I do hope to hear more from him and hope he will
offer a piece to this newsletter from time to time. |
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 Ander Afrikaan Viooltjie(Another African Violet in
Afrikaans language) This month a question was posted to the list "What is an African Violet Collection?" Here is your answer…  From Left to Right: Skagit Rascal, B-Man's Moncibello, and ACA's Red Ember Marjorie submitted this photograph of the Chicago AVSA Convention
"Best Collection" winner. Tony Hulleman from Burlington, ON,
Canada took the honor. |
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Pleased To Meet You…
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Rachel's
Ramblings |
Barbara Werness
My name is Barbara (Barb) Werness. I'm currently
unemployed (laid-off), on the very back side of 50, have a very
helpful and tolerant husband and have one daughter who was married
to a great guy in October and by December, they announced they will
make us grandparents in August. My home is in Coon Rapids, MN, where
the temperature extremes are always a source of conversation.
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| African Violets have been a part of my life since childhood. My mother always had a few and I used to bring home the ones from school that the nuns were having problems so Plant Doctor Mom could bring them back. Hubby and I have been members of two AV clubs for about twelve years now. Currently my AV collection consists of 150 show plants, four trays (116 plants) of seedlings and about 300 sales plants. Most of my AV's are grown in a solarium along with about 125 orchids. I love AV shows and - toot toot - do quite well. Growing the perfect show plant is a challenge and sooooo rewarding. I also do hybridizing and have recently registered some of my AV's under the series name of "Sora". More are forthcoming. I think plant addiction is a genetic thing - Mom loved African violets, Dad like all plants, my two sisters and I are AV people and my daughter is really big on orchids and streps. Something happened with by brother though, he's just not with it; but it seems to have skipped a generation, because his 6 year old son has loved my plants since he was only a few months old. | |
CULTURE CORNER
Edited by: Jeanette Haygood
ALL YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT LEAVES
When I began researching this subject the first thing I found was that I had my work cut out for me! There are at least a dozen different types of leaves and even that depends on who you are talking to. Some leaf definitions lend themselves to 'personal' interpretation. That further confuses the issue. So, I hope you will bear with me while I try to tell you more about the wide variety of leaves that you might see on an African Violet.
The original species African Violets have leaves that vary but the species (s. ionantha and s. confusa) that were used to create the majority of today's hybrids have rather plain, green, quilted leaves with a slightly serrated edge.
- Edited by Kimberly
This month's contributor: Sharon, IN
Royal Wasp |
I think the Share the Joy Program is excellent!! I joined the group on July 16, 2001. Beth was my sponsor and the leaves she sent me were in great shape and are some of my favorites still. Beth sent me two Royal Wasp leaves and out of those two leaves I have twelve starts!! I usually use soil mix 1-1-1 but I bought some Miracle Grow Moisture Control to try and on February 3rd |
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| I separated some babies and added perlite
to the Moisture Control.
I still get excited when I see those Babies popping up! I hope later this year I can sponsor someone. - Sharon IN. |
 I Feel Pretty |
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VR Members Favorite Tools
Winette:
- Detergent scoops for her soil mix, perlite etc.
- Rubber coated baby spoon helps protect tender stems when filling pot with dirt.
- Chopstick for poking holes.
- Ice pick for heating and putting drain holes for containers.
Tina H:
- A make-up brush set I use for cleaning the leaves.
- An Xacto knife for cutting leaves, etc.
- Ceramic bisque cleaning tool (used to do ceramics). Use it to pull off suckers without damaging the rest of the plant. Can take off the tiniest of suckers with it.
Sunny:
- Plastic and rubber turkey baster. It holds just enough water to refresh several small plants and 2 squirts from the turkey baster waters a large one. One can get the small nozzle under the leaves and right to the soil without the danger of getting the crown wet.
Sue J:
- A little scalpel that I got from Phyllis and an old fashioned, semi-sharp darning needle. All I have to do is thread it; it makes the hole and draws the thread right along with it. It also makes great holes in Styrofoam cups for Texas watering.
Joyce:
- Magnifying glass - looking for pests.
- Ice Pick - make holes in Styrofoam cups.
- Soldering Iron - make holes in pill/dosage cups or other plastic.
- Paint can opener - make holes in soil for placement of leaves.
- Styrofoam meat trays - great for shipping (sandwich the plants/leaves between tray pieces cut to the size of your shipping box).
- Very small plastic shovel for inserting dirt around the edge of the pot.
- Black water-proof marker - Write down plant name and date potted.
- Labels for plants.
- St. Paulia program to keep track of my collection.
- First Class to check descriptions.
- Baby yarn for wicking.
- Acrylic blanket pieces for use as a capillary mat
- A double-eye needle I bought from Nancy's Notions. It is about 4" long and works great for placing the wicking yarn. I can even use it on a 4" pot planted with soil.
- Paint can opener to poke holes in the soil and to lift small leaves to check the crown.
- A little plastic shovel, about the size of a lemon, to place soil in the pots.
- Iced Tea spoon to get into smaller spaces for filling soil...and the handle is a plus for everything!
- A razor blade to cut stems and leaves.
- Pill/dosage cups to start all types of leaves.
- An assortment of plastic containers...from large to small. One can
plant about 10 small leaves in a sub sandwich container and a large
deep pretzel container can be used as a terrarium (with a large opening).
Paulette:
- A sucker plucker, a dental pick and tweezers for the obvious uses are the ones I pick up most often.
- Pump-style nasal spray bottle (not the squeeze type) for use in foliar feeding. It produces the finest mist I've found. It is aimed in the up position by design so I spray up then run the plant under the falling mist. They also heat easily in a microwave oven for 5 or 6 seconds.
