3 Sister's Newsletter      

We are proud to be affiliated with AVSA

Editor Nissa Lee           **********          September 20, 2006

Understanding Chimera's

Written By Frank S.

         

A chimera is any plant or animal that has two (or more) different genetic codes for a specific characteristic. The ancient Greeks were apparently quite fascinated by their existence as their mythology is full of such beasts. The classical example is the fire breathing she-devil typically depicted as having the head of a lion, the body of a goat and the tail of a dragon. The Unicorn is another example, among many others.

Our AVs exhibit at least three different types of chimerism; 1) the typical pinwheel flower; 2) leaf chimerism, and 3) plants that have two differently colored flowers, often at the same time, each borne on separate flower stems (peduncles). (See attached photos of Ozio and B-Man's Cosimo. Varieties not labeled.)

The question often asked by most when they first see these plants is “How do you produce them”? And the next question is typically “how do you propagate them”? The purpose of this tome is to try to answer both questions in a manner that all can understand and by the use of an analogy.

Let’s begin this by establishing our analogous item to the leaf of an AV and its petiole. Our analogy will be the old fashioned Fudge Sickle! You know; the chocolate-covered ice-cream treat on a stick. We need to make a minor modification to our fudge sickle for it to be a true analogy. We must replace the stick with ice cream and also coat it with chocolate. The blade of our leaf is the body of the fudge sickle and the petiole (stem) is the stick.

Just like our fudge sickle, the leaf and petiole consists of two primary parts, the outer single-cell layered epidermis (the chocolate coating) and the remainder of our leaf and petiole is the ice cream (the ground tissue). Each part has its own genetic make-up, and each contributes to the color of the blooms. The epidermis (chocolate coating) controls the color of the outer edge of the bloom petals and the ground tissue (the ice cream) controls the color of the inner part of the bloom petals. As long as the genes for bloom color are the same in both types of tissue (both the chocolate and the ice-cream), solid colored blooms are produced. (bear in mind that we are talking ONLY about chimeras, NOT fantasies, margin colors, etc.) For any number of reasons, at some point in time during the propagation of a variety, something happens that causes the genes for color in either the outer (chocolate) layer, or the inner (ice cream) layer to mutate, so that we now have a plant (or seed) that has one genetic code for color in the outer layer and a genetic code for a different color in the inner layer. If this mutation occurs during seed formation, the seed will give rise to a plant that will produce chimeric flowers, which is properly called a “SPORT”. If it occurs in the plant itself, it will manifest itself when that part is propagated as a “sucker”, i.e., either as a true sucker or by crown removal and treating it as a sucker.

At the very tip of the crown, and at the junction of the petiole of each leaf with the “neck”, there is what is known as an apical bud (this is also where the bloom bud is found). This bud consists of both layers of our fudge sickle. The one found at the very tip of the crown(apical bud or meristem)) produces leaves, but the one found at the base of the leaf petiole, and which is known as an axillary bud, is what gives rise to suckers and blooms, which, as we all know, also contain both layers of our fudge sickle.


Before we proceed, we must establish that in the case of our AVs, new plants are produced from ONLY the outer epidermal (chocolate) layer of cells on the petiole (and leaf) when we make leaf cuttings. And we must remember that BOTH layers of our fudge sickle MUST contribute their respective genes to the new plant for it to have chimeric blooms.

Now that we have established some fundamentals, let’s proceed with propagation of the chimeras at our disposal. If we take a leaf cutting, it will be ONLY the outer (chocolate) layer that will give rise to new plants, with no contribution of genes from the middle (ice cream) layer. THEREFORE the blooms will be of the color of the genes that are located ONLY in the outer layer. HOWEVER, if we take suckers, or cut off the crown and re-root it, the plants so produced will be expected to have chimeric flowers as BOTH layers of our fudge sickle are found in both the suckers and the crown. Therefore, our new plants will have both sets of genes for bloom color and will be expected to be chimeras, just like the "mother" plant.

It should be kept in mind that there are VERY FEW “absolutes” in biology. Therefore, as has been demonstrated by Dr. Dan Lineberger, Department of Horticultural Sciences, Texas A&M University, pinwheel chimeras CAN be produced from leaf cuttings, but the percentages of chimeric plantlets is too low to make it practical to try to reproduce them in this manner.

References:
Lineberger,D., and M. Druckenbroad.1985. Chimeral Nature of Pinwheel Flowering African Violets (Saintpaulia, Gesneriaceae). Amer. J. Bot.* 72(8): 1204-1212.

Smith, Jeff. 2006. In Search of New Violets. African Violet Magazine. 59(2): 10-11.

* American Journal of Botany

 

 

Getting to know Violet Addicts

Banter from Bernadine

Written By Mary in CA

Hi, my name is Mary and I am an African Violet Addict! Wow, I did not know that the addiction would get a hold of me and I would not be able to stop.

I was raised with violets by a mom who could grow anything. She was a teacher and took her plants to school during the year and put them on the furnace with water for humidity. When she passed away I was to get her violets, but a niece ended up with them and I never got them. I have since given my niece some starts of my new violets.

Off an on during the years I kept violets. Malibu (I live in California) had a great violet farm that I use to visit. Those violets died and several years ago I had a friend who had violets and I talked about getting them going and selling them in my beauty shop. I eventually contacted an on line vendor and ordered quite a few violets and leaves. Most died, but Aly's Key Lime Pie, Tooch, Nancy Leigh and Jade have survived.

Last year I ordered 4 off of EBay and those have done well. This year a co-worker's niece (Rosemary) introduced me to the groups. Rosemary sent me some leaves. By then I had read posts and roamed around http://rachelsreflections.com  and when I got my leaves I tried what I thought to be a good way to start them. Unfortunately I kept them too wet and lost oh so many. Of the 50+ leaves she sent only about 28 survived. It was then that I decided that I should not experiment until I knew what worked for me. And I should continue to do what worked for until I find something that does work better or as well.

The Malibu African Violet farm had told me to take a small pot with dirt and run warm water through it and put the leaf in. Take a sandwich bag, poked a few holes in it, taped it around and put it away until mouse ears appeared, which was about 3 months. That worked for me.

In reading from one of the groups I read about 1/2 sheet cake containers to make hot houses out of, so I have taken the new leaves and put them in there instead of the plastic bags. I save those Styrofoam meat trays so I can transport them easier. I started with ¾ oz deli cups, but they were not deep enough so last time I bought 1 oz deli cups. I do have to water them when they get dry and that has worked great, for me.

There are so many ways to doing things. What I am getting at, and have gotten off track, is that I learned you don't experiment with ALL of your plants. Had I thought about it, I would have started with NOIDs (No ID). If I lost one of those, especially one I already had, then it would not be a great loss.

Don’t be afraid to try something new, but don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.

Mary in Ca
 

 

Written By Bernadine

Friends of VR: I can't predict what this column will contain, it has no organized theme. I have grown violets since 1987 and shown every year since then.
One of our SFVAVS meetings this year was on the subject of creating your own light stand from PVC pipe.

My friend Warren Ringer demonstrated how easy it is to fit these pipes and joints together. It is meant to stand on a table, but the same theory goes for creating an entire plant stand. Thanks to you, Warren, for our first article:


Light Stand for African Violets


A simple light stand can be made from PVC pipe. It will support a standard shop light fixture using two 40w fluorescent tubes. Plugging it into a timer lets you provide artificial light to your AVs or other indoor plants on a regular basis. Why PVC pipe? Because it is inexpensive, readily available, and easy to work. I will provide one design but you can easily modify it to fit your location or needs. The same stand could be made from wood or metal pipe but with more difficulty and at a higher cost.
The stand has two inverted Tees as supports with a cross piece to support the shop light. The vertical leg of the Tee determines how high the light will be above the surface you are using. The arms of the Tee provide stability and just need to fit on your surface.
For this example, we'll make the verticals 24" long and the legs will be 8" long. The cross piece will be 52" long. We'll need one cross piece, two verticals and four arms.
Adding that up, we'll need 52" plus 2X24" plus 4X8" or for a total of 132" or 13' of PVC pipe. We'll need fittings to connect our pieces and in this case we'll need two elbows to connect the cross piece to the verticals. Next we'll need two Tees to connect the arms to the vertical. Finally, we'll use four caps to provide stability at the ends of the arms. That's all there is for materials to make the stand. If you want to make it sturdier, then you'll need to glue the fittings to the pipe using PVC cement (about $2.50 for a small can)
To be useful, you will need the shop light and the light tubes for them. We just use the standard F40 cool white tubes, which will cost about $2.25 each and will last 2 to 3 years. A standard shop light fixture costs about $15 to $20 dollars. AND finally, you'll need a timer to turn the lights off and on at regular intervals so you don't have to try and remember to turn them on and off every day. You can get one about $15 and run several shop lights on them. I recommend a timer with a ground. They are a little more expensive, but will be safer.

 

 

 

"Photography Tips & Hints"

Written By Serge Saliba, Romania


The Best Way To Photograph Your Flowers, Why & How to do that?

Photographing flowers has become a passion for me since I bought my Digital Camera in March. I found out that it is the only way to share those beauties I have with everyone addicted to colors like me, and also the only way that the ephemeral can be eternity. We the addicted, grow plants not because they are the way to not get bored, or they give a new dimension to our house decoration! No ,we grow them because we need them! Some like me cannot even live without some colors around him. They give us all the energy we need to go on & on and overcome all the stress of our modern life. When everything becomes Black around you, when the whole world shrinks to a peanut size and you feel yourself ''The Nothing, living in the Nothing'', when you feel that your God and Saints have left you behind, alone, among all the devils of the universe, then take your blooming violet & look at it, You'll feel the strange power emerging from those tiny fragile blooms going into your mind and taking out all the pain and worries from it!! But unfortunately, we cannot be surrounded with colors all the time of the year, because most of our flowers go into dormancy when the weather conditions become extreme, or maybe we will be away from our small paradise for some reason or another. Then what can we do in such situations? The only solution is to look at the pictures you made when your garden was a festival of colors! Believe me that's what I do when the long harsh winter installs himself over eastern Europe & the colors become very hard to see and find. I enjoy myself looking at all the pictures I made to my gesneriads & I feel the smell and the heat of Spring and summer. That's why photographing flowers becomes so important to me! And to do that, you don't have to be a specialist or expert in Art of Photography, you can do stunning shots even if you are a beginner or amateur like me. Get a nice usual digital camera, and be sure that a program called Macro is included, this allows making Macro pictures within the distance range (4-80cm/1,6-32inches) and follow some basic tips and hints. That is all! Since I am not a professional photographer and I did not study the Art of photography, I tried to learn and discover those hints by myself & it didn't take me longtime to do that.


Here are some factors that should be taken into consideration in order to get some nice shots:


1-Light Quality:
A good light quality is Bright & White. Yellow light deforms the reality and make the colors appear fake. That's why it's recommended to avoid taking pictures of your plants under direct yellow sunlight or under incandescent lamps, otherwise the red will be orange and the violet will be purple etc.. The best moment to take pics is when the sky is cloudy, or early in the morning; The light will be bright and filtered at this time and the colors appears to be real! It's also very recommended to NOT use the Flash' when photographing your flowers, the colors will be so pale and your plants get a ''plastic'' appearance.

2-Right Period:
If you want to photograph an AV for example, don't be in hurry, be a little bit patient and wait until the ultimate shape is established . When your plant is covered with blooms and is in maximal performance, then you can take a picture of it and share it with your friends instead of taking several ones each time a new flower appears, the effect of shocking and surprising will be attenuated when proceeding like that by seeing several pictures at different intervals of time. I made this mistake but I won't repeat it again.

3-Good Plant Shape:
Even if your plant is full of blooms and presents its maximum potential, one single tiny faded bloom, or one dry & yellow leaf or even a stain on it, can affect dramatically the whole shape! So be sure then, to clean and trim it before taking a pic.

4-Choosing The Angle:
Sometimes your plant looks attractive from one angle and less from another. Always try to choose the best angle from where it seems to be the most attractive. This will also help you hiding some defects that your plant has, instead of retouching your photo later.

5-Good Background :
A good background has an important role in accentuating the beauty of the main object. There are many kinds of backgrounds to choose from. I personally prefer the one-colored ones (white or black). This type of backgrounds must be chosen by taking into consideration the colors of the blooms: The darker are those, the lighter should be the background. This is called "the contrast effect".

6-Special Effects:
They give more life to your pics. Placing some small objects beside your plants such as a small butterfly, or a bronze statue can make your pics outstanding.

Below are some examples of how beautiful pictures can really be!

     

   

 

Variegated Violet Village

Article by Millie Reavis

Many times I was asked why my violets grow so straight out and do not hug the pot. It happened again this week at a garden club meeting. I took some plants to sell and so did another member. Her plants all hugged the pot and mine were standing straight out not a pot hugger in the lot.

What is the secret? Not a secret at all. If I had a secret it would be the African violet magazine. If there was another secret it would be (Bigger is not all ways best) I stress this to club members all the time. I have been reading the AVSA Magazine for 6 years. Every issue has pictures of the award winning violets all over the country. Are they pot Huggers? The answer if not at the time they took the picture. LOL Why is this. Number 1 I would say is they never were or never have been a pot hugger. Yes some violets are just more perfect then others. First thing to do is subscribe to the AVSA Magazine and look at all the winners. Buy those plants. They are proven winners. Second if you have a pot hugger this is when bigger is not best comes in. If you notice it is the bottom row of leaves that hug the pot. Grow them in a smaller pot and remove that bottom row of leaves. We all can make a pot hugger look better by doing this.

I have spend the last three years trying to eliminate plants from my collection. If they are pot huggers they go to the sell shelf till the next show and are sold no matter what the cost. This is green leafed as well as variegated violets. This is the only way I can add 30 new ones to my collection every year. I have sold off a lot of plants over the years and now I can honestly say my collection of violets is as perfect as I can get any where. I only have about 25 green leafed plants in my collection but they are pretty as a picture. If you get rid of the not so perfect plants you can buy more and if you have done your homework by reading the AVSA magazine you will have a lot pretty collection the next year.

Happy Growing

Millie 3 Sisters Co Owner

 

"3Sisters Top 10 Violets"

  

A tale of  Two Violets

Recently we asked all the members of the 3Sisters Groups to submit a list of  their top 10 favorite violets.  The lists were put together to see what "Top 10" violets were most loved by group members!

The "Top 10" is as follows:

  1. Ness' Crinkle Blue
  2. Irish Flirt
  3. PowWow
  4. Rainbow's Quiet Riot
  5. Blue Dragon
  6. Suzie Sunshine
  7. Chantaspring
  8. Frozen in Time
  9. Ma's Corsage
10. Optimara Little Moonstone
 

 
 
There were two little violets sitting on a display shelf
I purchased both of them,  one  for my friend
The other for myself.
 
One was broken and dusty not a bloom in sight
The other a raving beauty with blossoms pink and bright
She was proudly showing off with all her merry might
 
My friend chose the pretty one,   I smiled a secret smile
I took mine home, repotted her,  she took a little while
but soon her leaves were shiny green,  buds began to form
 
Within another week or so, my friend tossed her plant away
My  violet  on my window sill bathed in the morning light
Her blooms were full and open wide to show off  her chimera  stripe.

Rachel Mayer

Rachel's Rambling

Once again we are trying to put out a newsletter.   This one is different in the sense that each column has it's own author or reporter if you will.  Nissa  is Editor of the Newsletter,  it is her responsibility to see that the newsletter is run smoothly,  set up attractively, AND My responsibility is to see that  all the columns are in by the due date which is the 15th of each month.   We have made a lot of changes since we have become  " the 3Sisters"  We need another Logo.   There will be a prize for the winner of this contest.   Beginning immediately we would like you (all members of our 5 sites)  to submit your idea's for a "3Sister's" logo.   You may present more than one logo design.   As we did before, we will put the logo's up on the dot com site as soon as they come in and have the members of all 5 groups vote on the winning logo.    The names of  the artists will not be shown until a winner is declared.   Midnight  December 15th  the contest will end and we will put the poll up December 16th so you may begin voting for your favourite design. The winner will be announced on January 1st 2007.   There will be a size restriction.  No bigger or smaller than 1125 x 785  pixels  we will downsize as required.   The reason for the big size is so we can use it on a t-shirt.   OK now,  ....  Let's do it.   Make our logo fantastic . 

 

 

Announcements

Variegated Violet Village

Submitted by

Millie Reavis

Effective on October 1, 2006 Variegated Violet Village has a manager and a new moderator.

Jana will assume the duty of manager on VVV. Jana helped me put VVV together and has been at my side all the way. She also has been a member of VR since March, 2004 and helps out a lot on that list with various jobs as well as overseeing the message board. She has been a large help to all three of your owners. Good luck Jana and don’t push yourself to hard.

Tony will continue as our senior moderator and will be joined by Becky. Becky is one of our bingo coordinators along with Jana and both will continue with that job. Welcome Becky and Tony thanks so much for a job well done.

Hopefully in the future we will have managers for all the groups giving them each a chat night. Jana has not decided on which night she will take yet but in the future that night will be Variegated Violet night.

Good luck all and thank you so much for extending your time to the group.

Millie

 

 
If anyone has any suggestions or ideas for the newsletter or would like to add and be responsible for a column in each release please contact either Nissa  or Rachel  for further information.  We are currently looking to "showcase a member" in each release to tell about themselves and how their AV addictions got started and what experiences they have had.  We are also looking for someone to do a photography column with hints and tips and possibly answer photography questions that would be submitted and their answers revealed for each issue.

 

For all the members of the 3Sisters Groups  Rachel now has AV cross stitch patterns available for purchase.  $5.00 of the proceeds from the sales will go to pay for the upkeep of the "http://violetreflections.com" web site and various other things that go along with it such as the domain name, our chat room and all the other bells and whistles that we here at the 3Sisters Groups love so much!  Not many people realize the expense in keeping all these things running smoothly.  There are 4 absolutely stunning patterns available.   For more information on these and to see the stunning patterns please visit  http://violetreflections.com/CrossStitchPatterns.htm

 

Any of the 3Sisters Group members that are vendors and would like to have their add / banner posted on the 3Sisters Newsletter please contact either Nissa   or   Rachel for further information.

 

Do you write poetry?

 Ever see  a poem about violets?  Well here at 3Sisters we thought that it would be interesting to have a Poetry Contest with poems about violets!    At the end of the year we will vote on the one we most enjoyed.   We have one poem entered in this release.  

Christmas Gift Exchange

Every year we have had a Christmas gift exchange.  Anyone who wishes to join in  please contact Rachel with your name and address and your idea of  a price  limit.  We will set the amount  half way between the highest and the lowest prices. 

continue to October2006 newsletter

 

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