VioletReflections Newsletter

 December  04, 2000  

Editor Sandy Crawford  

Issue 4

    an affiliation of AVSA  
December is a double Bingo month!  If you haven't sent your Bingo #4 card for the quickie bingo that begins December 10th, email your card to Beth at birdmama98@aol.com
   


Happy Holidays

The Baby Swap Project   has many selections to vote on in the Polls section--take the time to vote and also send your collection list to Yoko if you haven't already done so.
   

Member bio of the month

 This month's bio is on Tina in Washington.  As you'll read, she's quite the  ambitious lady.   

    
I was born in Aurora, Colorado and being a navy kid grew up in several states.  Among the states I lived were Maine, California, and Hawaii.  I have been married for nine years this month and have three children: Thomas, 12; Garrett, 8; and Emily, 4.   I also have two dachshund puppies, a Pomeranian, and a Manx cat. 
   
I was a group home manager for the developmentally disabled before going back to school to get my Nursing degree.   I will graduate in June of 2001 and hope to move to Colorado when I am done.  I currently work in home health as an LPN taking care of children in their homes. I begin a new LPN job at the local hospital this week.  I also am a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) volunteer.  CASA is for children who are in foster care and you speak on behalf of the child in court.
  
I have always liked African violets for as long as I could remember.  I had about 20 plants 6 years ago and when I got pregnant with my daughter I was so sick that I was unable to take care of them and they died.  I was very happy to find this list and begin my collection of violets once again.  I have enjoyed this list and look forward to chatting with everyone in chat and the friendships that have come with this group.
   

BABIES TO ADULT PLANTS
By Don Geiss

Often the question is asked on the Internet, when do you remove the babies from the mother leaf? The answer is when the individual cluster of leaves indicate that they have formed a plant.

Having said that, let me elaborate a little so that the term individual cluster of leaves is more understandable. When the baby leaves begin to emerge from the soil  they simply look like a hodgepodge of greenery. As they enlarge over a period of days and weeks the leaves begin to shape into better defined clusters.

When one picks up the pot and spreads the clusters it should begin to look like a number of tiny leaves are formed from a single stem. If it does not look that way it is too early to cut them apart because cutting into the mass may result in a gob of soil with more than one plant. In most cases
some baby plants are cut through the middle because the individual plants have not yet been well defined.

It is hard to tell someone exactly when to divide the babies. We head south for the winter and put down anywhere from 150 to 250 leaves. When we return the watering pans where the 3 ounce solo cups were placed looks like a jungle. Masses of leaves form a complete cover over the pans. (Just an aside explanation here------I believe we described our watering system in an earlier article but the reader may well ask what we mean by pans. They are made of galvanized metal and measure 30" long by 20" wide and two and one quarter deep. Over the top of the pans is fitted a piece of hardware cloth. This is a screening material much like chicken wire  but with holes one half inch square. It is possible to buy hardware cloth that has holes one half inch wide and one inch long. The solo cups are set on this screening and the wick runs down through one of the holes into the fertilized water. If any of our readers are interested in this type of pan, a good source is the local tinsmith or company that installs heating ducts. They have a machine that bends galvanized metal easily to form a box. They then seal the corners with solder.) It is that pan that we described as being one mass of leaves. When we begin breaking apart the babies the clusters of plants covering each individual solo cup are removed from the cup. We carefully brush off the top layers of soil. Remember now that top soil is usually loose because the roots always head downward toward the water. Once that soil is brushed off, the individual clusters forming each plant should be obvious. If it is not
we simply place the cluster back in the same container, spread on a little loose soil and place it back on the pan. We rarely have to do this because experience has taught us simply to look at a cup and tell whether it is ready to be separated.

A break off knife is used to cut out the individual plants. This is a knife available in hardware stores where tiny sections are serrated so that
they may be broken off to provide a new sharp edge. Of course one may use any sharp knife or Exacto type knife to do the job. It is slid along the edge of the little stem and sliced through to the base of the roots. In many cases there are no roots that come with the stem. Irregardless of whether it has roots or not that plant is set in a three inch plastic pot. It really is about the same as setting leaves in the beginning except there is more that one leaf attached to the stem. For our purposes we plant every one of the little plantlets that are affixed to the mother leaf. Generally we get four to 12 plantlets per leaf. There are times that we would like to get more plantlets from a specific plant (Irish Flirt for instance). In that case we cut off the larger of the plantlets but repot in the same solo cup the leaf which may well have a few tiny plantlets attached to it. These eventually mature and the mother leaf is still productive enough to put out additional plantlets. When we come to the last baby in any cup we generally cut off the leaf at the top of the soil and plant whatever cluster of roots is left with  that last plant. It sounds perhaps as though it is a rather haphazard way of doing things. As we became accustomed to conducting this operation it was easy to simply set the plantlets in place rapidly. If it had roots a narrow putty knife was used to open a hole in a three inch plastic pot full of damp soil. The hole was made by pushing aside the soil on all sides of the center of the pot. The hole was made large enough to accommodate the root ball if there was one. If a stem with leaves and no roots was all there was to be planted, a hole was made in the pot of soil with a pencil. In all cases the soil is lightly tamped around the stem.

The four ply acrylic yarn wick is always inserted in the pot before it is filled with soil. It runs up the side of the pot and sticks out the top. When the pot is filled with soil the part of the wick that sticks out above the top of the pot is bent down and then the soil is pushed over it. If it is allowed to stick out it dries at the top and then the wick continues to draw up water to replace the dried top. The water in the pan is then used up in too rapid fashion.

The plants are left in the three inch pots then until they flower and are sold. What  few holdovers we may have are repotted in three and one half inch pots. We keep very close records on the individual cultivars and when one consistently does not sell well it is thrown out rather than being repotted. Our taste for a particular plant is often overruled by the wants of people to whom we sell plants.

Next time we will provide our answer to the frequent questions we read from the VR group.
  

     
Crystallized Violets: Beautiful Edible Ornaments
By:  Kathryn Braund

Crystallized (or candied) violet flowers are incredibly beautiful and a delicious way to decorate all your holiday baked goods.  

To crystallize violets, you will need to select perfect flowers from plants that have never been treated with pesticides. I find that single blossoms are easiest to work with, but if you are careful, double blossoms will also work.  Make sure the blossoms are completely dry.  When picking them, try to leave a bit of the stem so that you have something to hold while working with the flower.  And when you've finished, the little bit of stem usually helps when it comes time to arrange them. You will need a fine brush (artist's brush or good quality pastry brush),  fine sugar, food  coloring and an egg white.  For best results, use the finest sugar you can (caution: not confectioners sugar).  I use bar sugar.  While it isn't necessary to color the sugar, it does heighten the color of the final product.  White sugar tends to "dampen down" the color of the blossom after application, but in some cases, this is desirable and gives the violet a frosted appearance.  A quick and neat way to color the sugar is to put the it in a plastic baggie, add the liquid food color (only a drop or two) and then knead the sugar until the color is worked throughout.  Any left-over sugar can be stored for later use.  You can even mix colors to achieve a shade to compliment the color of violet you intend to crystallize, from red to pink to blue--even green come St. Patrick's day.   After your sugar is ready, put the egg white in a small bowl and beat it until it is frothy.  Then use your brush to carefully and very sparingly paint both sides of the violet with beaten egg white.  Less is more in this case, because if you load the flower down with egg white,  the blossom will droop and the sugar will cake on the violet.   Make sure to lightly cover all parts of the flower with the egg white.  Then sprinkle the violets  with the prepared sugar,  top and bottom.  Carefully place the sugar-coated blooms on a wire rack to dry.  If the weather is humid, you might wish to put the wire rack into an electric oven with only the light on or in a gas oven with just the pilot light on.  After the violets dry, carefully pack them in layers, separated by wax paper or similar material.  Properly stored in an airtight container, they will last for weeks. What do you do with crystallized violets?  Big purple flowers add an elegant touch to pecan pies, Christmas puddings, and just about any baked good you can imagine. I think purple and red flowers looks especially luscious on chocolate.  Think of what a red and white chimera, crystallized with white sugar, would do for a plate of mints or divinity.  You could even crystallize a variety of blossom types and use them to decorate the corner of a sheet cake.  Allow them to cascade down layer or pound cakes.  Your decorations are limited only by your violet supply and your imagination.  And if you are really inspired, add chocolate or pasty leaves  to your violet arrangement. I can guarantee that even the simplest of desserts becomes an elegant offering when graced with crystallized violet blossoms.  Need an elegant brunch?  Transform  plain pancakes into a spectacular breakfast with the addition of beautiful red crystallized violets and raspberry syrup.  Come spring,  crystallize purple blooms and add them to individual servings of lemon desserts.  There is something that is "just right" about purple AVs adorning bright yellow lemon pie.  So get started now: once you get the nerve to cut the blooms, they are easy crystallize.  What if you are really short of time?  Well, skip the crystallization process and just use fresh blooms!  And if you have a friend who loves to bake, crystallized violets make a wonderful gift. How do crystallized violets taste?  They are as good as they look: a sugary crunch that makes all the hours spent rooting, planting and growing worth it.  No....they aren't calorie free, but I'll just bet they are full of some undiscovered miracle vitamin that will make you happier with every bite.

-------The Kitchen Korner-------
recipes donated by Tina

   Snow Balls
  1 cup butter
  1/2 cup powdered sugar
  1 cup nuts
  2 cup flour
  2 tsp. Vanilla
  Beat butter until creamy, add sugar. Stir in  flour, nuts and vanilla. Blend well.  Chill until firm enough to shape with fingers.  Form into small balls etc.  Bake 10-12 min. F400 Roll in powdered sugar as soon as removed from pan.  Makes 6 dozen.
 

Double Lemon Bars
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  1/2 cup powdered
  1 1/2 sticks butter, cut into pieces, room  temperature
4 eggs
  1 1/2 cups sugar
  1/2 cups lemon juice
  1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon all purpose flour
  1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
  powdered sugar

Preheat oven to F. 350.  Combine 1 1/2 cups flour and 1/2 cup powdered sugar in  large bowl.  Add butter and cut in until

                   continued-

mixture resembles coarse meal. Press mixture into bottom of 9x13x2 inch baking dish.  Bake until golden  brown, about 20 minutes.  Remove from oven. Maintain oven temperature. Beat eggs, 1 1/2 cups sugar, lemon juice, 1  tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon flour  and lemon peel in medium bowl to blend.  pour  into crust.  Bake until mixture  is set, about 20 minutes. Cool. Cut into 24 bars. Sift powdered sugar over top  before serving  

Congratulations to Tina  from Washington on winning our fourth vr-bingo
game. Her prize was the 15 varieties she chose to make her card. The game
ended with one more day left in October.   Look for information to come out
about the January bingo around the 15th of December.


This classifieds is willing to list  an ad for you.  The placement is free if you offer a deal to the members of the list.  The deal can be on anything you wish from leaves, plants to fertilizers, soil, or pots and books.  Any kind of discount for the members will do.  If you wish to take advantage of this offer, please contact Rachel at wagon@baynet.net



If you would like to contact AVSA to get information on how to receive their bi-monthly magazine or to order the Master List or First Class, you can go to their web site: http://www.AVSA.org/home.htm or call
1-800-770-2872

This month's quip:  Did ja ever wonder why if one sets two leaves from the
same plant taken at about the same location on it that one will die and one
will not?

Welcome to all  new list members.
Please enjoy your stay with us. We are  glad to have you.  Today's member total = 195.


Would you like to be published? Do you have an announcement, a favorite
recipe, a poem, or have you discovered some information you would like to
share with other members? Send it to me and I will publish it here in the
next issue of our VR-newsletter.  Please watch for the next issue to be
released on the first Monday of the month.
   

Classified Section
ATTENTION VR- MEMBERS  ONLY
Do you have something you would like to give, sell or trade?
Email your information to me and I will list it here.
    

Vendor Specials for December through January




  Mahlen & Brenda
offer shipping specials for VioletReflections members only.

Order 6 or more 9 inch leaf support rings  - shipping FREE!
Order 6 or more Oyama pots (any size) - shipping will be a flat rate of
$2.95
Order Pro-Mix with the Oyama pots - add $1.00 to the $2.95 for each 5 quart
bag
All the supply prices can be found in the catalog at
http://www.violetgallery.com




     
I currently have 15% sale on all my African violet pots. Violetpots.com
offers a wide selection of African Violet Pots. Each pot is hand poured,
painted and decorated.
My site is www.violetpots.com
Eloisa

   
StPaulia      
      

With all the new varieties being added to your collections.  You may wish
for a way  to help keep all your information organized.

Our list member Will Cronk has written a fantastic program called
"Stpaulia."   He offers a full working demo version, for 30 days. Try it 
you'll like it. When you decide to purchase it tell him you are a member of
VioletReflections.   We have already met the criteria of the special price
so your program would be only $20.00 (USA).

Think about it, it works with the Master Variety List program and is a
wonderful way to keep notes and pictures of  all your violets.  I use both
programs, I would be lost without them.

Will Cronk
wcronk@ivs2.com

Orders Sent To:
Wilson Cronk
P.O. BOX 321
Swartz Creek, MI 48473

make money orders or checks payable to Wilson Cronk
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