Violet Obsession

Diane Marie

2011-02-20T14:25:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple bloom studies of Chirita Diane Marie

Sunday morning bloom

2011-02-06T12:16:00.000-08:00

Just thought I would share this chirita bloom with you. This is Chirita Destiny.

Trio from one plant

2011-01-07T10:52:00.000-08:00

Since the orchids have dropped their flowers (the plants are STILL alive---wonder of wonders), I decided to post the newest blooms of interest. Last year I set leaves from Optimara Little Apatite. This one of my favorite Little Jewels. Some of the Little Jewels get wonky over time and you need to set leaves and toss the plant. Some sport in warm weather, like Opal, which will turn all purple and never turn back. I could go on, but if you really want to study the idiosyncrasies of the Little Jewels, visit my website. Anyway, I grew out three baby plants. One has true Apatite leaves, so I figured it would bloom true. The other two have light green leaves, so I figured I would get two Crystals, the registered sport of Apatite.

Here is the momma plant (two different lighting situations---NOTE--all the Apatite blooms on this page are the same exact color, but they look different under different lighting situations. So let that be a lesson in bloom color on the internet):

Optimara Little Apatite - Window lighting

Optimara Little Apatite - Indoor lighting

And the babies:

Optimara Little Apatite

Two babies had light green leaves, so here is the expected and registered Apatite sport, Optimara Little Crystal

And surprise!! The other green-leaved one turned out to be another registered sport,

Amethyst Confetti (7555) 09/20/1991 (C. Carter) Single-semidouble chimera purple wasp/wide white stripe. Medium green, heart-shaped, pointed, hairy, glossy. Miniature.

Too cute!!!

My Treat

2010-11-19T22:40:00.000-08:00

I love the orchid my daughter bought me so much I decided to treat myself. This is Odontocidium Wildcat "Rainbow"

The pseudo bulbs are cool!

Gift

2010-11-09T22:02:00.000-08:00

My daughter bought me a gift. We saw so many beautiful orchids! Then I saw this green Lady Slipper and I gasped, so she grabbed it and put it in the cart. I tried to make her put it back but that didn't work LOL

The dragonfly clip is cute, too

Neat markings!

The leaves are gorgeous!

I think it's too pretty, I'll never be able to take care of it properly, but I'm going to try.

Bloom Time!

2010-08-12T19:55:00.000-07:00

Richter's Green Dawn

Richter's Green Dawn again

Chirita Moonlight

Chirita Diane Marie

Awesome trade!

2010-06-16T20:49:00.000-07:00

I just completed a trade with a fellow collector. I sent some of my larger-growing violets in exchange for chirita. I received waaaay more than I expected!

My Happy Mother's Day gift

2010-06-04T19:48:00.000-07:00

Thank you daughter and son-in-law for the Mother's Day gift! Here they are, from Lyndon Lyon (click on photos to enlarge):

Back row, left to right---subrhomboidea (in bloom!!) and Hisako

Front, left to right---Diane Marie and liboensis (with buds!!)

Here they are in isolation in front of the only window with a shelf. It's a north window so they should be happy. In fact, C. subrhomboidea enjoys winter temps down to near freezing and will respond with a flush of bloom in the spring. That's the main reason I wanted it. This window is cold in winter. The picture is a little fuzzy because it's a low-light photo without a tripod.

Left to right---Diane Marie, Hisako, subrhomboidea and liboensis

Nope, not out there, either

2010-05-17T21:23:00.000-07:00

I took the remaining previously mentioned potting mix and potted up my basil in it. My previously green basil plants are now turning yellow, just like my violets were. That's it, out it goes. Maybe it was a bad batch, but never again will I buy that crap.

Repotting & Chiritas

2010-05-15T11:51:00.000-07:00

And more repotting. Gads I hate Miracle Gro potting mix for African Violets. Now, don't get me wrong, it is absolutely fine for other tropical houseplants and for your garden!! But not for gessies (African Violets and other gesneraids). First of all, if you are new at growing violets, the bag says it will fill two 8-inch pots. Please don't think you should grow your violets in 8-inch pots! My friend A :-) has a nice violet care and potting tutorial. You should check it out here:

Read all on one page (start from bottom of page and read up)
Violets

Or read the pages individually:
Plants part 1

Plants part 2

Plants part 3

Restarting a Crown

Consistent Care

Plants part 6

(excellent tutorial A :-) !!)

So...maybe you are wondering why in the world I potted my violets in that stuff and what happened? Well, for one thing, I ran out of potting soil, some of my violets were severely overdue for repotting, and there was a lot of stuff going on and I had no time to order. I used to be able to choose from a couple brands sold locally but now the shelves are COMPLETELY DOMINATED by one brand. So I thought---add some perlite (which I still had from last year---the plain UNFERTILIZED kind).

At first my plants seemed to perk up, but then leaves started to yellow, and some started turning bronze. Well, that's no good. That means the plant's ability to use certain minerals has gone completely catawampus. So they were going to need to come out of that crap fast!! I emailed a violet friend who was able to mail me a big box of >>REAL<< African Violet potting soil. Thank you!!!!!!

I started repotting two days ago (I only do a few at a time). I noticed when I pulled the plants out of the potting mix it was WAAAY too wet. This was even with lots of perlite added (because I wick water). So I am hoping (and expecting) them to start looking better with the new mix, which has NO fertilizer in it and NO wetting agents. (In all fairness, maybe if you are top-watering only and letting the plants almost but not quite dry out before watering again, the Miracle Gro will work for you).

Ok...on to other news. My two Chirita plants are looking happy and healthy. The markings on the leaves are more pronounced and they are already putting out new leaves!! Because Silver Surfer has a long "neck" or stem, I potted it down (lower in the pot). I checked and it is already putting new roots out along the stem!

NOTE---just because this is working with Silver Surfer doesn't mean it will work with all of them. There are many different Chirita.

The rooting leaves are doing fine, except for Kitaguni, which wilted. I just now pulled it out of the pot because I figured I would try making a new cut on the stem, but I saw two baby roots and put it back. So I think it will be ok after all!

I am very interested in Chirita for several reasons, mostly pertaining to their culture. They like a more alkaline environment, which we have a lot of in Indiana (limestone---it makes the water hard, which Chirita like). So I don't need to adjust the pH of my water when I water them. Also, they like to grow very cool in winter (I have trouble keeping my violets warm enough), and they only need to be repotted once a year! Yay! A big plus is they have beautiful leaves. Sometimes it's hard to get them to bloom., but some of them are so pretty they don't need blooms to be admired.

New Babies!

2010-04-30T14:29:00.000-07:00

I have never grown Chirita before, so I hope I don't kill them! These were a generous gift from a friend.

Front, left to right---Betty and Silver Surfer

Back, left to right---leaves of Piccolo, gemella and Kitaguni

Time for Pictures!

2010-01-01T21:10:00.000-08:00

Glitterstar (I. Fredette) Bright pink/ruby sparkle edge. Variegated dark green, ivory and rose, plain. Standard.

Glitterstar was given to me by a friend in Missouri and she got it from her mom. I was playing with some lighting effects. Below is the same plant under my plant lights, a few days earlier when only one bloom was open.

Glitterstar

Curlina (A. E. Adams) Single rose pink, faint geneva. Variegated TL. Miniature.

I love this little plant. I wish I knew what year Curlina was introduced.

Windsome (10116) 08/15/2009 (H. Pittman) Semidouble medium blue/white edge. Medium green, plain. Miniature (DAVS 1508, TX Hyb).

Windsome is another cute little plant. I won best in class with this one in a show a few years ago. It has been around for quite awhile, but I see there is a registration date now, so it must have been registered last year. Now I can't recall when it was introduced. I wish the AVSA would preserve the introduction date when an old violet is registered. The picture above in indoor lighting and below is window light.

Windsome

Kaper (Richter)

Topps (Richter)

There is a story behind this picture. I grow minis. They like me. Standards tend to stay small-ish for me, more like large semi-minis. Usually by the time they are approaching standard-size the outer leaves are dying. I don't have a lot of luck potting up, either, but I received a couple 5-inch pan pots (really shallow pots for planting bulbs). So I potted Topps in a pan pot. It is wick watered, but it often runs dry. It sits on a high shelf in a south window, sheltered from full sun by a lace curtain. None of my home-made light shelves are wide enough. Anyway, the last time I took it down for watering I thought "holy cow this plant is getting big!" So I took a picture with a 12-inch ruler. The plant actually measures nearly 16 inches across. I know people who regularly grow violets this size and larger but this is a first for me.

A big surprise in the mail!!!

2009-09-30T21:05:00.000-07:00

Violet people are the greatest! They watch out for me. And when Richter's Green Dawn appeared, one of my violet friends bought it and had it sent to me!! I was literally in tears! I knew it was out there somewhere and I had been searching for a long time. Another violet friend acquired a leaf of Renee. She set it down to grow. Now it has produced babies and when they are big enough she will send one to me. Wow!

Renee (946) 11/16/1957 (A. Richter) Double medium blue. Plain girl foliage. Standard

Richter's Green Dawn (1138) 08/23/1959 (A. Richter) Double pink/green edge. Ruffled. Standard

Life is good!

Richter's Tipt in bloom!

2009-08-19T20:42:00.001-07:00

I just had to share this picture I took today of Tipt in bloom! The flowers are so big and heavy they tend to droop, but they are so pretty, who cares.

Flowers Close-up

2009-03-21T21:29:00.000-07:00

(5b. cl.) grotei "Silvert" on left, and for a size comparison, a (5c.1. cl.) ionantha bloom on the right

(3. cl.) sumensis Mather EE

(8. cl.) rupicola Mather Number 5

(6. cl.) brevipilosa

Species photos

2009-03-10T22:06:00.001-07:00

S. brevipilosa in full bloom

S. orbicularis var. purpurea with drifts of flowers!!!! And I had forgotten it in a north window, remembered to water it (it was dry) and found all these flowers.

Vintage Blooms

2009-02-18T20:26:00.000-08:00

I was blessed to receive leaves and plantlets I probably never would have bought. In fact I wasn't even sure if I wanted to make room to grow them. But I did, and I'm glad.

Amethyst (12) 11/26/1957 (Armacost & Royston) Single red-orchid. Heart-shaped, quilted, glossy. Standard

I'll try to get better pictures after more blooms open.

This picture compares the S. ionantha bloom and the mauve House of Amani bloom.

S. ionantha 5c.1. cl. House of Amani - Single pale mauve to deep blue-purple, rarely white, 4-12 per peduncle. Leaves oval to elliptical, medium to dark green above, pale green to purple beneath, edges smooth or slightly wavy, upper surface with short erect hairs, veins sometimes paler color than rest of leaf. Standard rosette. Saintpaulia species

Some of my newest blooms

2009-01-30T21:17:00.000-08:00

Senk's Try the Decaf (9872) 01/30/2008 (R. Follett/D. Senk) Single blue ruffled star/darker veins. Variegated dark green, white and pink, longifolia, ruffled/red back. Standard trailer

S. rupicola clone Mather No. 5 in bloom

More Richter's Blooms

2008-12-20T19:16:00.000-08:00

At long last my newest Richter's violets are blooming! The plants are still babies and are in need of transplanting. Soon I will disbud them, pot them up, and let them grow up. It's really nice to see the blooms, though! I am still waiting for Bambino to open.

My babies lined up

Richter's Pearly Shells (1607) 03/30/1966 (F. Richter) Double medium pink. Ovate, quilted. Large (I accidentally snapped the flower off while trying to maneuver it into a better position, so I just propped it up)

Richter's Charm Song (1137) 08/19/1959 (A. Richter) Double light blue. Ovate. Standard

Softique (1957) 07/09/1969 (A. Richter) Double pale pink. Ovate, quilted, fluted. Standard

More blooms!

2008-11-24T18:44:00.001-08:00

Sherbert (Richter)

Optimara Little Coral

Pictures!

2008-11-12T21:49:00.001-08:00

Sherbert (2534) 03/27/1974 (M. Steele/F. Richter) Double lavender two-tone/variable white. Light green, plain. Standard

Optimara Little Coral (Holtkamp) Double two-tone pink. Heart-shaped medium green Miniature

Senk's Anemone

Hybridizing...maybe

2008-11-05T21:16:00.000-08:00

I haven't tried to cross violets in years! But for some reason, probably because Tipt is blooming, I thought I should give it a go. What a comical situation. I'm trying to open the pollen anther, which is about the same size as a mustard seed. I drop one. I hold the next one tighter and stab it with a needle. *Poof* pollen goes everywhere, except on the flowers! There was still pollen left, so, ok, find a flower on the plant I want to cross it with. Is the stigma ready to accept pollen? I'm looking with a magnifying glass. These things are tiny!! Bring in the bees!!! Well, what on earth pollinates African Violets in the wild? The anthers don't want to open to spill the pollen. Unless your plants have thrips, then you have pollen everywhere. Once I find a promising flower, I only need to brush the pollen on the stigma. Oops...there goes another anther. Bye bye little anther. Ok, next anther. I get it open, I'm hanging onto it, I brush pollen on receptor stigma. I check with the magnifying glass...are there pollen grains on it? Maybe one or two. Sigh. We shall see if anything turns into a seed pod. Nothing left to do but tag the flower stem with the name of the pollen parent and wait. If anything takes I'll let you know.

Sherbert blooms!

2008-11-02T21:08:00.001-08:00

This is my first time ever seeing Sherbert flowers! More buds are opening, so in a few days or so I should have more pictures.

Sherbert (2534) 03/27/1974 (M. Steele/F. Richter) Double lavender two-tone/variable white. Light green, plain. Standard

I'm trying to decide what flavor of sherbet it's making me hungry for!

With flash.

Tipt now has three blooms open!

S. rupicola Number 5

2008-10-30T22:04:00.000-07:00

I love unusual violets! Meet Mr. Unruly, with crackles. This is a very different rupicola. The leaves have tiny cracks all over them. I think they are beautiful, but that's just me. This plant will eventually grow into a standard. It appears to grow a little slow. I understand it should be a little under-potted, and should dry out slightly between watering.

Close-up of leaf.

Tipt

2008-10-22T20:46:00.000-07:00

Tipt is blooming! I'm sure lots more blooms will be open when I get home from my trip on Sunday, but here is the first bloom!

Tipt (F. Richter) Single large lavender/purple tips. Standard

Sherbert is just opening up but I think it will be more photo-worthy in a few days. A note about growing Tipt. It needs to be placed at the center of your lights and maybe a little closer to the lights as well.

Back to normal

2008-10-19T20:51:00.000-07:00

After all that fuss about how the leaves on my S. brevipilosa were standing out nicely, today I look and see the lower leaves are beginning to curl around the pot. Oh well, so it's normal after all!

S. brevipilosa a day later

~~~~~~~~

Besides species and vintage violets, I also collect the Optimara Little Jewels. Three blooms are open on Optimara Blue Topaz. I think the blooms are cute and are shaped like bells. The description doesn't mention bells, but that doesn't mean they aren't.

Optimara Blue Topaz (7346) 04/11/1990 (Holtkamp) Single purple-blue. Medium green, pointed, hairy, glossy. Miniature.

Close-up of the blooms.

I also have first blooms on Optimara Little Coral.

Optimara Little Coral (Holtkamp) Double two-tone pink Heart-shaped medium green Miniature

Soon I will have pictures of Tipt and Sherbert (both Richter's) in bloom!

S. brevipilosa

2008-10-16T19:37:00.000-07:00

I have one brevipilosa plant that is doing the unusual, it is behaving, and growing (fairly) symmetrical. My other brevipilosa (I grow two) has the normal bent petioles so the leaves wrap around the pot, and they are both from the same mother leaf. I love them both. S. brevipilosa is a species violet, which means it grows wild in Africa. I won't go into all the details here, because I already wrote a page about species on my website (visit here). But I did want to share a photo and tell you a little bit about S. brevipilosa.

This species is a miniature. If you thought all species were standard size plants, you might be surprized to learn that several are small. I love brevipilosa's leaves. They are quite large for such a small plant, and round. The leaves are thin, and feel soft to the touch. My plants are almost always in bloom, but since brevipilosa's blooms don't last very long, it might be hard to catch the plant in full bloom.

I grow my brevipilosa plants in 3-ounce plastic drinking cups, the little white ones. Since species grow in very little soil in the wild, I try to keep them a bit root bound. I usually wick-water, using a baby food jar as a reservoir.

When I look at my brevipilosa plants I think of spring. Their lovely leaves and happy blue flowers cheer up any day. Here are some pictures of my S. brevipilosa plants. Please excuse the lop-sided appearance.

The picture I took today

*****

"Baby" picture, a few years ago. This is a close up of a baby plant growing in a 1-inch medicine cup.

*****

April 2006 - note how leaves hug the pot

My First Violet

2008-10-10T21:18:00.000-07:00

My first named African Violet was from Richter's Greenhouse. My husband stopped in on the way home from work, looking for a Mother's Day gift. It would have been in the late 1970's. Later he drove me over there to look. If you have never stepped into a greenhouse full of wall-to-wall blooming violets, you may not fully grasp the awe-inspiring feeling it brings. And if you have ever shopped for violets on eBay, you certainly are aware of the "gotta' have it" feeling when admiring all those blooms.

Of course hindsight is 100%. I was a young mother, I knew very little about African Violets and nothing at all about the African Violet Society of America (AVSA). So while I was deciding between white blooms with pink frills and blue doubles, my husband was busy talking to the hybridizer, Forrest Richter. Mr. Richter took my husband into a private greenhouse and showed him all the propagation tables and some of his award-winning show plants. I could kick myself!

I know we visited the greenhouse several times. I bought four violets (again, kicking myself---that's ALL!!!) Today I have two of them. One I lost one to bugs and the other was a poor performer and a single dropper. I kept it for years but it had sported to solid pink, never to return to the delecate white bloom with a fine, frilly pink edge. Here are my two original Richter violets:

Kaper

Topps

Now jump forward about 30 years. I have shelves of violets, belong to the AVSA, have shown twice and won some ribbons. My husband's favorite violet is Kaper. One day out of the blue he says to me, "Why don't you collect Richter's violets to preserve them". Permission to shop!!! So, it became a Quest, and I have found several. I'm sure there are more Richter's violets out there. Some people might not even know they have one because they only have a plant stake with the name in pencil. On my website (Candy's Violets) I have a list of Richter's violets and their descriptions as a reference.

Here is my current list of Richter violets. Thank you everyone who has shared plants and leaves!!

Bambino (Richter) Double powder blue Plain Semiminiature

Bon-bon (843) 12/17/1956 (F. Richter) Double pink. Girl foliage. Semiminiature

Chenille (92) 11/29/1954 (F. Richter) Single dark purple ruffled. Supreme. Standard

Kaper (Richter) Double rose with ruffled white edge. Light green, serrated, wavy Small standard

Richter's Charm Song (1137) 08/19/1959 (A. Richter) Double light blue. Ovate. Standard

Richter's Pearly Shells (1607) 03/30/1966 (F. Richter) Double medium pink. Ovate, quilted. Large

Sherbert (2534) 03/27/1974 (M. Steele/F. Richter) Double lavender two-tone/variable white. Light green, plain. Standard

Softique (1957) 07/09/1969 (A. Richter) Double pale pink. Ovate, quilted, fluted. Standard

Tipt (F. Richter) Single large lavender/purple tips. Standard

Topps (Richter) Single/semi-double medium-light violet blue. Dark, serrated, pointed, wavy Standard

I hope there are more.