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African Violet

Posted: Mon Dec 30, 2019 10:40 am
by SpookyShoe
This looks so pretty I just had to share it.
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Re: African Violet

Posted: Mon Dec 30, 2019 10:45 am
by SpookyShoe
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A lone white blossom...

Re: African Violet

Posted: Mon Dec 30, 2019 11:02 am
by Growing Coastal
Well. That saves me taking a picture of the African violet I bought at a thrift shop. It had no flowers. I repotted it and put it under a light and it has bloomed with flowers like the one in the 1st image. That was a nice surprise and I would have been happy if it had white flowers, too. This is the 1st one of that colour I have grown. They are easy and fun, they bloom so well.

Re: African Violet

Posted: Mon Dec 30, 2019 3:54 pm
by worth1
I grew them in my bedroom as a kid.
Mom got me started.
Since before kindergarten when other kids wanted toys I was jumping for joy to go to the nursery to look at plants.

Re: African Violet

Posted: Mon Dec 30, 2019 6:03 pm
by Growing Coastal
My grand daughter likes violets too. She potted up some spider plants one summer and later, donated them at a thrift shop when they were ready.

Re: African Violet

Posted: Mon Dec 30, 2019 7:11 pm
by SpookyShoe
Growing Coastal wrote: Mon Dec 30, 2019 11:02 am Well. That saves me taking a picture of the African violet I bought at a thrift shop. It had no flowers. I repotted it and put it under a light and it has bloomed with flowers like the one in the 1st image. That was a nice surprise and I would have been happy if it had white flowers, too. This is the 1st one of that colour I have grown. They are easy and fun, they bloom so well.
Oh, the photo with the white flower is a different plant, lol.

Re: African Violet

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2020 10:17 am
by SpookyShoe
My African violets are looking great! I've been using a new fertilizer on them.
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Re: African Violet

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2020 12:47 pm
by Growing Coastal
SpookyShoe wrote: Mon Dec 30, 2019 7:11 pm
Growing Coastal wrote: Mon Dec 30, 2019 11:02 am Well. That saves me taking a picture of the African violet I bought at a thrift shop. It had no flowers. I repotted it and put it under a light and it has bloomed with flowers like the one in the 1st image. That was a nice surprise and I would have been happy if it had white flowers, too. This is the 1st one of that colour I have grown. They are easy and fun, they bloom so well.
Oh, the photo with the white flower is a different plant, lol.
Funny that. I missed this post last year...
Here's the American African Violet Society's pic of the 'Canadian Wonder' violet that I have, now in bloom again.
http://www.avsa.org/Aphotos
I see that pic is not posting but it can be found under the C's.

Re: African Violet

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2020 2:46 pm
by Labradors
Wow! I love those variegated leaves! Something new (I think) since I grew them, many years ago.

Linda

Re: African Violet

Posted: Tue Nov 03, 2020 8:41 pm
by Growing Coastal
I did take a pic last year. It has been blooming again for a while now. I nearly killed it and had to take it apart and regrow the roots. Got 2 offsets and gave them away.

Image

Re: African Violet

Posted: Thu Nov 19, 2020 1:18 pm
by TXTravis
I used to have about 20 of these, but my wife relegated them to an infrequently passed window (she said my wick watering system looked like a science experiment) and they all eventually succumbed to neglect. I've been thinking about getting another Rob's Gundaroo just to get back in to them a little.

Re: African Violet

Posted: Sat Mar 27, 2021 1:26 pm
by SpookyShoe
Ordered a set of four from Amazon. Arrived in absolutely perfect condition.
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Re: African Violet

Posted: Sat Mar 27, 2021 2:18 pm
by Julianna
Gorgeous! I used to have so many but then had to rehome one move. I have two now. I need to repot them.

Re: African Violet

Posted: Wed May 05, 2021 12:50 am
by svalli
I have during years grown some African Violets, but never propagated them myself. Our son studies biology at the University of Oulu, which is 200 miles north from where we live. Last fall they had used African Violets in lab to practice plant tissue culture in agar. During a study break in beginning of March he came to visit home and brought me some of the plants grown in the lab.
Delivery.jpg

I separated the small plants in their own pots to grow and now I have a real nursery of plants growing. I already used some of the plants to trade to new starts of a bi-colored double flowered variety and my mom will get some plants as Mother's Day present.
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One of the varieties he brought me is this trailing miniature with double pink flowers. I never new that such varieties exists and had to google what these small leaved ones are. It is planted in 2" pot, with wick watering from a glass jar.
Trailing miniature blooming.jpg

Sari

Re: African Violet

Posted: Wed May 05, 2021 10:25 am
by Growing Coastal
Very nice Svalii!
What your son has been practicing, "plant tissue culture in agar", is what a grower of gloxinias in Washington state, US was doing in the mid 1970's. He called the resulting plants clones. We used to call a cutting from a plant a cutting. Now all are called 'clones'. How things change.
The tissue culture in agar method with only a few cells from a plant was to produce a more true and consistent result, according to the grower.
Your mention of a trailing African Violet brought back a memory of a purple trailing variety I once had. They do exist!

Re: African Violet

Posted: Thu May 06, 2021 12:13 am
by svalli
I think that they used African Violets in the lab, because those are so easy to clone. However the small cuttings made the new plants grown from them quite difficult to separate. I got a whole leave cutting in a trade and it was much easier to separate the new plants.

I have now so many clones of the same plants that I need to find more people to trade with to get new varieties. I would like to get more of those trailing ones and some micros, but those may be difficult to find in Finland. I have to google, if there is some places in Europe, where I can order those from.

Sari

Re: African Violet

Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2021 4:08 am
by svalli
One more of the lab exercise African Violets is blooming. That wick watering is really the easiest way to grow these.
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Sari

Re: African Violet

Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2021 3:31 pm
by Amateurinawe
[mention]svalli[/mention] that is so beautiful

Re: African Violet

Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2021 12:40 am
by peebee
[mention]svalli[/mention] in the middle pic on your May 4th post, is that an epiphyllum I see on the upper left peeking out? If so what color are the blooms?
Sorry to deviate from African violets but I just gotta know 🙂

Re: African Violet

Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2021 4:16 am
by svalli
peebee wrote: Fri Jun 11, 2021 12:40 am @svalli in the middle pic on your May 4th post, is that an epiphyllum I see on the upper left peeking out? If so what color are the blooms?
Sorry to deviate from African violets but I just gotta know 🙂
That is a Pitahaya, which I grew from the seeds taken from a fruit. That one has suffered many years in a small container inside. I have also a bigger one, which I should move again to greenhouse for the summer.
I had a big epiphyllum when we lived in Wisconsin. It had huge white flowers and the fragrance reminded me of some old fashioned bar soaps. I should find a new one like that.

Sari