Update on African Violets

It's been a while since I updated my blog on my precious African Violets, huh? Well, a lot has changed since my last (and only?) post on them. Shortly after that post, the fiance allowed me to go on a shopping spree and buy some more for a slightly early birthday gift. I headed over to The Violet Barn and ordered..... 11 more plants. yes, 11. And this does not include the ones I picked up from our local Lowes.



I've moved them from the windowsills, into the sunroom, under my florescent lighting. The large, full ones are from Lowes, the smaller ones are the babies that I received from The Violet Barn. They were so small then, and they've grown by leaps and bounds in the almost 2 months I've had them.



The ones I got from Lowes, are starting to flower! This was one of my first violets, of the Optimara variety. I'm not sure exactly what it's name is, but it's pretty. I fell in love with the ruffled edges, and hey, it's pink!



Another unknown Optimara variety from Lowes. This one isn't as attractive as the first one to me, but it's still special. When I was mad at the fiance one night, he came home with this for me. It's the thought that he went out and picked one for me is what makes it special. And yes, he was forgiven on the spot. Hah.



This Optimara is about to bloom. I'd forgotten which one this is, I can't wait until they open and I can see!



Even the ones I purchased from The Violet Barn are preparing to bloom as well. This one is Rob's Ooh Lala, a semiminiature variety. They will be gorgeous when they open, I can tell. It's really exciting, because almost all of the ones I purchased from The Violet Barn in August, are producing flower stalks. Yay!

Let me just say that, I've never been good with propagating these. But I keep trying. When I repotted all the Violet Barn violets (way back in August), I broke off two leaves from some semiminiature varieties. They were just too small to pot in their little containers, and my fingers are clearly too fat. The violets lost the battle between finger and container, and I cringed when I heard the little leaves go SNAP. I took a chance and attempted to propagate them anyway. I stuck them in some soil and just waited to see what happened.



They have been in this little pot for almost 2 months. As the fiance was playing his latest Playstation 3 game, I was tending to my violets, and literally shrieked when I seen that I had little baby plantlets poking up from the soil. I was screaming at him to come check it out. He did, but he didn't share my glee. Hmph. The smaller leaf in the photo has the baby plantlets (if you look closely at the base of the stem, you can see them), the bigger one is just now growing roots. It should hopefully sprout babies in a couple weeks.



This little yellow tray, is what I call my nursery. Mainly for leaves that I somehow manage to break off, or suckers that I'm hoping will root and make more plants.