I bought this plant for $1.49 on clearance and it was only labeled as African Violet. I was wondering if anyone has any idea what cultivar it might be. Any suggestions are appreciated.
Anyone have a clue?
RainGazer
Oct 14, 2009
Welcome to the AV forum! ^_^
There are literally thousands and thousands of African Violet cultivars and it's really impossible to positively identify one that does not have a label. The only thing you can try is to see if there is a nursery name on it anywhere. Does yours list a nursery anywhere on the pot or in a tag stuck in the pot? If so, you might be able to trace it through the company. Optimara stopped labeling their AVs a while back, but seems like they've started labeling some of them again.
Whatever it turns out to be or not to be, it's a lovely flower!
It's no longer in the original pot. I threw it out after repotting, but like I said it had no tag. I bought it at Lowe's off a clearance rack and it looked half dead so I guess I'll just enjoy it not knowing what it is. It's interesting they stopped labeling them. I was just thinking how there are thousands of cultivars of other plants such as roses but they are always still labeled. I wonder why that is?
Not sure about now, but Lowes in my area used to sell optimara violets. You could see if you can match it up with any of the violets on the Opt website....good luck, it isn't that easy to do! If I were you, I would just enjoy it...
RainGazer
Oct 15, 2009
Yes, if you got it at Lowe's, then it was most likely Optimara. http://www.optimara.com/optimarafieldguide.html That's where to start looking at Optimara. The Lowe's here also sold AVs from a nursery in Canada. I used to know their name, but can't recall now. They didn't have any way to ID theirs, though, so it didn't matter.
Even if you find one at Optimara that looks really close, not knowing for sure that it was actually an Optimara plant, you couldn't call it whatever name you located, but you could call it "NOID that looks like Optimara Such-and-Such". I hope that makes sense! I think it's a very pretty flower no matter what it is! :o)
I think the Canadian nursery is Woodland Hills Greenhouses or Woodland Springs...something like that. They don't have a website, I checked, because I have a variegated pink violet from them. Their plants are nice though, very healthy and vigorous.