I've been promising myself a shipment of Rob's violets since I found his site last year (http://www.robsviolet.com), but was holding out for the cheaper warm-weather shipping rates. This afternoon, I was feeling just a tad under the weather, so I treated myself! Boy, was it hard to pick my "favorites!" I managed to restrain myself and only order what would fit (I hope) in the smaller shipping box, but who am I kidding, that's really just an excuse to order more violets another time!
Anyway, here was my final order list, after much editing! Whew!
standard violets:
Raspberry Rampage
Alliance
Aca's Summer Parfait
Rebel's Astro Spinner (chimera)
Buckeye Bellringer (from Collector's Treasure page)
miniature violets:
Rob's Love Bite
Rob's Bunny Hop
Rob's Whiz Bang
Rob's Cherry Soda
Rob's Twinkle Blue (micro-mini)
Teeny Bopper (micro-mini trailer)
Cloud Puff (from Collector's Treasure page)
Peppermint Girl (from Collector's Treasure page)
I can't wait to see them! 'Raspberry Rampage' is listed as not available until later this month, so my order might be delayed a bit, but I *really* wanted that one!
I'll let everyone know when they get big enough to trade some leaves..... :-)
Has anyone else ordered from Rob this spring?
(edited to correct the link)
This message was edited May 15, 2005 1:55 AM
Just placed my order with Rob's Violet Barn!
ooooh Teeny Bopper. I used to have one of those. It really is tiny. Mine was about 1-2" in diameter. To visualize the size, look around and see how many plants you have with leaves or flowers that size. Now imagine a plant with 30-50 leaves in a space that big.
Wow. Somehow, I don't forsee much success trying to propagate that one! I'm having enough trouble with the little leaves from 'Marion's Enchanted Trail' (a pair I stuck a week ago just went mushy on me). But I know I'll try, especially any time a little leaf gets accidently knocked off!
actually, propagating from suckers is pretty easy and sometimes beneficial to the parent plant. I think it's one of those that will grow upwards unless you encourage lateral spreading. And the leaves are quite solid too - tiny, but substantial.
thanks for the tip!
Critter, when I go to that hyperlink, I get this page with a list of other links, not a violet site. Any suggestions? Thx
I got it. Violets don't have an "s" on the end.
whoops, sorry about the typo. I should've copied & pasted the link.
http://www.robsviolet.com/
even if you're not thinking of ordering from them, the web site has great information on culture & propagation!
Hmmm, thought I'd posted this picture Friday when the violets arrived.... I'll try again now.
I'm so excited that a couple even arrived in bloom!! I was trying to get a nice assortment of variegated foliage as well as pretty flowers.... the more I see of ones with TLV variegation or girl foliage, the more I love them! DH was sitting next to me when I unwrapped them.... with each one, I'd give an oooooh, or an excited squeak, and he'd say, yes, dear, that's a nice one. When I said I was going to take a picture and post it, he said that was a good idea, I'd probably get a better response to my enthusiasm from my fellow AV fanciers!
They were in great shape -- very well packed! They had to sub 'Rebel's Spatter Kake' for 'Rebel's Astro Spinner', but I can live with that. :-) I got all the other ones I wanted, and they gave me a nice bonus of 'Silly Girl' for finding the geese (there's a picture of a pair of geese somewhere on the site, the location keeps changing, and if you can tell them what the geese are saying when you order, you get a free plant). I even got the 'Raspberry Rampage' I really wanted -- it's small, but I said I'd rather have a little one than have them substitute. I'm just delighted with them all!
A couple of leaves broke off, and of course you know what I did with those, :-) They're generally small enough that I'll wait a while before taking leaves & starting plantlets.
Here they are!
For the curious, I should add a who's who:
Clockwise from the top, 'Rebel's Spatter Kake' (medium green leaves), 'Raspberry Rampage', 'Rob's Whiz Bang', 'Cloud Puff' (girl foliage), 'Rob's Bunny Hop' (pink blooms), 'Rob's Twinkle Blue', 'Teeny Bopper' (micro mini trailer), 'Rob's Cherry Soda' (fantasy blooms), 'Rob's Love Bite' (lots of cream on the leaves), 'Silly Girl' & 'Peppermint Girl'. The 3 in the center are 'Alliance' (with the blue & white blooms), 'Buckeye Bellringer', and 'Aca's Summer Parfait (nice TLV variegation).
:-D
Oh my they are all beautiful!
You did good!:) I love your selections.
I can't wait til things settle down around here and are more back to "normal"...lol
Enjoy your babies.
MsC
Thanks! You know how very hard it was to whittle down my list to "just a few!" LOL! I've looked through Rob's selections quite a few times, trying to pick my favorites..... I'm pretty sure I will have to order from him again, although I've been lucky enough to trade for several new varieties already too!
I think the mini's and the variegated leaves might be more of a challenge to propagate, at least judging by my limited experience, but you know I'll be giving it the old college try!
I'm enjoying these babies very much. I can't believe some of them are budding/blooming at such a small size.... I may have to try moving some of my AVs under lights and see what happens....
BTW, back to normal? What is normal??!? :-D
Wow Critter...those look great
I'm certainly enjoying them! And thanks to you & danak, I'll have 5 more "Rob's" cultivars in my new collection, assuming I can get both leaves & plantlets to do well. This is such fun!
Critter,
I know how hard it is to try to limit the AV's in ones colletion.
I did have 40 different Rob's varieties I started from leaves-they were all gorgeous and almost ready to trade- then along came my Chi puppies and poof they were gonners.:(
DH took me to the garden center Friday evening , as a surprise and I came home with plenty of AV's to trade with..lol. Of course they are mostly 'No namers' but I could careless. A flower is a flower and they are all pretty enough to sit on my shelves.
They were fresh in from the grower and barely unpacked so I got a great deal.
I'll post some pics on a seperate thread once I get them of the camera.Now I have some AV's you guys might want to trade for...then again you may have the same ones from your area???
It's fun to trade 'em at any rate.
Oh yeah and 'normal'... well of course that is a relative thing-but for me it ain't what's been going on here lately.
Watch for my pics so you can pic your AV trades out .
Enjoy
MsC
We will be looking forward to those pictures! And I know what you mean.... every time I've about convinced myself that maybe I should stick to named varieties to add to my collection, a really wonderful violet will catch me eye at Home Depot and just jump right into my basket!
Here's the one that did so most recently. It turned out to have half a dozen suckers around its base, which have been removed & are now (hopefully) rooting in their own little pots.
I would love to see some updated pictures; especially 'Raspberry Rampage'. Thanks linda
'Raspberry Rampage' is a little bigger, but I don't think it'll be big enough to bloom for several months yet. I'll see if any of the others are looking "picture worthy!"
Cheaper warmer rates? Please explain.
Patti
Rob's charges a great deal more for shipping plants in winter, as they must be overnighted to have the best chance of survival. I waited until they switched to regular priority shipping before placing my order.
I received a Raspberry Rampage plant from Robs the beginning of August. It was very small. The other plants I received at the same time have tripled in size. Raspberry remains the same. Today I notices a new leaf growing.
Does your RR grow this slowly?
Nanna
My Rob's plantlets have varied in how quickly they are growing. Some seem nearly the same, others have tripled in size as yours did. 'Raspberry Rampage' had 3 or 4 leaves when it arrived (I asked them to send one if possible even though it was listed as unavailable for another month, so I was expecting a tiny plant), and now it has probably 7 or 8, so it is growing, if slowly.
I'm pleased that many of the leaves I started from these violets have begun putting up ears at least, so I may have backups in case any do not thrive, and with luck I'll have extras to offer.