I'll download pics from my camera this evening, and I'll take some pics of my new plants as well, but I just had to post an account of our adventure right away!
As some of you know, nannanavarro and I have been planning a trip to The Violet Gallery, which is a little north of Gettysburg. I've been excited about the thought of getting up there, but I've been even more excited about getting to meet a fellow DGer and violet enthusiast! We both considered cancelling if yesterday's dreary, cold, rain weather continued, but today I woke to sunny blue skies and a crisp fall day and just thought, "Wheeeee!" She drove up from Silver Springs (near the DC beltway) and got to Frederick by about 8:30. She came up to the front door wearing a big smile and carrying a box with 3 absolutely beautiful little violets in it -- what fun! We had coffee & blueberry muffins (from my freezer), chatted a bit and played with my violets, then got back on the road.
We just had a fabulous day together! Nanna a is a very sweet and gracious lady, and we enjoyed getting to know one another on the drive. The weather cooperated, so we had blue skies and puffy white clouds and mountainsides with trees that were just starting to get their autumn colors. We had a wonderful high tea at a charming place called "Aunt Pittypat's Tea Room" just off the town square in Gettysburg. What a lovely way to top off our trip! I got home just a few minutes ago. She lives about 45 minutes away, near the DC beltway, so we saved the tour of Jill's yard for another time in order to allow her to beat rush hour traffic.
I spent a lot of time at http://www.violetgallery.com/index.html trying to narrow down my wish list before we went. Ha! I ended up with some that I had picked out from the online catalog, and a bunch of others that weren't on my list. They had a couple of violets with girl foliage that weren't on the web page, and of course some violets caught my eye as I went around the barn, while others were out of stock. I could have picked up leaves for the out of stock ones, but with so many new plants I figured I'd be putting down plenty of leaves without bringing a bunch more home. (But I still picked up leaves for 'Rob's Outer Orbit' because I just had to have it). Maybe half a dozen of my new plants have double plantlets in the pot that are at or near blooming size, so I'll have extra plants when I repot them, even before I put down leaves!
What a great expedition! I ended up with 20 new plants, plus one set of leaves, and I picked up 3 trailers to send to MsC. Nanna was slightly more restrained, but I think she still ended up with a dozen that she just couldn't resist, and of course I had a couple of plants for her to take home too... :-)
Wheeeeeeeee!!!!!
Thanks, Nannanavarro!
This message was edited Oct 28, 2005 9:40 AM
Trip to heaven (aka The Violet Gallery)
OMG! I just unpacked my box and got all those little darlings out of their wrappings! I love them all! I don't know how I managed to choose from the overwhelming variety there, but I like my choices! :-)
I took lots of pictures, but there will be a delay before posting... We've misplaced the cable to connect the camera to the computer, and DH has a method of downloading via a port in the printer, but I'm not quite sure how to do that yet.
AAAaaawww! That's so niiice that you guys (gals) had the opportunity to meet, get to know each other AND buy new violets! What better way to spend a day?! Just thrilled for you both!
And yeeees, we want to see pictures!!
Betsy
Sounds like the 2 of you had such a wonderful day!
I'm thrilled for you both. It is a wonderful blessing to get to met fellow DG'ers in person and then to shop for your favorite plants together is such an added bonus.
I'm so excited to know you found trailers, too. I can't wait to get them!!! I'll be pacing the floor til they get here! It's the next best thing to getting to be there with you both...
Now 'bout those pics!!! lol
We need our eye candy ya know...
MsC :D
Glad to hear the trip was such a success after all the anticipation :)
Now, get thee to potting up those leaves to share with us! haha :)
Sarah
Here's the stunning location of The Violet Gallery. The violets are in the little red outbuilding in front of the left side of the barn.
What a sight! Long shelves under lights, with tray upon tray of violets.... talk about your eye candy!!
Some of their selection of standards:
'Iceberg' (the blue & white bloom) didn't make our final cut, but I think both of us picked it up & put it down again several times!
I know MsC has been waiting for this picture...
Three of the trailers she wanted are across the back.
'Yesterday's Sapphire Trail' (just a little starter plantlet)
'Tiger Trail'
'Yesterday's Valentine'
They had 'Scuba Diver' too, but I looked at the blooms and they were just pink, no fantasy marking and no stripe. I asked Brenda about it, and she says it's just been blooming pink for her, never any stripe, and she thinks the one she has might be a sport and not quite true to type. It was still very pretty, but I figured MsC would rather hold out for a true to type one with a striped bloom, so I left it there. Please don't hurt me.
Edited to add IDs for the others
'Child's Play' (bottom left)
'Winnie The Pooh' (bottom right)
'Irish Flirt' (center left)
'Lil Bit O Irish' (center)
The floppy one is a trailer that was a bonus plant... fantasty blooms, forgot its name, but I've emailed to ask.
This message was edited Oct 26, 2005 11:19 PM
I thought 'Yesterday's Valentine' deserved a closeup shot!
Here are my new AVs with variegated foliage:
top row:
'Atchafolaya Basin' -- she said this was an older standard that held its variegation really well
'Plumberry Glow' -- semimini
'Apache Victory' -- std I think the Apache series may be another new favorite of mine, similar to the Buckeye series
bottom row:
'Pride of Columbus' -- semimini
'Midget Gumdrop' -- cool mosaic variegation!
'Pink Champagne -- semimini trailer
'Pink Dove' -- semimini
'Candy Crystals'
This message was edited Oct 26, 2005 11:28 PM
Here are my new AVs with "girl" foliage:
top row:
Kingwood Blue -- std
Biscayne Trail -- std trailer
Sure To Please
bottom row -- semiminis:
Madeleine
Rob's Ragamuffin
Cambridge Missy
Baby Jay
This message was edited Oct 27, 2005 8:10 AM
Here are the lovely AVs my new friend brought me this morning!
'Mississippi' and two gorgeous noid's -- the one that's in bloom and one "Blue Star" noid.
Two very happy shoppers!!
CritterO & NannaN
(((((((REALLY BIG HUGS))))))
All the pics are fantastic,thank you for thinking of the rest of us to far away to shop with you. The "eye candy" was a wonderful treat.
Looks like you made a haul with your choices. All look very healthy and should do well for you.
Thank you so much for picking out my plants! You did a wonderful job with them. I agree totally about the selection you made for me. Thank you soo much. Let me know the damages and I will send it asap!
You are both very special Av folks.:)
MsC
Hi all
What more can I say. The trip was absolutly wonderful. I had company when I got home and have an early dentist appointment this morning. I will post pictures of my found treasures asap.
Thanks, Jill, for sharing this mini trip to heaven.
Wish everyone could have been with us.
Nanna
Critter - that's a great pic of the two of you - what fun you had! And what beautiful plants! I want one of those and those and those and those.....
Thanks for posting all those fabulous pictures - - it almost felt like I was right there with you shopping! What an awesome day! =)
OK... I will of course be putting down leaves from all these new plants, but several of them do have an extra plantlet (or maybe a sucker, won't know for sure until I repot) in their pots. I was going to offer extras for trade (Rob's still ships regular mail until end of October, so should be OK with plenty of packing peanuts), but now I'm wondering if maybe extras should go under basement lights and be de-crowned to encourage them to produce suckers.... I think we'd get lots of new plants by spring that way, bigger ones than via leaf propagation, and I'd have a source for back-up plants. Leaf propagation is more efficient if you're trying to get dozens of plants, but I don't think I'm up for propagating on quite that kind of scale. :-)
LMK which ones you'd especially like. I'll keep track in my trade tracker for spring trades. Can everybody wait that long? LOL. Hopefully I'll have some to blooming size by then.
I'll still have an extra plantlet or two of 'Winnie The Pooh' (leaf tips are browned, not sure why, but there are lots of suckers in the pot) and of 'Cambridge Missy'.
DH asked how many AVs I had, and I said how many kinds? he said no, how many *plants*? I have no idea! However, out of curiousity I checked my list of varieties, and I have 46 named and 14 noids, plus 7 more in plantlet or leaf. I think somebody said I wasn't a "collector" until I had 100 varieties, so I have a ways to go! See, I'm not *really* obsessed! yet. Most of my named varieties were added this year, though, so I guess I may be on my way to full blown obsession. :-)
I suppose I should add an AV category to my trading page.... that sounds like a winter project!
BTW, here's a closer shot of 'Lil Bit O Irish', which is blooming nicely now. Nannanavarro picked up another "irish" on that has the prettiest *pink* flowers edged in green! And she has a trailer that's blooming like a cloud of delicate pink butterflies... I hope she'll swap.... maybe for 'Baby Jay' and 'Rob's Ragamuffin'? :-) She says she is going to get another plant stand for her growing AV collection!
Edited to add that the delicate green edges of the blooms got a little too washed out in this photo...
This message was edited Oct 28, 2005 9:39 AM
I'd say that you're well on your way to being a collector. Obesssed? I can't be judgemental. I have over 100 plants in my house this winter myself. Some which I added to my collection since joining DG. I keep seeing all these wonderful plants that I just got to have. LOL I really like your collection of variegated AV's
Nanna hun here is your trip to Violet Gallery end of October 2005 :))
Nanna, have you heard anything from VG about your order? They haven't emailed me yet about our AVs being ready to pick up.... Maybe they just need a little more time to grow? I guess I'll give them a call when we've compared schedules to see if there's a time that we can head up together...
Jill well they said they did me a favor shipping early and plants were too small so I don't think they will be shipping or handing people plantlets too small again.
The little ones die so said I could not have saved them no mater what I did :((
Jill Nanna needs you to let her know when you went on your trip to VG ? 2004 or 2005 time gets away from us !
Yes, Jill. They said the order was ready. I just can't remember what I ordered. I received an email earlier that said they were short on plants and would probably substiture leaves. I don't want any more leaves right now. My hands are full trying to take care of the leaves I alread have down.
I think we can substitute. When would you like to go?
Jim took the last couple of weeks mostly off, and we've been visiting family (first Pittsburgh, then Boston), so I probably need to catch up on things around here this week.... LMK what your schedule looks like... maybe we can find a pretty day to drive up in the next week or two!
I figure I'll take whatever plants they have from my list and then find a few others... I don't know if I want to put more leaves down either other than from the plants I already have, but we'll see. The Rob's Outer Orbit leaves I bought from them last fall did great!
I bought Outer Orbit this spring. It is the cutest little thing. Only one bloom. Not too much pink but it sure is pretty. I love the leaves variegated and puckery. His instructions say that semi minis and minis can stay in the same pot they arrive in but I think I want to repot in a shallower pot and get it ready for wicking.
I will check my planner and the weather channel and propose a couple of days in the next week or two. Looking forward to the trip again.
I can't believe it was just last fall that we went to VG. Seems like foreverago. Did you check out AA Trail posting. Look how big she has grown!!
Nanna
Miniatures and Semis are great in pots 2.50 and smaller. But they need more care, trans-planting more often , grooming..and so on.
But I would think if you could pot it in a more shallow pot would be good !
Oh my goodness :)) I just checked out the picture in FC of ; Rob's Outer Orbit (8738) 07/25/1998 (R. Robinson) Semidouble dark blue pansy/bright pink spots, white edge. Variegated dark green and white, quilted/red back. Semiminiature
Thanks, Allison. That was my intent. Isn't it beautiful. Looks just like that. Here is a picture of my little thing. You can't quite see the pink, but this is the first bloom.
This message was edited May 4, 2006 8:50 AM
Here is Mad Cat. Love this one.
This message was edited May 4, 2006 8:51 AM
One more Whiz Bang. This is a mini. Sorry the photo is dark. She is just opening the first bloom.
This message was edited May 4, 2006 8:51 AM
Allison, does that "oh my goodness" mean you would like a Rob's Outer Orbit plantlet in your box? I'm hoping to pack yours up for shipping on Monday.... I'll send you a list over the weekend of what I have available so you can LMK which ones you already have.
Nanna, I'd love a leaf of Mad Cat when it gets a little bigger! I'm looking forward to another fun road trip with you!
Sure what ever you have to share. I think your box Jill will go out in two weeks sense I have lots of plants to go out next week . Some of your plants are pretty big youngsters and some still blooming :))
Cool!
Is that an ok time for you Jill ?
Yes, that's great! We don't have any more trips planned for this month. :-)
Nanna your Rob's Outer Orbit is very pretty ! Nive variegation . What size pot did you say their in now ? Looks like solo cup ?
You're right. They are in solo cups. I would like them in 2 or 2 1/2 pots that are shallower.