Another chimera. I've only had this particular plant for about a month. I will say that the picture does not do the blossom justice. It has been blooming nonstop for over two weeks.
Ma's Wicked Witch
Oh wow another Beauty. did you get her from Rob's ? I only have two trailing Chimeras now would like another trailing one and maybe a reg. Allison
I like the markings on it. Very pretty.
Joan
Very unusual. Good Picture.
Kenton
Allison,
Yes, I got it from Rob's. I was very disappointed when I received it as the entire bottom row of nine leaves had been clipped off, leaving it with a "neck." The plant has really bounced back though and is growing great. I love Olive's plants and hopefully this one will become as large and beautiful as her other plants.
Stephanie
You wonder why chop off the leaves of a Chimera ? Maybe they thought it was easier to ship ? It's beautiful. Hope it does well for you. Allison
I wondered too. The other standards I received in the same shipment did not have their bottom rows of leaves clipped off. I ordered another chimera at the same time and it also had the bottom row of leaves clipped off. It's the first time I've received violets from any vendor that came that way. I guess there must be some reason for it.
Broken leaves I like , I just put them down and grow new plants ! BUT broken Chimera leaves I don't like. I got a Chimera from someone else and half it's leaves were off also and it was not big enough to begin with. lol
Now couple years ago I bought a few Chimeras from Rob's . do remeber they were small , but blooming I did not know much so I would not have noticed if he took leaves off.
I think I may try a few from Lyon's Greenhouse in Spring at least one plus another trailing one !
Allison
This is truly lovely :)
thanks for sharing!
Which Chimera is it?
Reminds me of the monique I have
Lorry it's Ma's Wicked Witch :)) Today I took my almost vintage trailing Chimera and had two blooming size baby plants with roots and I took off, a sucker, and three good size blossoms baskets :)). Mom plant I took off dozens of her flowers and filled two little vases. This way the stress of transplant she can consentrate on growing new babies and trailing. I planted her in a 5" pan pot :)) I'm going to sell one to make money to buy another Chimera and give the others away !
Allison
Yeah :) I seen it was wiked witch but it seems similiar to Monique though sometimes it is hard to tell a color well in photos.
Oh put me on that list!
I have a sucker down of Monique and I am going to hunt her for more.
I also put down a bloom stalk..so will see how that goes :)
Just curious, if you DO put down broken chimera leaves, wont you still get a nice plant, just one different from the parent?
Yes, you just won't know what the bloom will look like--a mystery plant!
Also, even though you propagate from suckers, you may still not get a chimera. That's why vendors must wait to see if the plant blooms "true."
Stephanie
Right Plant...that is what everything I have read says..It also said crown suckers are more LIKELY to bloom truer then the ones that come from the base.
This is why many vendors behead their varieties to force the crown to bloom.
I saw on a web site that was linked here in the forum a photo of a chimera 'leaf' the plant had leaves that had one side green and one side lime or pale green. see my example. It wasn't variegated, but literally half and half. see the graphic.
This site also had one called 'candelabra' or something like that and it was a tall growing AV. Any one remember what site it was.
There was an interesting Discovery channel (I think) show a month or so ago about human chimeras. Very interesting and once I saw VT's definition and saw that it was pronounced ki mere ah not chim mare ah I 'got' it.
For the human chimera, the person can carry two sets of DNA, one is dominant and the other lurks somewhere in the body. The child of a chimera person had completely different DNA than the mother, where the child should show at least half DNA from the mother and half from the father, they don't. how they found this was in a case where a mother was seeking government assistance and the department wanted DNA to prove parentage. Well, the mom gave birth to all three kids, but when they did DNA testing, the kids showed that they did indeed have one father but that she was not the mother. Turned out she was, but her dna didn't pass to her kids, at least her dominant DNA, the kids got the lurking DNA. IT was a real puzzle for them. Of course she did give birth, but could prove it in a scientific way.
just a little trivial pursuit fact for you...
Begonia
Was it the sight with David Senk's Beanstalk plant ?
It's hard getting blooming ture chimeras so thats why people don't use leavs. Though this past year one of the AVSA Magazines ( I forgot which I send them to a friend) said there's a 50/50 chance ofblooming true. So if you wanted to do it you'd just have to wait until it blooms to see if it's true or not.
Also when growing Chimerias from blooms stalk it needs to have st least two leaves on it and take flower off. You may also keep it on mom until it gets larger or use Keki ( SP) grow the basket baby from bloom stalk right on Mom plant. Allison
A Guide To Chimera African Violet Propagation Using Keikigrow Plus
By Janet Stromborg
http://www.geocities.com/rachelsreflections/keiki.htm
I saw that show too begonia...They claimed the woman could not have given birth to her own sons! That was very intriguing!
I may have to put up a chimera leaf just to see what it will do!
yes! It was the bean stalk. THanks! Here's the link http://www.africanviolet.info/The_Violet_Lab.htm
I can't seem to find the leaf photo.
David gave me a baby Beanstalk free, it was the cutest baby to grow. I sold it thought :(( . It's the cutest plant. Allison