Here, as promised, is the picture of Ma's Debutante in bloom.
Ma's Debutants
Nannanavarro - that is gorgeous. I also love the lace with the violets. Makes a great background. : )
Simply stunning! Thanks for sharing Nan :)
Oh my goodness I ditto everything said x's 3 :)) Love it !
Nanna
that is gorgeous! Stop showing me all these pics because my wish list is sooo long and my home is only so big! Really will have to ask one of my kids or husband to move out!
Really, really beautiful!
I love it!
Ah yes, another EXQUISITE display, Nanna! You sure do grow good!
went looking through boxes for my pics of Betty and her violets (see my HOW I GOT STARTED IN VIOLETS)...but couldn't find them..i'll keep looking...anybody know the names of the optimar i have pic of above?
Wow, thanks for that photo, Nanna -- she's gorgeous!!!
Optimira has one that is similar. It is called Tradition from the Victorian Series. This one is by Rob of the Violet Barn. There are so many look alikes. This one is quite large measuring at 15 inches diameter. Believe it or not the plant will be a year old in March (according to the information on the original 2" pot when I got her).
beautiful.
Very pretty. I love Ma's varieties because they grow so well and leaves are well-behaved. :)
I totally agree PlantMom
P-Mom, what does that mean 'well behaved'? (remember, newbie here LOL)
Begonia,
Some AV's have foliage that does not behave well, such as pointing upward, frequent suckering that distorts the symmetry, etc. I currently have some plants that I'm thinking about getting rid of because they don't grow well (although I love the blooms). I just really am not fond of plants that grow with their leaves pointing upwards. I like AV's that look nice even when not in bloom and some just don't.
I'll try to take some pictures of my plants that don't behave so well no matter what I do and post them tonight. Sometimes you can correct problems, but sometimes it's just the genetics.
To be honest, I have some AV's just for its symmetry and the beautiful leaves and not the blossoms.
HTH--Steph
Thanks Steph!
two questions now, 1) when you say 'getting rid of' does that mean you will throw them away? or put them up for adoption here on the list , I volunteer to be the mom if so. And I'm with you on the foliage thing. I LOVE and I mean LOVE the Tommy Lou foliage, bustled and girl. Almost think the flower is a bonus if it's nice but otherwise I'd grow some just for the foliage. I love most variegated plants for inside or out.
2) what does HTH mean? to Hot To Handle? I only know a few acronyms for forums so please help. :-)
Begonia,
HTH stands for (I believe) "hope this helps." Someone correct me if I'm wrong! It's one of the very few acronyms that I actually know! You should see how confused I get when trying to figure something out like ROOBLO or something like that!!!!
I was actually thinking of composting the violets that don't grow well. I know, I know--bad violet person! I just didn't even think of sending the plants to someone else. You are certainly welcome to the plants if you want them. I will check the names later and let you know what they are. One of the plants has leaves growing almost straight up!
I'm a foliage person myself and often pick plants for their foliage alone. There is a plant that shows up on ebay sporadically that has chimeric foliage. I can't remember its name, but it always sells really high. It is absolutely beautiful.
Stephanie
Do you have the Joseph's Coat called Creme de Menthe? I bought one not too long ago just for the foliage.
It's been in the playhouse under lights since I got it. I just repotted it and added it to the plant files the other day. I tried twice to take a stem cutting but lost both :-(
not sure what it wants -in fact I dont even know if these have flowers?
No I don't have that, but it is BEAUTIFUL. The variegation is just lovely. When you tried to propagate, did you enclose the whole in a ziploc? I've had very good luck propagating hibiscus and jasmine that way. I have a hoya multiflora that has similar variegation and I just love it. I got it from Logee's this fall. Where did you get your plant (I may have to order it!)?
I've seen some on the www for sale, but I got mine at an Ace hardware in Oakland (near SFO)
Sometimes when foliage reach up it is not getting enough light. And long stems not enough light. You can try changing turning plants every couple days, giving them more or less light. change pot size. Lot's of times if you grow a plant by leaf from the Mom the new baby will be prefect . Some plants never get use to their new enviroments , I always put leaves down and find the plant I grow by leaf is much nicer than Mom.
What I mean when I throw out ones not growing well are babies that just don't look healthy.
Spacing plants so their not crowded can help. Placing plants with dark foliage, blue and purple blossoms , double petalled blosssoms, boy-type foliage , young seedlings directly under the lights helps growth.
Plants with light green foliage, girl-type foliage, pink and white blossoms, variegated leaf varieties grow better around the outer edges of the lights.
I don't show so I don't expect them to be perfect , trailers can go crazy in my eyes. But sometimes
just a few little tricks can help your foliage be more have better behaved :))
It never ceases to amaze me how beautiful everyone's violets are!!!