I do have one correction to suggest, but it's to the listed details for the main AV page... more AVs have been killed by TLC and overwatering in an attempt to keep them "constantly moist" than by anything else, I think! That's partly why they have this undeserved reputation as a finicky houseplant.... Is there any way to globally correct this detail for all AV entries so it says "Average Water Needs; Water regularly; do not overwater" or do we need to submit error reports on this point for every PF entry? Similarly, it would be good to have the pH requirement at "pH 6.1 to 6.5 (mildly acidic)" for all files.
I'm less concerned about having all entries say "Suitable for growing indoors" or "Suitable for containers," since those are pretty much common knowledge details about AVs.... but if there's a way to make global changes to details, that would be great.
Also, have you asked Dave about incorporating a link (to a post that we can add to the sticky with definitions or links to definitions of descriptive terms) within the PF pages for AVs?
New AV characteristics to PlantFiles - input please!
Critter, I haven't asked him, and I know he's got several other projects he's working on right now (cool stuff, but I can't spill the beans ;o)
He can *probably* go through and make the pH and soil moisture conditions all set the same for all existing entries, but it'll be a week or so before I can get that on his radar screen. At the same time I'll see if he will consider a link.
That will be a big help if he can set those two conditions for all AVs... if it's easy enough to add the "indoors" and "containers" suitability descriptions, that would be good too... but the moisture and pH information definitely needs to be correct, or plants will die and people will wonder why.
I checked the other sets of details/characteristics, and they look fine to me.
But if I'm being *really* particular... LOL... there are a couple minor changes that occurred to me as I read through the leaf characteristics. I double checked to be sure compound and bustle were the same foliage type and found that it is also known as wasp foliage... no big deal, but if you're making changes still perhaps you could put it as "Compound (bustle or wasp)." Also, the first item under leaf color reads, "Red Reverse (or back)" and might be slightly more clear if it read, "Red Reverse (red back)."
:-)
Done!
Thank you!
.... Anybody else find a detail they'd like to pick over? ;-)
Wow!!! That looks great Terry. Thank you so very much. Now I can start adding new ones to the PlantFiles. I will also start editing the other ones.
Thanks so much,
Jesse
Jesse, if we want to upload photos and think that we have nothing named (except 1) do we take a chance and just upload to the first page that Terry showed us .....just the AV's in general???? or I have seen some of yours that you got at Walmart that i have ,too...but none of mine have ever had a name....can someone give us instructions on not uploading if the plant didn't have a name when we bought it?
We cannot upload them unless they have a name. I have a ton of them that I would love to add that do not have a name but right now I think all we can do is just take a photo of them and show to each other in the AV forum.
Jesse
OK....got it.....I still can't figure out how you and I bought the very same plants one week at Walmart, including, the variegated with purple bloom.....all yours had optimara names and mine had nothing on them....you had a long thread of your pictures.....I am not really worried about it as I just love African violets anyway...I sent that one to Lin as she loved it so much...
Terry,
I have a question. I have been adding some AVs to the PlantFiles and a lot of them have the description of frilled when talking about the type of bloom. We have fringed but I am not sure if that is the same thing. So could we add frilled to the description of bloom type? I have also found many blooms that are ruffled too. And we forgot to include the leaf shape "heart-shaped".
Jesse
This message was edited Mar 31, 2007 5:24 PM
This is just too funny. I just picked several AVs out at random, and so far most of them have frilled as the bloom type so I'm thinking it must be pretty common and maybe should be added to the bloom description.
Jesse
Terry,
I found another type of blossom that is becoming very popular, something that I did not even know what it was. So I was wondering if we should add it because I think it is something that people would really like when choosing and AV. The term is Sticktite. I did not know what it was so I looked it up and this is what I found.
Sticktite: A term to describe a modern hybrid African violet with non-dropping blossoms. The original Saintpaulia found in the hills of the Usambara Mountains in Africa, have blossoms which easily fall off when shaken. Modern hybridization has removed this trait from many varieties.
Thanks,
Jesse
Terry,
After adding and editing about 100 violets yesterday and last night, I think there are a few things that definitely need to be added to the details for the African violets. Here is what I think we need to add.
Flower Characteristics
Frilled
Ruffled
Sticktite
Two-tone
Leaf Shape/Type
Heart-shaped
Wavy
Thanks so much. I know that this has been a major undertaking for you and I really do appeaciate all of your hard work. I think that if we add these few things that we will cover most of the descriptions. The reason I want to add these few things is because I come across them with nearly every plant that I enter so I think that they are very important. Thank you so much for helping us with this project. I really do apprecaite it.
Thanks,
Jesse
Jesse, that sounds good to me.... Thanks for the huge amount of effort you've been putting into the AV files!!
The only question I have is how does "two tone" differ from "bicolor"... ?) Oh, I looked up it up -- "two tone" refers to different shades of the same color... yes, you're right, it needs to be included under Flower Characteristics.
The Optimara glossary says "ruffled" and "wavy" are the same terms for leaf shape... maybe the check box should read "Ruffled (wavy)"
under "ruffled" in O's AV dictionary, it says "Also called curly, fluted, frilled, lacy, ruched, undulate or wavy."
Similarly, it looks like "frilled" and "ruffled" and "wavy" are alternate terms for describing the same bloom shape, so perhaps we should add it to Flower Characteristics as "Ruffled (frilled or wavy)."
And we did miss "Heart shaped" under "Leaf shape/type"... I'm thinking it should go near the top of the list, maybe under "Pointed."
So... just to summarize for Terry...
Under Flower Characteristics, please add
"Two-Tone" -- to the end of the list?
"Sticktite" -- under "pansy"?
"Ruffled (frilled or wavy)" -- under fringed?
Under Leaf Shape/Type, please add
"Heart shaped" -- under pointed?
and please change
"Ruffled" to "Ruffled (frilled or wavy)"
This is a good news/bad news situation ;o)
Good news - I can add these, and any others.
Bad news - I can't rearrange the existing lists to "slot" these in. They'll have to go at the end.
That'll work... I had tried to give the lists a certain amount of organization, but as long as all the necessary terms are there, I think it'll be fine.
Jesse, what do you think? Are you OK with combining those terms?
That is fine with me if they go at the end. I really do think that they need to be included, no matter where we put them. Thanks so much for all of your hard work Terry, I really do appreciate all that you have done to help us out with the PlantFiles, especially the AV section.
I think that heart-shaped stands on its own and should not be counted as pointed.
Also, sticktite does not only go with pansy, but with star and a couple others, so it should be added just by itself.
So they should be like I had them before just with a couple of them combined.
Flower Characteristics
Frilled
Ruffled
Sticktite
Two-tone
Leaf Shape/Type
Heart-shaped
Wavy
I have been adding tons to the AVs since yesterday, even stayed up all night to add them. And I have seen what they are all called in First Class which I think is the best source of information that we have about AVs. I have been adding this note under the section which says add your own comment because I think that sticktite is very important.
"This African Violet has a sticktite bloom which means it will bloom a lot longer. Sticktite is a modern hybrid African Violet with non-dropping blossoms."
If this is wrong, please let me know. I had to do a lot of digging and research just to find out what sticktite meant and now that I know that, I will be looking for AVs that have sticktite as one of its characteristics.
Jesse
So how long before these new things are added? Should I stop adding until all of the news ones are there? And this is not to pressure you to do it any faster Terry. I just want to know what to do. I hate to keep adding stuff that we need to do more to until they new stuff is there.
Jesse
I can make these changes this afternoon - but are there any others? (I've got several other projects that also need my time and attention over the next couple weeks, so I'd like to make sure we've made all the additions that need to be made for a while ;o)
Jesse, I wasn't trying to combine "heart shaped" with "pointed," or "sticktite" with "pansy," just suggesting a logical place for those terms on the lists... I think Terry understood my intent, but it turns out we can only add terms on the end, not insert them in the middle of the list, so it's a moot point.
The terms I thought should be combined were:
"Ruffled (frilled or wavy)" under both Flower Characteristics and Leaf Type/Shape.
Yes? I just want to be sure we're all on the same page...
I like all the ones i listed and i don't bother them being at the end. When you get into the flow of adding them you get the hang of it and it really isn't that bad with them being at the end. Now, when are they going to be added?
Jesse
Jesse, I'm sorry, maybe I keep missing your answer...
Do you see any problem with combining the terms Ruffled, Frilly, and Wavy as I mentioned? I am pretty sure they all mean the same thing, so it doesn't make sense to me to list them separately.
I do not mind if we combine them, although I think that fringed is a little bit different than frilled and wavy. Other than that I think it would be okay to add them together. So we would have the following ones:
Ruffled, frilled or wavy
Fringed (to stay by itself)
Sticktite (very important one to add)
Two-tone
and then combine them again with the leaves so it should be:
Ruffled, frilled or wavy
Heart-shaped
What do you think about that critter?
Jesse
Okay, I've udpated the flower characteristics and leaf shape/type sections.
Thank you so much Terry, I really do appreciate all of your hard work.
Jesse
Thank you so much Terry, I really do appreciate all of your hard work. I was in the middle of adding one and looked and there it was and I was like "wow". Thanks again.
Jesse
You're very welcome! I'm excited to see this area of PlantFiles get more "built up" and full of interesting details!
Fabulous!
Thanks for your patience, Jesse... I just wanted to be sure I wasn't suggesting something different from what you thought needed to be there. You're making an incredible contribution with all those new entries. Wow!
Terry, we appreciate all the work you put into PF! Thank you!
My part was easy compared to the legwork to retrofit the existing entries. For that, you-all have my gratitude in advance ;o)
Terry, is there a way for me to do a search of all the African violets that I have added to the PlantFiles so far? That would make it a lot easier for me since I could chose the "Set all details" and get them done a lot faster and easier. I am not sure if this can be done, but it sure would help me a lot if it could be.
Thanks,
Jesse
I don't think there is. But if most of your PF work has been in the Saintpaulias, go to your Member Page and click on the link to your PlantFiles entries.
Jesse, in my enthusiasm, I just goofed!!! I don't know if they can take this off....I went to your plant files entries and uploaded pictures of graptophylum pictum....I wasn't supposed to do that....I am so sorry.....I just don't know what I am doing....I thought it would upload on that plant file...instead it was your own plant file....
gail
Where exactly did you add your photo at bettygail?
Jesse
Would you add this as two-tone or bicolar? There are a lot of them listed this way and I wanted to know where to add it.
Double dark pink/darker top petals
Jesse
Jesse, I think the 'powers that be will catch it'...when I saw graptophylum pictum I forgot I was looking on the plant files from your information....Terry had just posted it....so I went over to the right place and uploaded it there...I noticed that my info said they were holding 4 pics...that means it was posted twice...they will catch it....just 2 photos posted twice and they will see that I can't upload my pics to your plant files....sorry about that!!!
Betty, we would probably catch it, but then again, it could escape our review.
Go to your Member Page (Click on the "My Info" link above), and view your pending PlantFiles images (we can't get to this area - only you can.) See what's in there, and let us know if anything needs to be deleted or moved.
SORRY ABOUT THIS: It says that two pics are uploaded but there are no other pics there but mine...which means the pics went under Jesses' plant files, I think....and there are 2 pending ....which are the same photos, but they are not in the plant files where there are lots of photos of this plant....
I won't ever make this mistake again, I promise....
They need to be taken away from Jesse's plant files....and check on the two pending that do belong in the regular plant files...more work for Terry!!!!?????
Jesse, I would think that a flower with darker and lighter shades of the same color (pink in your example) would be listed as two-tone rather than as bicolor... I thought that's why we added "two-tone" to the flower description list.
Bettygail, when someone creates a PlantFiles entry, it is often added to with details, comments, and photos from several others, not just the person who created it.
So this isn't Jesse's entry, per se, even though she may have created it.
Thanks so much....I feel better.
gail