Hi all,
I'm a hoya and succulent collector, but I was hoping you could help me with something regarding AV's. My sister and I are throwing an engagement party for my father at a country club and my sister wants to go all out and put AV's at every table.
She said she either wants one big AV per table or a "bunch" of small AV's in a group. I've only seen small ones...are there big "centerpiece" type ones? Also, she obviously is thinking of getting AV's that are in bloom (I can't imagine foliage plants without color as centerpieces!), so how do I go about finding a whole bunch of those? Do you easily find blooming AV's at nurseries, or do I go through a flower shop? We will need a bunch of them (especially if we are doing small bunches per table), so I'm not sure how to go about this.
If I do go to a nursery to get them, how long before the party should I go? I wouldn't want the blooms to die on me before the party, but I also wouldn't want to take a chance of not finding any.
What do you all think of this idea? Any suggestions are much appreciated.
Thanks so much,
Gabi
AV question, and looking for suggestions...
Standard size AVs can be 10-12 inches across(when mature). They may grow much larger than that but I don't know where you would find alot of them. You can find AVs at WalMart, Lowes or Home Depot. You have to be careful though, if they have bugs the plant, much less the blooms won't last long. That's about all I can offer as advice, I'm still new at this. Hopefully someone will come along with some better advice.
Melissa
Gabi,
Have you by chance tryed flower shop's? They should have bigger and Healther one
(Bad spelled no spell check on this)
Hear is somthing to think about beside AV if you can't get them, in small bunches Forget-me-nots. They also look like (AV) Their is a picture in www.wikipedia.org
Just a thought
good luck
Kim
PS I just look on the site you need to type Forget-me-not and go to the 2nd one that said forget-me -not sorry
This message was edited Apr 24, 2007 6:43 PM
Gabi,That is an excellent idea for table centerpieces.When my neice was married my sister and I ordered 4" african violets from
http://www.selectivegardener.com/
They arrived in full bloom on the date we requested their arrival and were gorgeous on the tables.After the festivities we passed them out to whomever wanted one as a remembrance of the special day.Everyone loved them.
Nancy
Thank you both for the great ideas!
Nancy, thanks so much for that site and the info. I can't take the credit for the idea...it was my sister's :) Go figure, the one that knows nothing about plants!
For you neice's wedding, did you get just one type and one color for all the tables? I guess that's more of a personal preference. Just out of curiosity though, since I know NOTHING about AV's, what type did you get?
I guess I can call the place you referred me to and ask what they think. Also, how long before the wedding did you request their arrival?
Thanks...this helps more than you know (it's my father's second wedding, but not by choice...he's a widower. So we want to make it special).
Gabi
Gabi,You are most welcome.I am sure that would definitely make your sweet fathers wedding even more special.That is such a nice thing for you and your sister to do.
For my neices wedding we ordered #AV4A8 - 4 IN Optimara African Violet - Pack of 8.Only we needed 30 plants so we ordered 4 sets.They were all named plants in all different gorgeous colors.We ordered that way because she wanted all different colors.They also had what they called a party pack you could order.#PP4AV - Party Pack of 4 IN Optimara Violets - 30 pack.With that one you can choose all in a single color or a variety of mixed colors.No names with them though.
They also have the 6 inch varieties but I think they only come in packs of 4 and cost alot more too.Have fun looking over their site.They have alot of nice plants.
From the time we placed our order we received them within a week.When you place your order just be sure to tell them the date you will need them to make sure they will arrive on time.They bloom forever it seems so if you have a place to keep all of them you could even order them a little earlier just to be on the safe side.They will still be blooming perfectly up to a month after you get them. Good luck to your dear father and have fun planning the wedding : )
Nancy
Thank you so much Nancy. You are so sweet.
That was so helpful! That is exactly what I will do. I really appreciate your help.
And thanks for the kind wishes,
Gabi
Hi all,
Well, I tried contacting "Selective Gardener", and I got no response. It's been about a week since I first contacted them (they only communicate via email), and I emailed them twice. Has anyone else had problems with this place?
Nancy...did you have any trouble contacting them, or is there a number that you know of to call them?
I guess I can try local flower shops, but does anyone have any other suggestions? I'll need a whole lot of blooming AV's, and I also want nice cache pots for them....wow, this is gonna be expensive!! My sister and I have decided to put a group of three 4" AV's on each table...not sure how many tables there are yet, but probably a lot!
I really liked the idea of the "party pack" at Selective Gardener, but I guess I have to find another source.
Any suggestions are much appreciated :)
Thanks,
Gabi
Isn't there a phone number where you could call them? Sounds like a great idea for the tables ... and so pretty! But, I bet it would be very expensive too! Hope you can get in contact with them, if not maybe you could call another nursery and inquire about getting AV's from someplace else.
If you email selective gardener, they will email you within 24 hours with good information....If you don't have to have the same colors, they will be much more reasonable, i think.
gail
No, there's no phone number. I wish there was so I could get in touch with them!
Gail, it does say they will email you within 24 hours, but I emailed them twice and still no response (first email was last week). I don't get it!
I guess I have to call some places...it just looked like such a great site, with inexpensive party packs. Oh well.
Thanks for your help,
Gabi
let me go back to my own emails with them and see what I come up with....
http://www.selectivegardener.com/Contact.php
This message was edited May 3, 2007 8:52 PM
I would just ask for Monica to reply to your email......just explain that you need to place an order , what you need and they will I hope email you back.....she has always been so responsive.....good luck
This message was edited May 3, 2007 8:54 PM
Gabi,
Have you tried www.violetbarn.com. They do weddings and they are in NY.
Sandi
Hi Gail,
Yes, that's the form I used. I basically told her what I needed (the exact order#), told her I wanted to place an order, and asked her some questions....then emailed her again 2 days later. I really like their site, but I don't feel like I should be chasing after someone when I'm about to place a pretty big order, you know? It's too bad...their plants and packages look great. Maybe she's on vacation or something.
Hi Sandi,
Thanks so much. I will check out that site. That seems perfect. I was hoping there would be another option (other than a nursery or a florist).
Thanks both of you for your time and effort,
Gabi
Gabi,Sorry I never responded sooner.I had forgotten about this thread.,I am so sorry to hear of the bad luck you have had with them not responding to your emails.I can't figure out either what is up with that?I don't have a telephone number for them.Just like Gail,I have always just done everything by email.My sis didn't have a number for them either.I don't blame you for not wanting to chase them down to order from them.
Sandis idea of Violet Barn is an excellent one!! They have awesome plants.I had never even thought of them.Good Luck!!
Nancy
No need to apologize Nancy! You've been such a great help :)
I looked at the Violet Barn site and I will call them tomorrow. At least they have a phone number!!
Thanks again for your help,
Gabi
I'm wondering if Selective Gardener is getting your order together. You said you gave them the #'s and told them what you wanted to order. Did you give them your name and address? If so, they may be filling the order to ship out. I am surprised they don't have a phone number for contact and really surprised they haven't e-mailed you. Must be soooo frustrating when you are trying to plan a wedding! Even if someone is on vacation, they should at least send a brief return email explaining that they are busy. Keep us posted on what you find! I know the Reception Tables would be so Beautiful with the AV's!
Hi Plantladylin,
No, I didn't actually place an order. I just told them the order # that I may be interested in, and told them what I needed them for. But I had a bunch of questions for them (about other packages, and which might be better...things like that). I didn't give them any info except for my name and email address. But seeing how they are unreachable, it's a good thing I didn't place the order and give them my credit card number!!! So no, there is no order to ship out. I sent them a THIRD email last night....no response yet. I'm not holding my breath though!!
I agree with you about the frustration. I didn't like the fact that they didn't have a phone number, but since they were recommended I thought they'd be good with email communication. But there's just no excuse to not respond to a customer's emails. Even if they got back to me, I wouldn't feel comfortable ordering from them at this point.
I haven't had a chance to call the other place, but in reading through their page, it seems that getting AV's with blooms is more of a guarantee if you get the miniature ones (2"). Even though my sister and I decided to put groups of 3 on each table, don't you think 2" might be too small for a centerpiece? I would think those miniature AV's would be more suitable if placed at each place setting. I think 4" would be best....hopefully they have enough to send!
I'll keep you all updated. (By the way, I know some of you think I'm talking about a wedding, but we're doing this for the engagement party....a little different!)
This time of the year, all vendors are so busy that they might just not be responding if there is not an actual order. I turned my order into Bluebird......................and then turned around a week later and emailed them to delete all leaves....they emailed back the next day. You might want to try them and just explain that the plants need to be in full bloom...
gail
PS...you will pay a lot more......there is a package available on Selective gardener for fully blooming 6" plants.....that would be better than minis.....(as far as both costs and looks)......I think they also offer fully blooming 4" plants, too. You don't have to worry about the looks as Selective Gardeners is the Optimara site.
I agree Gabi ... the Mini's would be way too small for a centerpiece at each table! The 4" size would be nice and the 6" would be fantastic! What a nice centerpiece for an Engagement Party .... then afterwards you will have all those wonderful AV's to keep or give away!
Yeah, keep us posted! And, I sure hope when the event takes place that you take LOTS of photo's to post!
And don't forget that if there are no African violet lovers, many of us would be willing to pay for shipping and 1/2 the cost of the plants (seriously)....if you order from Selective Gardener or Blubird....
Thanks for all your input! Gail, too funny :) If there are any leftovers, I will be sure to send them out (at no cost to any of you).
The Violet Barn didn't work out. He was extremely nice and helpful though. But they only send mini's out. So I guess I'll see if Selective Gardener replies, or maybe check out some local nurseries out. But that package of 4" AV's would be so perfect! We'll look into other options. Thanks so much everyone :)
Gabi
Hi Gabro. I may be way out in left field on this one, but if you have a Home Depot near you might inquire there. Sometimes my HD gets optimara violets even though most of the time they are not labeled as such. Even if the ones they get aren't from OPT. ------ anyway, what I'm trying to say is go ask the person who does the ordering. It never hurts to try and it would probably cost a lot less. I sure hope you get a response from SG because their plants are the best. wishing you good luck.
If I got them from Wally world or Home Depot, you better plan on buy them a good month ahead and even then, they won't be big enough to really be pretty i wouldn't think