Rob's Violet Barn order

I was going to post these in the picture thread, but thought it might be better for future reference if we post our vendor orders in their own thread. Makes them easier to find for someone who might be looking to order and wants to know what kind of plants to expect. ^_^

Ordered these from http://www.violetbarn.com/ and here's the one that caused the whole thing. Sinningia 'Peridot's Darth Vader' was on the specials page and I had to have it. Check out that bud!! And there's another one or two down in there that you can't see. Yay!

And if I wasn't totally sure because of the above, Sinningia 'Bewitched' sealed the deal! LOL Here it is with Sinn. guttata.

'Bewitched' on the left, guttata on the right.

While I was there, naturally I had to just look and see what Streps he was offering. I ended up buying 7 Streps and got a free one for finding the dogs and telling him what they said! ^_^

L to R
Strep 'Bristol's Psychedelic Sun' (fragrant)
Strep 'Bristol's Static Charge' (Check out the red leaf backs!)
Strep 'Bristol's Mello Jello'

I was shocked at how many have buds and how many buds are on some of the plants!

L to R
Strep 'Bristol's Bluebird'
Strep 'Bristol's Blacklight'
Strep 'Bristol's Potpourri' (the free plant - he chose a great one to send!)

And last, but certainly not least...

L to R
Strep 'Bristol's Ravishing Ruby'
Strep 'Bristol's Nightfall' (my favorite of all!)

This was my second order from VB and I honestly have only wonderful things to say about them! ^_^

OOOOH Amy you are going to have SO MUCH fun with those!
What wonderful sinningias!
I have tried seed of the guttata from the Gesneriad Society but not one of them germinated :(
I sure can't wait to see pictures of blooms on those. They are just AMAZING ones!

Congratulations on your BEAUTIFUL babies!

How exciting for you! Wooo Hooo

XO
Kim

Thanks, Kim! I am super happy with them all! ^_^

I had planned to order guttata seeds from the Ges Soc, but when I saw the plant, I figured it was worth a few dollars more to see those blooms more quickly! Patience is not my strongest attribute. LOL I adore dots on blooms and guttata is supposed to be fragrant, too, I think, so it was quite easy to justify buying the plant rather than the seeds. LOL

All I can say is WOW, and I'm so jealous of the buds on your Darth Vadar!!! Doesn't he know I needed those buds??? You can get anything to grow and bloom!! ^_^

Everything looks really great, and I'll be waiting for pictures of those first buds opening on all of them!

~Brenda

Amy,

Wow, what really nice plants you got from Rob's. and in bud to boot! I can't wait to see those blooms! And, please tell us about the fragrant ones when they open! I am really curious as to the scent!

I swore I was not going to order any plants until after we have the work done on the house and it's getting harder and harder each week, to NOT place an order! Especially when I see everyone's blooming beauties posted! Maybe I should quit watching the AV thread for awhile? NO WAY, LOL. Plants are an addiction and so is this website, especially this forum! I just can't stay away for long!

... hmmm, wonder if I could talk hubby into hiding my credit cards? Naaah ... not going there, LOL ... I might not ever see them again!

Ok, I gotta go run some errands so I don't accidentally jump over to the Violet Barn or Lyndon Lyons, (which I've been eyeing lately.)

pleeeese keep us posted on the guttata. I did get seed to germinate, but then I haven't been able to bloom the silly thing. I got as far as buds, and they aborted. Last year I ended up with something like a 2 foot bare stem with a cluster of leaves up top..... :(

The person I sent a seedling to did get it to bloom like 2 years ago. (Maybe it needed more water... LOL)

No fair Amy..LOL..my darth vader never arrived with buds..hee hee..I really shouldn't complain..it is still alive!! Great plants you picked out ....I only have 1 of those streps!!.. hmm...i sense a leaf trade in about 6th months from now...just teasing..enjoy those beauties : )

Great order Amy.
I was going to post a picture of the one I grew from seed that budding but after reading Ki's post I'm not going to ginx myself.LOL.

Sinn. 'Peridot's Darth Vader' bloomed! ^_^ I removed all but the largest bud so it could put the rest of its energy toward the plant itself, but I just couldn't make myself cut off that largest bud. LOL This was taken a week or so ago, and I enjoyed the bloom for a few days then cut it off. Once the plant gets a bit stronger, I'll not be disbudding anymore. LOL Beautiful, huge bloom and I'm very happy with it! :o)

I left the whole tray of new Streps in the east window while were gone on vacation and they were fine. I never moved them out of the window since they seemed pretty happy there. Mistake! It has gotten very hot here lately, mid 90s everyday. The Streps are all limp now. I've watered them (even though they weren't bone dry) and they didn't perk up, so my guess is, it got too hot by that window. :oP They've now been moved and are on the bottom shelf of my stand. Hope it's not too late for them. :o(

Yummy Amy!! I can't wait til my Darth Vader Blooms!ooo thats a bummer about your baby streps..This probably won't help you feel better but I have been there...done that too:(...hopefully they will bounce back for you!

Amy, those are great choices and I am jealous. ARe you happy getting such small streps?
I think I would expect larger streps for the price. Now I can't decide whether to order from Rob. He has the best plant selections but here are the size of plants I received from Lyndon Lyons . They were in the mail and heat for over 10 days because they had the wrong zip code on them.

Look at them two weeks later........(and I thought they were going to die........had to remove many outside leaves)

I am so far behind I haven't even changed the soil on them yet.

decisions, decisions..........LL or Rob's..........

I am totally off of african violets so I don't even know why I am showing these........except the LL sends big plants.

Gary Mitika seems to send nice size starter plants on streps.

Has anyone ever ordered streps from Belisle's? They have some awesome selections.

LOL Thanks Nancy! It does help to know that I'm not the only one who does things like that. Streps are very tough plants, I've found, so I'm quite hopeful that they'll be fine. I checked them again last night, and while the larger leaves are still limp, the small new leaves are firm like they should be. I figure they'll suffer a setback, but will pull through like the champs they are! ;o)

Gail, while I'm quite happy with the cultivars I got, I really would have liked for them to have been larger plants. I've heard tales of the Streps Brennan's sends and wish these had been that size. Keep in mind, though, the reason I ordered from VB at all was because I wanted 'Darth Vader' and 'Bewitched'. The Streps were not the reason for the order, but with shipping costs what they are I don't like to just buy a couple of plants, so I rounded out the order with some of Rob's newer Streps. They'll grow (assuming they survive this stupid stunt I've pulled) and will eventually catch up to the others. If I were just looking to order Streps, though, I'd probably try to find another place that sent larger plants. I've never ordered from Gary or Belisle, so I don't know what size plants they send.

Good morning, Rain and nancy!

Brenda showed my Gary's and I have ordered from him and they are nice, but I don't know about Belisle's. I am sure wanting streps from Belisle's.

Good morning, Gail! Have you checked the Garden Watchdog about Belisle's? Maybe someone posted about them there.

I have heard that the plants they sell at the convention are fantastic, but I do know of one member on the AV forum (KimsKreations) that had a nightmare with them on other kinds of plants. They did give her half of her money back. That is more than I can say for Lyndon Lyons when they goof!

Every vendor goofs sometimes and the most important thing is that they make things right when they do goof.

I found a thread where Snowrose said she didn't like them, but begoniacrazii, on another thread, seemed quite happy with them. Here's the Garden Watchdog report: http://davesgarden.com/products/gwd/c/712/ I'd probably call and talk to them about the ones I wanted.