So, after years of growing a non-identified (Noid) African Violet that I picked up from Lowes at some point or other, I finally believe t...Read Morehat I have a good identification ... Optimara Glacier.
The name fits. It’s a very interesting plant.
The plant was hybridized by Holtkamp as part of Optimara’s Natural Park series. As such, it turns up in grocery stores, hardware stores, and the many other public venues that Holtkamp uses to offer its various Optimara violets.
Glacier’s foliage is rather plain, medium green, and is abundant. The bloom, however, is quite unique for a violet. The flowers are single to semi-double, and the individual petals (points of the star ... so to speak) ... are quite narrow and somewhat quilled. Not quilled like your typical Hybrid tea roses, where the quill results in a seemingly pointed petal, ... but quilled in such a way that the individual petals resemble tubes (or the spokes of a wheel). Add to that that the plant is quite floriferous, ... no lone blooms for this baby, ... it always blooms in clusters of a dozen or more blooms.
And then there’s the color. I believe that when I purchased the plant, ... all of the flowers were snow-white. As it matured and continued to bloom in my setting, the clusters of blooms began to show some blue, ... and, at some point, all of the blooms for this plant were blue.
And the blue ...
This blue is one of the truest blues I’ve ever experienced from African Violets. It is a light to medium blue, and, ... when combined with the plant’s propensity to shift between blue and white, ... makes for a spectacular blooming presentation. Truly a unique violet, though not at all rare. Turns out scores of Lowes shoppers have picked up this plant and are just as thrilled to have it as I am.
So, after years of growing a non-identified (Noid) African Violet that I picked up from Lowes at some point or other, I finally believe t...Read More