African Violet Merch!

Who doesn't love STUFF? Especially when the stuff has African violets on it?
Check out my new  Zazzle store!
I'll be adding more stuff as I figure it all out... Please let me know what you'd like to see available!

More Family African Violet Abuse...

Against my better judgement, I just repotted the African violet ('Waterdancer') that Lenny and I gave my Grammy Golding for Xmas last year into a self-watering 2-part ceramic African violet pot. I tried to tell her it's not the greatest, but it's what she wanted. And my auntie Sally made the pot. So we'll see what happens. Watch it thrive just to prove me wrong :-)

Happy ThanksI'llDoItMyOwnWay

Here are the African violets I gave my dad last year for Xmas. I keep telling him the mini is NOT going to get bigger. I also keep telling him to put them all in lighter potting mix and SMALLER pots that are NOT clay, but I'm sure he's never gonna take my advice!
And they're still alive and blooming away, so really--why would he? :-)

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

And Now, For Something Completely Different...

This has ALMOST nothing to do with African violets--Except that I DO happen to be wearing my 2010 AVSA convention T-shirt.
My BFF Shea decided to make this last night, and I got to co-star. 



I'm thankful for all the friends I have in my life. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Just Made a Quick Repotting Video

Comments welcome!

Rob's Tippy Toe Sport?

I just performed the anti-shrubbery surgery on that Rob's Tippy Toe that you might have seen on my shelf the other day... The bloom is weird tho, anyone know if there's a sport?
I usually throw stuff in the bin that doesn't bloom true, but I actually think it's way prettier than what Rob's Tippy Toe is supposed to look like so I kept it.

I HAVE, in the past, had Rob's Tippy Toe(s) that bloomed solid purple--which is a sport, but not a good sport, so into the bin they went. This seems to be different, because it's keeping some white... Altho maybe that means it's on it's way to solid purple? I hope not. We'll see, I guess. I'll try and keep it around to see what it does next bloom cycle, but I can't guarantee I won't get impatient and toss it--I can be very ruthless that way >:-)

UPDATE (3:02pm) Talked it over with Joe Bruns and there's no registered sport of Rob's Tippy Toe yet. So as long as this cutie doesn't go boring solid purple, I can propagate it thru 3 generations and register it. This will definitely insure that I don't get impatient and toss it! I'm off to put down leaves--AND I gotta think up a cool name now... Perhaps "Mermaid's Trippy Dippy"? Maybe not. Will have to think on it.

A Passion for Petrocosmea

I started coming down with some kinda stuffy-nosed thing yesterday, and today I am pretty sure it's a full-blown sinus infection--GROSS!

Needless to say, I don't feel like doing anything productive.

So while I wait to die, I am just gonna chill and read the entire A Passion for Petrocosmea blog by Tim Tuttle. I started reading last night and MAN has it ever hooked me! I don't currently have any pets (except my cats haha!) but I might try again after I read all this stuff. I do wish he had commenting enabled, tho.

It's always been so hard to find stuff about petrocosmeas online (or anywhere!), and I wish I'd known about his blog sooner!
 

Flower pic I took in March 2009 of my Petrocosmea menglingensis. 

(Or as we call it, "meningitis".)

Testing Mobile Blogging...

Justa quick post using my BlackBerry to see if this works...
Here's my pretty "2nd Best Semi" rosette from Tri-State last week that's now affixed to my stand for good luck!
(Please don't look at that shrubbery of 'Rob's Tippy Toe' in the back there... It is getting surgery soon, I PROMISE!)

And Away We Go....

Well there, I finally made a blog. I kept thinking about it, and admiring everyone else's, so I finally clicked the buttons just now to set it up. I'm sure I'll be messing with it a lot (title/layout/etc) before settling on a final look. Also, even though this is my first post, I will be back-dating entries from past adventures, so keep an eye on the archive! (aka "Old News")

Besides fiddling around with this, I'm currently editing MAAVS/NYSAVS show pics and adding them to their own facebook album as I go. Check 'em out if you'd like--You don't need to be a member of facebook to look.

So much work editing pics--I feel like I'm going cross-eyed, and my mouse-hand has blisters on it. And I'm only about 1/4 of the way done between this and the Tri-State batch that I haven't even started on yet! But it's worth it. :-)

OMG OMG OMG!! 2nd Best Semi In Show!

Today at the TriState AVC's annual show I won Second Best Semiminiature in Show with my Mac's Misty Meadow. The plant that won Best Semi also won overall Best In Show--So at least I was beat out by THE VERY BEST, which felt pretty damn good!

Yay!! And my rosette is PINK, what more could I ask for??

I'll be riding this high for a very long time!