I'm almost ready to throw these things out of my 4th floor apartment window, change my name, and take up a new hobby. Maybe skydiving. Jumping from an airplane has to be more relaxing than the last week leading up to the biggest African violet show in the world when your plants aren't doing what you want.
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| This one might get 5 blooms or so.. But the girl foliage is growing very weird and tight. Dunno if I like it. |
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| Finally yesterday ONE flower opened on this one. But if all those other buds that are mature enough start to open, it's only gonna be blooming on ONE SIDE! |
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| Still my best contender. Foliage still irritates me. |
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| COME ON, ALREADY! |
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| This very special plant will probably have 4 open flowers max. It had another bloomstalk but I broke it off by accident. Yes, I sent myself to bed with no supper. The bloomstalk was very small and more than likely wouldn't have been ready in time, but still. Anyway, if I do enter it, if anything, I'll get a red--possibly even a white. But it's such a special plant I really can't not enter it... (I'm not gonna say the name here, but you might be able to guess by the blossom color that is already showing on the buds) |
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| That ONE FLOWER took 4 days to fully open. I am very angry with this plant. |
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| I'm starting to think someone snuck in here and swapped out my Optimara Little Moonstone with an Optimara Neverfloris. Yeah, so I said the name of the plant, who cares? These flowers will never be open in time. |
You know my dear, they ar just lovelly plants! What do they know about the greatest show in the world! And they look perfectly OK.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sandra. <3
ReplyDeleteIt's DNotS. Hope they all jump into bloom overnight for you Ann-Marie. Jana
ReplyDeleteAwww, it looks like it takes A LOT of effort and patience to have a plant ready for any show, especially convention. I think you're being over-critical... they're lovely, even if they've decided that the pressure is too much!
ReplyDeleteI recognize DNotS even by the foliage since my leaves arrived yesterday. Very special, indeed :)
(And I have an email for you but it's only half done. It's been busy here lately but I haven't forgotten!)
You are doing an excellent job Ann-Marie! You keep on doing whatever you are doing to make those violets bloom. Even though the process of blooming can take a while(I know how you feel, my new starter plant, Ma's Ching Dynasty, is getting some bloom stalks growing but it's a slow process), but you are managing to make them grow so quickly! So for that, I give my congratulations to you for doing an excellent job! :D
ReplyDeleteHope they will bloom real soon!
Also I got a question, when I mist my violets with a spray bottle to mist the leaves and plant, do I have to wipe the crown of the plant up with a paper towel so no water would get stuck in there or is it ok to let air dry?
Hey Ann-Marie: Pam from Springfield here. The first photo "dunno know if I like it". I have it and it's "storytellas Little Clause". Mine was growing the same way so I removed some bottom leaves and it looks great. I think since it grows so fast leaves must be removed more often. Also noticed that thinning it out resulted in more bloom. Acts like the little trailer that couldn't. See you next week.
ReplyDeleteJana and Sally--Shhhhhh, I meant guess in your heads LOL I don't want any judges reading things here and then seeing my plants in the show. I could be accused of some kinda... something.
ReplyDeleteDakjak--I don't dry mine, I'm spraying 3-4 times a day right now.
Pam--Nope, that's not Storytella's Little Claus. But yeah I mighta needed to thin it. But I didn't when I showed it in the fall and it was fine... Oh well.
Hey thanks Ann-Marie for the advice. I'll go ahead and spray my violets now. Would spraying them with water give them extra hummidity? And does it matter if I spray them once or three times a day?
ReplyDeleteDakjak--The reason I'm doing it right now is because I have my lights on for extended hours trying to get them to bloom for the show, and I'm misting to sorta counter-act that so I don't get burned foliage. Usually I don't mist at all. I'm not sure of the benefits...But Andrea Worrell swears by it! Check out her blog, FranklinHouse, it's on the blog list on the right hand side... Not sure if she goes into the reasons behind it tho.
ReplyDeleteOh ok, I'll check it out.
ReplyDeleteAnn-Marie I just found out that misting african violets does indeed help to increase the hummidity of your plant and helps keeps the leaves clean. So this will definitely help me with my Ma's Ching Dynasty to bloom and hybridizing my seed pod(which I'll try again so in case this one would some how fail, but I have to wait until I get some blooms growing). So thank you so much for your help. :) And good luck with your blossoms blooming, I know they will be ready in time for the convention.
ReplyDeleteHey Ann-Marie....Is that "Mac's Dark Night of the Soul" coming into bloom that I see!! If so, you are lucky to have gotten your hands on it and I hope it will make it to convention with you! Sorry I'm not going to make it down there - bummer! But I know you'll take lots of photos for your interesting blog! Keep up the good work! -- Peg
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