Stripey Weirdness Is Following Me!?

So today is the end of the world (lolz), and Lenny and I are spending it in the car on our way to New Jersey so I can spend the holidays down there. We decided to take a little detour and go visit Debbie at her lab (I've posted about her a few times here on the blog)...

When I saw this plant of Granger's Sugar Frost on one of her stands, I had to do a double, and then triple-take. I seriously thought all the painkillers I'm on were giving me hallucinations!

Check out how both flowers each have one petal with no stripe. How cool is that?? And why am I running into so many weird things when it comes to chimeras lately? What does it MEAN, I ask you? Ok, the pills are kicking in good now, time for a nap.

Stripey stripey?

<p>Hello world, I am recovering from 3 surgeries that I had 2 days ago, and really don't feel up to blogging but I had to share this crazy doubly-striped plant I spotted on my stand earlier.</p>
<p>It's a Rob's Lucky Charm which I bought from Lyndon Lyon Greenhouses a few years back. The leaves are chimera striped like they're supposed to be, but it kinda looks like the blossom is turning chimera as well, doesn't it? Pretty damn neat, anyhooz. And I thought it was nice of this plant to do something crazy &amp; cheer me up a bit right now.</p>
<p>Ok, back to my drug-induced haze of recovery I go!</p>

Happy Thanksgiving 2012!!

Here's a pic I snapped today of one of the African violets I gave my favorite uncle Dwight a few years ago... I can't remember the name, but it looks like he's taking pretty good care of this one!

I mean, we've seen way worse specimens from other members of my family..
My theory is that the homebrew wine being made nearby is keeping the plant happy. I know it would keep *me* happy!

Hope everyone had a great holiday and ate way too much! It's the only day of the year where all calories are ZERO, so we all gotta take advantage of that! 

African Violets In Pop Culture: Nature - Raccoon Nation

I watch a lot of really trashy TV (Honey Boo Boo & Real Housewives -NJ, OC, & BH- are among my faves) but little do people know, I also watch quality stuff as well.

Last night we watched this awesome Nature episode on PBS called Raccoon Nation. Seriously fascinating, you should prolly click that link & check it out.

Of course, I am only posting about it here on an African violet blog because I saw my favorite little houseplant in one of the scenes where the scientists are tracking the little furry masked creatures on their computer... It's not the best looking African violet I've ever seen on TV, but it still counts!

Ok, I get it, you're scientists, not botanists... But can't one of you at least water that dang thing!?

Best In Show MAAVS 2012

And now for the plant you wanna see most, here is Best In Show - Buckeye Cranberry Sparkler grown by David Dick.

There are more rosettes for that one plant than I even have from 2 years of showing!
Think I need to move to David's house and take lessons.

Hello From MAAVS!

Hello from Richmond, Virginia! We're here for the  Mid Atlantic African Violet Society's 2012 convention and show. If you're anywhere close by, COME SEE US!! Trust, you'll be happy you did. There are so many gorgeous show plant entries, and the sales room is full of awesome plants and supplies to buy!



We've got a nice little howd'ya do right when you walk into the hotel lobby...

I guess it's official--I'm a pretty damn good weed grower! My only little entry in the show, micro sinningia 'Lil Georgie' won best in its class! I'm soooooo psyched, I got a fancy rosette! WHOOHOO!!!

I might do a hula dance of excitement (and keeping with the show theme)! I sure hope no one has a video camera...

That's all for now, I'm the official show photographer and it's my first time doing it solo, so I really best get back to work!

2012 Tristate Show - CANCELED

The Tristate African Violet Council's annual show that was to take place this weekend in Morristown, NJ has been canceled. There's no electricity in that area, and it's not expected to be on until at least Monday. The show will not be rescheduled. Better luck next year...

Thanks a lot, Frankenstorm Sandy! >:-(

I had just settled on a couple of entries, too. And I was gonna get to photograph the show. Darn! Well, maybe my entries will hold out for another week and I can take them to MAAVS next weekend.

2011 Tristate Best In Show winner - Casey's Charm - Exhibited by David Tooker
Now David gets to wear his crown for another whole year? :-)

How NOT To Grow Show Plants

Well, the 3 main contenders I had hopes of entering in shows either next weekend at Tristate or at MAAVS week after are not looking likely. The worst part is, it's all my own fault for not taking care of things properly over the summer. Serves me right for relying on suspended animation up until almost the last minute. Yes, suspended animation is good if you just need to keep the plants alive, but it's not gonna work out if you actually wanna show any of them. Lesson learned, although I swear, I really did know better.
(Note: all pics can be clicked to biggerize)

Cherry Princess - DANG, look at all the  flowers on that ONE freakin' bloom stalk! Woulda had huge potential if I'd been doing it right. There's another stalk coming, but I'm pretty certain it won't be ready in time for anything. And by then, the older flowers will be fading anyways. 

Eternal Orbit - Two lonely flowers does not a show plant make. Don't be fooled by my bad growing practices, this cultivar is usually COVERED in blooms at shows, and even took Best In Show at the 2012 AVSA National Convention.

Fancy Free - FULL of bloom, but I wasn't paying attention so the foliage is a mess. Lotsa crazy gaps, and should be  bigger because it's a standard. I just kept snapping off leaves to save space. 

From now on, just call me Lamont because I am a BIG DUMMY!

We'll see if I manage to scrape up anything else to enter since this is my last chance for the year.

All of these plants are from THE best vendor, Lyndon Lyon Greenhouses. Please go "like" their facebook page if you haven't already--I work really hard on it! Again, don't be turned off by how badly I grew the plants, they ARE top-quality, I just kinda ruined their potential for this year. 

Another Visit To The Violet Lab!

It's almost Halloween, so what better time to visit a lab? But this isn't just any ole lab. I almost titled this post: "It's Not Hoarding If You Take It To Work Instead Of Filling Your House With It" but that seemed a bit wordy. But, seriously.

I've told you a little about Deb before here. So basically, I'm just gonna post pics from today's visit. We had fun chatting and repotting, and that was about it! But I also snapped MANY pics and whittled over 100 down to just under 70, and I didn't take down names because... come on. But I got you a MEGA OVERLOAD of African violet eye-candy, so please do enjoy. And note: all pics can be clicked to biggerize!

We'll now take a brief intermission for all the GESNERINERDS aka "WEED ADDICTS" out there with some Streptocarpus pics....

 

 

 

And I now return you to your regularly scheduled African violet eye-candy drool-athon!

THE END! And again, please don't ask me any of the names because I probably don't know. All I can tell you is to make friends with Deb yourself, go visit her lab, and sift thru the 10,000 plants and find out for yourself, HA!