Sad News...

This morning I got very sad news that Janice Bruns passed away last night. She was a top show grower back in the day and contributed a lot to the African violet world at large for many years. Also the beloved wife of Joe Bruns, who is one of my favorite people on this planet.

My heart is hurting so bad for my friend Joe right now. His devotion to Jan has always reminded me of something out of a movie--I swear, he loved her more every minute that passed in their 46 year marriage.

The beautiful couple Joe and Jan Bruns on their wedding day
August 7th, 1967

I'd like to collect cards from everyone to send to Joe. He is a treasure in our African violet world building and maintaining FC2, handling the official registrations of new African violet hybrids, webmaster of LyndonLyon.com, plus more.
Please take a moment and let him know you're thinking of him and his loss.

Send cards to:

Joe Bruns
C/O Ann-Marie Keene
PO Box 10395
Portland, Maine 04104-0395

How Big Are These Gonna GET!?

I'm kinda proud and had to show off, these are the biggest African violets I've ever grown!! (and holy crap, they're gonna get bigger!?)

Sweet Affair and Inner Strength, I just repotted them into 3.5" pots, never had any AVs in pots this big!! I was tempted to throw on some croutons and just call 'em lunch!! But I resisted and just slipped on the upgraded 9" (!omg!) rings and called 'em two jobs well done.

Sweet Affair

Repotting standards is soooooo much different than those little minis and semis I'm used to! I wasn't allowed to rip leaves and roots off like I usually have so much fun doing haha! And then setting them down in the pot, it was hard to know if they were centered or not. And then to fill in soil with all those huge leaves in the way OMG! This is quite a learning experience.

Inner Strength

Don't make fun of that HUGE gap on Inner Strength at 6:00--My hands were/are ITCHING to groom off 12:00, 3:00 and 9:00, but my friends coaching me over the internet said "LEAVE IT ALONE it will fill in!!" These friends are great AV growers, but they aren't show-growers, so.... What say you? (P.S. to my coaches reading this, don't get mad that I'm asking for more opinions!!)

So anyhooz, that's that. I guess I am growing standards now for real.

Oh Yeah, LOOT!

I forgot to post about what I got today at the Bay State AVS luncheon!
I accidentally bought 4 plants--EWPZ!
Blue Dragon, Perfect Harmony, (what's up with me getting standards lately... Who in the world am I!?) Jolly Frills, and Ness' Crinkle Blue.

Aaaand in the raffle I wasn't winning anything, but my awesome friend Debbie Vallidis got one of her tickets called, which she handed to me! So I grabbed the totes adorbz itty-bitty tea set. Then lo and behold one of my tickets was called and Debbie didn't want anything, so I grabbed a vintage and outdated book to add to my vintage and outdated African violet book collection. They're always so funny!

More from Bay State African Violet Society's 2013 Luncheon

Good sales plants, good food, good raffle, good talk from guest speaker Donna Brining from Fancy Bloomers. What more can I say? :-)

Nerds UNITE

African Violet Nerds mini-get-together at the Bay State African Violet Society's annual luncheon happening NOW! 

Left to right: John Cook, Barbara Cook, me, Della Fortin, Susan Clement

Micro Sinny Cross UPDATE

Star Eyes x Self update! I took one pic last Wednesday and one today, to show how fast they're growing. (You can also see the previous weeks' pics here and here.)

October 3rd, 2013

TODAY - October 9th, 2013

I'll try and keep updating every coupla weeks. I'm gonna have to be extra careful not to pee my pants when they start flowering, I'm soooo excited! I think soon I'll need to move them around a bit to space them better.

Plants Plants Plants 10.8.13

Here's what's crappenin' around my plant stand right now! (Click pix to biggerize)

Random things that need to stay domed (dome taken off for the pic, of course..)
Babies on the leaf of Lovestruck, bright-azz flower on Episcia 'Cleopatra',
eleventy billion suckers from Ness' Tiny Flame trying to root,
and of course my micro sinnie Star Eyes x Self babies getting bigger every minute!
(that will get its own update tomorrow)

The sicko ward--I've not found any buggies on the yellow sticky trap which is a good sign,
but I'm still pretty skurrd, so they're staying in here for a while longer!
They seem ok with it, tho.

My micro sinnies are blooming in a MAJOR way! Of course, because the MAAVS show is a whole month away. Jerks.
Also have a few more crosses in the works, 4 seed pods are getting nice & fat. One pod is iffy, prolly didn't take.
Just note, I took the dome off for this pic, otherwise everything stays under there at all times for humidity. 

Last month's order from Lyndon Lyon Greenhouses, potted up looking pretty good.
I think I'll raise them to be closer to the light in a minute, 'cos they're reaching
and now I'm embarrassed because you saw them doing that.

The big tray! No longer staying domed, 'cos things were getting too crowded.
I want show plants someday, and crowing ain't gonna do much for those goals.
I raised it to be closer to the light 2 days ago, and things are starting to look better already.
The standards are still freaking me out, getting bigger all the time.
Keeping the two flowers on Lovestruck, just 'cos it's pretteh to look at.
I messed up trying some different fertilizer and a few of the semis got crown rust/fert burn.
They'll be fine, just look kinda junky at the moment.

Li'l Ballerina was losing her variegation and growing huge leaves up on the top shelf,
so I moved her down and I'm keeping her in this sundae cup thingie
('cos that tiny pot she's in dries out too fast to keep her "out"),
but also, I rigged it up a bit to keep her closer to the light.
It's working out great!
Her variegation is back, and the leaves are no longer getting huge looking for more light.

Full frontal stand pic! I'm only using 2 outta 4 shelves on the stand, I will prolly need to get a 3rd going pretty soon.