It looks like a fantasy violet, with both purple and pink on the same plant and flowers. Little Hopi girl II by Optimara. Jo

Jo,
Thanks for your input. I don't know enough about AVs... when I bought it in bloom, the entire flower was deep pink.

Is it possible that the "true" flowers are showing with this batch of flowers? I've never seem something like this before.

It would be interesting if it's meant to have purple in the flowers, although I'm perplexed as to why this wasn't present the first time it was blooming. Again, I'm a bit of a novice.

Planto

My 2 cents worth is one factor that might contribute to the flower changing is your culture........the temperature, humidity and lighting might be different than where it was originally grown. It looks like your "new" blooms will be extra special.
Mary

Mary,
Thanks for the information. Is there a reason it's taking awhile for the flowers to open all the way? I don't remember any previous AVs taking more than a day to open fully, but my memory doesn't always serve me right. I'm just glad to hear there's nothing wrong with it. I purchased it on clearance for $.50. It will be interesting to see what the next batch of flowers look like.

Planto

Planto,

All of the above-natural coloring, different growing conditions, etc. Some plants do not show their true coloring until after a few bloom cycles. Also-all plants are individuals. Some take longer than others to fully bloom, even siblings from the same leaf can be/are different.

It look like you got a great deal!

Linda

Linda,
That's an interesting way of putting it, that they're all individuals. That's good to know some take longer than others to open. I was afraid that the different coloring and slowness to open was a sign of something wrong; it relieves me with all the comments posted that I have nothing to worry about. I think I'm overly paranoid for some reason, haha.

I will post another photo once a majority of the blooms fully open and future blooms, as I now know they may look even different in the future. Maybe after a few sets of blooms I'll be able to ID this Optimara NOID.

Thanks again,
Planto

Hi I recently saw some Optimara brand plants that were similar. One side of the plant had solid purple blooms. The other side had pink the color of yours with some purple streaking. The plant was supposed to have pink with purple specks and streaks. That kind of coloring with a solid color that is streaked or splotched with another color is referred to as fantasy. Hope this helps. Is that plant a small size? If you have a chance to go to the Optimara website, look for a photo of Little Hopi Girl II. Your plant seems to resemble it. Fantasy blooms are not stable, they can change. Joanne

This post was edited by fortyseven on Thu, Mar 27, 14 at 22:13

Joanne,
It looks small, but I just measured from tip to tip and it's about 8" wide. It's neighbor AV is about 12" across so maybe that's why I thought this one was small lol.

It didn't have many leaves when I purchased it though, so I don't know just how big it's going to end up.

Thanks for the information about "Fantasy." That's interesting to know they're unstable. I did look up 'Little Hopi Girl II,' but I think at this point it's hard to say. No spots as of yet (Optimara's picture has speckles), but we'll see what future blooms look like. I'll keep the note that this may just be 'Little Hopi Girl II.'

Planto

This post was edited by plantomaniac08 on Thu, Mar 27, 14 at 22:19

Planto,

Your violet may also change with the weather. Winter violets are often very different from summer violets of the same variety. It's all part of the fun!

As a general rule-if your plants are blooming, they're healthy. I hope this helps to put you at ease!

Linda

Linda,
Again, that's interesting! Thanks for letting me know. EDIT: I guess I was paranoid looking at my plant as I've never had an AV who's flowers have changed color, so my first instinct when something is different is, "uh oh, what's wrong?" Glad to know there's nothing to worry about! I've grown a bit attached already to my clearance AV. :)

Planto

This post was edited by plantomaniac08 on Fri, Mar 28, 14 at 9:48

Just wanted to post a picture of the fully opened blooms. These do appear different than the first batch of blooms as the "tops" of the petals are purple edged (blotchy purple more than a line of purple per say) and they have a little bit of a frill to them. No frill was present the first time.

A couple more are on their way to opening. The next set of blooms to open appear to have the purple edging as well. I've counted a total of fourteen potential blooms (I've noticed not all the buds open sometimes).

I will post another photo down the road (probably a new post altogether) to show what the third set of blooms looks like. If it changes again, this will be interesting to say the least. I know they can change depending on a number of factors, but this is my first AV that's ever changed color.

I've noticed that the neighboring AV (I believe it's 'Manitoba') has also changed a bit of color. When I purchased it, it was also in bloom. It was a pale purple (looks just like the picture on Optimara's website) and now it's a darker shade of purple. They're not fully opened yet (the new blooms), but they should be in the next few days.

Thanks for looking.

Planto

If you plant was on clearance, it was probably because it was already under stress because of how it was handled at the store. Add that to the stress of its going from the "plant mill" where it was born to the store and then to your home and it can do a lot of things to not only the color of the flowers but even the leaves. Just changing the amount of light it gets, as in moving it from one window to another, can make a difference in the colors in some plants. No matter, because the plant you have now has adjusted (or it wouldn't be blooming like it is) and it's a beautiful color!

I have Manitoba and it is a little darker when the blooms are first opened. It is a light blue, very close in color to the variety "Harbor Blue."

Sometimes culture can affect the color, or fertilizers can do it. Birthmarks (when the leaves get dark splotches) definitely can affect the colors but this seems to affect mainly white/blue or purple plants as far as my experience has been.

Diana

Vivey,
That makes sense, thanks. It didn't have as many leaves when I purchased it as it does now, so it's not only blooming, but it's grown quite a bit. Must be doing something right. :)

Quimoi,
That's interesting. This is my first set of blooms since purchase for 'Manitoba,' so I wasn't aware they're darker initially. I wouldn't be surprised if it's a different shade of purple next time or stays this darker shade even. Seeing the differences in my other AV, I wouldn't be surprised. I recently fertilized with fish emulsion. Is it possible FE can change the colors? I know you mentioned fertilizers can cause the flower colors to change. I was just curious if you know if FE can also cause that.

Planto

Really, though, the description of O. Manitoba is "light blue" and its leaves have a red reverse. The Optimara description says the foliage is med. green, but I find it's darker than some of the other ones. It is a little different looking from some other Optimaras if you look closely so double check if you think it's purple. I have some issues telling blues and purples but that one is blue :). Its fresh flowers are just a little darker than when they are older.

The main thing I saw with fertilizer was on the "All About African Violets" podcast where one of hers had really bloomed different colors and she blamed the fertilizer. It's hard to know for sure what caused it when a plant goes through a lot of stress. As long as you didn't overdo the FE, I wouldn't think it would harm the blossom color. Some plants do have to go through a couple of bloom cycles to settle into their normal state.

I seem to have stressed one of mine and it's now semidoubles and one of them is half red/half white. It's getting another chance but the odds of it reverting to a single don't seem very good. I did overfertilize but a lot of other stress happened to my plants too.

Yours is looking very nice.

Diana

Diana,
I could be wrong about the ID of the AV that I believe is 'Manitoba.' I should have stated that in my last message.

I made a side by side picture for you. On the left, is when it was in bloom after purchase. On the right, is a picture I found on Wikipedia to show it's current color (it's hard to tell and show really, but before it was more of a lilac blue, now it's a darker lilac blue).

Mine does have a red reverse leaf and I guess darker green leaves (I don't have any other AVs to compare the leaf color to).

Planto

I can't see your first photo well enough to be sure, but I think it looks like Manitoba. If you look at most of the photos of Manitoba, the blossoms have a little dent in the top of the the two upper petals. I'm probably not explaining it well, but you can see it. It's just a tiny little crimp in almost every blossom's top two petals.

The Optimara FB page also was kind of "pushing" Manitoba so I'll guess it's being widely distributed right now. Someone else found it too so that makes it more likely. It's like being a detective trying to narrow the probabilities of what you bought :).

The other Optimaras that might look similar in photos don't have that dent. They probably aren't the same color either but who can really tell on the computer?

I was looking at the MyViolet for something else and your mystery plant reminded me of the Little Hopi II also. Does it seem like a semiminiature? I wasn't looking for it - the photo just kind of jumped out at me.

I wish Optimara would get their act together on their descriptions. Your plants are looking really nice anyway. I happily grow a blue and white semidouble mini NOID from Lowe's.

Diana

This post was edited by quimoi on Tue, Apr 1, 14 at 19:56

Diana,
That's nice to know about the "dent," I will have to look for it once the flowes fully open. Yeah... I compressed the picture too much so it's small.

Haha, you're the third person I think to say Little Hopi II. I don't know much about sizes, but when I measured it the other day, it measured 8 in. across. It didn't have alot of leaves when I purchased it either though, so I'm not sure of it's full size.

Planto

That tiny nip or dent or whatever it is is really more obvious in newer blossoms. For what it's worth, I will say that the color does look somewhat different in different lights.

As far as the sizes on the other one, it can be hard but are the leaves on the plant smaller than you see on the larger plants? Sometimes we can grow a semi bigger than it's "supposed" to grow, especially if it's in a larger pot. Now this hasn't generally been my experience and it doesn't happen with all of them but there's quite a range of sizes in plants called semi-miniature.

(I know I wasn't the first to suggest Little Hopi II but I wasn't even considering your plant and it jumped out. It wasn't until I looked back over this thread that I saw that others had identified it as the same one.)

Diana

This post was edited by quimoi on Wed, Apr 2, 14 at 11:06

Diana,
I agree, blue and purple AVs are hard to picture and seem to "change" colors depending on the lighting.

Well, between the pink AV and the purple one, the pink one's leaves are smaller, more narrow, and have more of a point to them. The purple AV's leaves are wider and more rounded.

I know when I look at the purple AV and back over at the pink one, the size difference is substantial. The purple one hasn't "flattened" out completely yet, so it's even wider than it looks. Knowing that the pink one didn't have all its sets of leaves when I bought it, I guess time will tell just how big it is going to be.

It's okay, I think three expert opinions voting for the same name should be a sign lol.

Planto

I wouldn't consider myself an expert, especially on those small Optimaras. However the fact that it looked so much like it means that it certainly must be similar.

You often have to be careful not to put a semiminiature into too large of a pot. I think something like 2-1/2" is the recommendation. Some of them will grow into what are rather smallish looking standards if you overpot them. They will generally look and bloom better in the smaller pots.

Diana

Diana,
The best "experts" IMO don't flaunt their experience. ;) I do agree though, I don't believe there are many purple and pink Optimara AVs. It is possible I could pot this one down, but I will wait and see once it gets more full sets of leaves before I decide on a pot size. Thanks for the information.

Planto

Hi Diana,
I finally got a good bloom to photograph (The first bloom that fully opened was deformed for some reason). Is this Optimara 'Manitoba'?

Thanks,
Planto

It looks like it to me. See what the upper petals do at the top? They don't stay like that but there's usually a bit of a "dip" left. The Optimara Facebook page has a good photo of Manitoba except the leaves look a bit lighter than mine and a lot of photos I've seen.

I don't worry too much about that since my foliage never looks like it did from the Optimara greenhouse. I would pay attention to the color of the back or something like that, of course.

I saw that Hopi is listed as a 2" plant. That is a mini. (I was shopping.)

Diana

Diana,
Thanks. :) Mine looked more like Optimara's picture when I bought it in bloom. That does make it harder to ID Optimara AVs when different factors can change the colors of the flowers, haha. At least with 'Manitoba,' like you mentioned, it has that "dip" you can look for. Hmm... 2 inches as in pot size or plant size? Mine currently stands at 8 inches wide.

Planto

It's 2" pot size but it would indicate a miniature plant. I don't usually put anything but very tiny ones in 2" pots, but that's because I don't care if they get a little larger and they aren't as fussy in the 2-1/4".

Diana

Hi Planto,
Sounds like you have a plant that is not the one some of us were suggesting. Could be, it is from another grower, not Optimara.

Diana,
I have Little Hopi Girl II, it is definitely a mini and came from a florist locally who gets them from O and only sells minis.
Were you going to order one for yourself? I bought three of them. It is a very strong plant.
One died because the florist did not take care of it.
After the other two finished blooming, I put them into larger pots, not knowing that is not recommended for a mini.

Each of the other two promptly developed three crowns, so I separated them. I gave three to my club members and sent one away to a new home. I kept the other two, which are now blooming again.

The club liked it and ordered some for themselves, but one had solid purple blooms on one side and the deep pink with fantasy on the other side.

Anyway, I would recommend it, as a strong plant. If mine develop multiple crowns again, will let you know. It looks much better as a single crown plant and was not blooming when it had three heads. My theory is that because the two separated crowns are from the same plant, they have the exact same bloom cycle. The blooms when closed are dark purple, but when they open, the pink is dominant.

By the way, regarding the photo that you i.d. for Planto,
could it be another O, such as Rebecca, that has a deeper color? The photo on my monitor is a darker blue. Or do you know if it is only Manitoba that has the little dent at the top?

Interesting about the little notches, will have to notice more on one I have that I think is Manitoba when it blooms again.
Joanne

This post was edited by fortyseven on Sun, Apr 6, 14 at 22:58

Joanne,
I guess time will tell as to "who" I have with regards to my pink AV. Maybe the next set of blooms will be more "normal" and assist in a better ID. The purple AV looked like 'Manitoba' when I purchased it, but now it has darker purple flowers. I seem to have some odd AVs to say the least lol. I read about the flowers having a dent from Diana. I don't have any other AVs to compare the dent to, sadly.

Planto

I supposed it could be another one, but R. Rebecca says it is medium blue and the photos seem to show it as blue. I'm not noticing that little crimp/whatever on it. I would think there are others with that but I haven't noticed them. I was at Lowes and they had a very damaged shipment but no Manitobas.

I do not stand behind any internet identification! There are photos that look a different color on my laptop and my desktop computer with the more expensive monitor so I can't tell what anyone else is seeing either.

No, I wasn't planning to get Hopi II, but I was looking at the site. They add up fast. Now they've added so many newer ones that I don't know what to order in addition to Millennia and Rita (I want to grow those darned things side by side from Optimara and see what they look like).

Stress seemed to make my supermarket rescue try to grow multiple crowns, but I picked them off while they were tiny and it's doing okay now and has stopped that nonsense.

I look at Manitoba a lot and it looks like it. That's all I can say.

Diana

Diana,
I am leaning toward 'Manitoba' too. Rebecca looks more blue to me than purple too and the one I have looks more purple than blue. That is odd how different monitors display color differently, but if you ever notice while you're at say Wal-Mart, televisions are the same.

Planto

Hi D
My local florist has both Rita and Millennia at the present time. There are three sports of Millennia, one is almost all deep wine red. There are two sports of Rita. One is almost all white. They are not consistent. In my observation, Rita is lighter in the color and amount of coloration. Mil is richer in color. I gave away a Rita to my club AV member who wanted more on the white side. I did not buy the Mil's as I have enough others for now. I was tempted to get them for my club, but am running low on space. They just got in a shipment of O's, so they might not want any more for a while. they grow them for show and sale.
Anyway, they are plentiful here, so probably you will find them locally where you are, come spring. They seem to be popular.
My local florist likes to try to i.d. them for people, but won't guarantee, as they come unlabeled, just in the O style pots and soil.
Best
Joanne

True about the televisions although you can adjust them quite a bit. We just got a new one and went through all that. Now we see the makeup on the actors (!). We just thought some of the movies were filmed in the dark before but we needed a new tv.

Anyway, it is something in the shape of the blossom, although I have never seen Rebecca that I know of.

Diana

Diana,
Lol, that's a pretty good TV if you can see their makeup. We still have a "boob tube" as they're called, but we're waiting for it to die before we install the flat screen. No sense in getting rid of a working TV IMO.

Planto