LOL

My collection starts when my order gets in but I'm laughing because my choices were based on "Hm...what do I REALLY LIKE, I like these mini's and have spaces for them but...ok this one has spots and light green leaves, this one is white and blue, and this one is green and frilly I think I should be good!" I really really want a fantasy bloom now and I don't even have my plants yet lol.

I began collecting AV's when I felt sorry for two little plants in Grand Union. When they went on sale I bought them and tried to save them. With the help of a friend they grew and bloomed to a point where I entered them in a local show. Much to my surprise they won blue ribbons. The prize was a membership in the club. I was hooked. Meeting after meeting I was given leaves of various hybrids and before I knew it I had over 100 plants. They were in my basement under lights and grew well. My next step was taking the judges test, I became a student judge. I was invited to judge shows and had the opportunity to buy more violets. I guess at the peak of my growing I had about 200 plants. Now that I have retired I am still growing but have cut my collection down to about 100, bbut who's counting.
Fred in NJ

My collection grew by leaps and bounds. I received a dish garden back in 2005, and it had a violet in. I broke down the garden, potted the violet, told it if it survived the winter that it would always have a home, and started reading everything I could get my hands on on the internet.

It flourished, I found e-bay, and the rest is history.

I bought plants based on the blossom, and the bigger and unusual the better. And, I never threw out a good leaf. So one day I realized I had over two hundred plants being wicked on reservoirs, and 36 seed flats of leaves in various stages of growth. Stepping into my kitchen for the first time in the morning literally took my breath away with all those plants under lights, in full bloom, greeting me.

Then, I ran out of room, and started buying minis. As the standards run their course, I bid them farewell and toss them out.

Because I split my time between Maine and Virginia, I've had to come up with an easier way of watering and yet have it be successful for the blessed friend that takes care of my plants when I'm gone. I've cut back and am using the mat watering that Pat Hancock wrote about in the last issue of the AVSA magazine. This is working wonderfully, looks much better than the deli reservoirs, and should be very successful. My goal is to have no more than 20 trays, which will happen when I get rid of the stuff going to the AVSA convention next month.

For me, its always been about the blossom on a standard. However, a mini with great symmetrical foliage turns me on too.

Barbara

My first NOID was in 2005.. plain purple. Added 3 more NOIDS by 2006 and began reading these forums.

Started propagating leaves and attempting to hybridize NOIDs in 2007-8, an act which unintentionally led to an explosion in non-AV plants. The total at any one point was maybe 30 pots. (A typical conversation on Craigslist, back in college: Q: "Would you like a baby AV?" A: "Sure, let me give you offsets of plants X, Y, and Z... with a surprise gift of Z1 and Z2.")

In 2010, I actually got a few named variety leaves; the first babies from these are presently blooming. (That Morning Thunder is lovely!) The number of AV pots at the peak of that mess was around 50, and that's including several cups of unseperated babies.

Presently I'm at a healthier number of 48 plants, with 11 of those going out as a gift later in the month. About 10 of the remaining are standard, mini and semi-mini NOIDs, with the rest being named varieties. :) I'd like to work the AV-bench to the point that it has only named varieties, which could be gleefully hybridized, but, frankly, a lot of the NOIDs are too pretty/meaningful to toss.

Edit: Just heard from the hubby that the number of pots at the peak was actually over 70, not 50.. Talk about selective memory.