Where did you get it? I may well be wrong, but it looks a bit like something that was supposed to be blue and white and went "off." The leaves aren''t birthmarked, are they? Sometimes that will do it.

It's pretty - I keep 2 wacky Arctic Frosts.

Diana

I'm not sure what you mean. The leaves are "mottled" green and darker reddish green. I think it was a Walmart purchase. :) Not many options out here on the prairie!

Sue
Whatever it is, it is a beautiful plant. Being on the rural route myself, I know when Walmart does get plants, they are very pretty.
I suspect I had Wyoming (?), I still have Arizona (?) and Cora (?).
Trying to figure out what it may be is part of the fun!

It looks a bit like an Optimara to me. The "birthmarking" is when there are red splotches on the underside of the leaf. They may show through to the upperside as darker patches. If you do a search for "birthmarks on african violet leaves" you will see some photos.

On the ones I've had, they make the blue and white blooms go more blue. I keep them from going all the way to the "dark side" by taking a "clean leaf" and restarting the plant.

My Ice Storm and Arctic Frost both have to be watched for this, although Arctic Frost is very interesting when it birthmarks (stripes on one). I think Iceberg is another one I had to keep an eye on - all blue and whites, which may just reflect my tastes. (All Lyon's plants too. It shows genetic instability according to something I read.)

That's one thought anyway :)

There are some photos of doozies of birthmarked plants here:

http://reedsgreenhouse.com/leaves/leaf-id.htm

I have a leaf that is half and half and doesn't look as bad as some of those.

Diana

This post was edited by quimoi on Thu, May 1, 14 at 21:14

It is very pretty.

Thank you for that link Diana, I may have to go check my soil ph now ;-)

Karin

Sue,

If it was a Walmart purchase it is probably an Optimara. Check their site for an ID.

Linda

If it is an Optimara, Texas comes to mind as I've seen it with some white. However, the leaves look a bit different. I did have within the last year an unknown Anthoflores from Harster in Canada with blooms that looked similar to your plant. In our area, Meijers carries Anthoflores; in fact, I looked at a few examples of my old plant yesterday. . . it can look very much like Optimara Chico bloom wise. I don't know if this is your plant, but whatever it is, its very pretty!

Here at least, some say "grown in Canada" and my grocery store ones seem to be Harster (Anthoflores). Did that one have any tag? At first I'd thought they were Optimara.

The leaves are wrong for O. Texas and Texas doesn't seem quite as frilled to me. One of the Anthoflores I got is white with a thin red edge and it is ruffled. There is a blue counterpart, which I didn't buy but is shown on Harster's webpage. The foliage on the white/red one isn't the same but maybe it's one of their blue and whites. These come with pink or blue plastic pot covers as on the webpage. (I have Chico also and no leaf match there.) I think the plant does show birthmarking from what I can see in the photo. That will definitely make them go more blue.

Note that Harster doesn't really have much in the way of photos. However they do show a few without names and 3 of those were at my supermarket marked "Grown in Canada." I found elsewhere that they grow over 200 varieties of african violets, but don't know if those are all Anthoflores or other kinds.

Karin,

I know what you mean. I started to wonder about my pH too. Of course he missed the "chomp marks" several of mine have. (Cat). I started to think the AVSA needed a class for catowners with no deductions for hair or a few toothmarks.

Diana

This post was edited by quimoi on Fri, May 2, 14 at 10:51

Variety Identification for Optimara.com. On the left, click on Variety Identification. It will bring up a list of violets and photos. Results may vary from individual specimens. The photos are just a guideline. Often, the photos have more color than the actual plants you find in stores. A new dark blue-purple variety was introduced this year, Lucia,
(Many of the blue-purple-white varieties of Optimara are similar to each other, it is sometimes hard to tell them apart.)

Joanne

This post was edited by fortyseven on Sat, May 3, 14 at 2:53

Thank you all so much for trying to help me. I've had this plant for 8 or 9 years, and it's the only "survivor" from that bunch of violets that I had. I'm sure they came from Walmart exclusively, because that's the only place I found them then. It should be much bigger, but I had it in a ceramic self-watering pot, with straight MG AV potting soil. It seemed to do well for a few years. :) All of my oldest AVs are now repotted into small plastic pots with perlite added to the mix. I trimmed them and gave them my best pep talk, and now I'm trying to be patient.
I took a few of the leaves from this plant, and I'm adding a picture of them. Maybe you can tell if it's birthmarking. As far as taking a "clean leaf", they all have this mottling, and really, I like it!
I really don't see an Optimara that matches this, but that's okay. It can remain a mystery child. Thank you all again! Sue

Anthoflores aren't new so it could be a possibility. I bought some at Walmart several years ago, although I think each Walmart was different. The one I was certain of wasn't a large plant and neither is this new one but they are both red/white.

As far the "clean leaf," that is just what to do if you want to keep one in its original condition. I try to grow one "proper" Arctic Frost and two that have birthmarks. The flowers can be very pretty but they are unstable plants.

Diana

If it was from 8 or 9 years ago, Optimara probably doesn't have it in their current line up. Leaves look normal to me, but hard to tell on my monitor. J

Are you saying that it's always been mostly blue mottled with a little white and stayed that way for 8 or 9 years? If they've sported or it's birthmarking, it isn't usually stable.

I don't think Optimara had anything that was supposed to look that way. I once bought one that had a few variegated leaves that were kind of blocky looking. That one turned all white. Someone said it was Kentucky. I saw another one with that genetic defect sometime last year and left it at Lowe's. They produce so many that there are bound to be sports and odd ones among them.

Diana

Would you believe, I don't remember? :( We had to move quickly once, and a friend took my plants for me, and all but this violet died. She kept my other plants alive, just not the AVs. I don't remember that it always looked like this, but my daughter thinks it did. I had one that looked more like Maine II. Do you suppose it could have changed? I also had one that reminds me of a Picasso, and I thought it was exceptionally pretty.

Yes, they can change with the birthmarks. I honestly don't know if happens to anything but blue and white ones because that's all I've ever seen mentioned or had experience with.

There is a dark bit on my Tennessee II right now and I'm going to have to watch that one. I hope it's just going to be one leaf but if it gets worse, I do have another started.

I believe that stress can be a factor. Maybe that's why I've seen so much of it :) They can be quite beautiful (the blossoms). Apparently those Lyon's ones I mentioned are notorious for it. Lyon's is selling one called "Evening Splendor" that is a sport of Arctic Frost and my one plant gets blossoms just like it. It also gets blue and white blossoms (can't decide who it is).

I never had anything sport until the last 8 years or so and then I had several. I tend to blame chemicals. I lost most of them when I left everything go.

Diana