Polina is absolutely beautiful! The Russian hybridizers are coming up with some great AV's. This is definitely one to add to my wishlist. Thanks for sharing your photos.

Wow!! Definitely on my want list. I've only seen one semi like that and I think it was called Robs Rough Stuff or something like that.

Wow, interesting flowers!
I am still more a fan of 'simple' blossoms, but who knows, the more often I look at these... :-p

Thank you guys, it is very beautiful.
plantcrazed101, Robs Rough Stuff is not even close to this type - the only common is the green edges.

froeschli 6b, it's personal preferences of course, but I love something unique, interesting, not boring. But! I have a few very simple flowers AVs - like Optimara Connecticut, just light purple pansies, but love it!
I have a few (about 10) unique (for USA) types from Russia. I will sell them on our show in April in Columbus.

Lina,

Beautiful plant! Save one for me in Columbus!

Linda

Thank you, Linda. Are you coming to Columbus in April? I have to sell what I have now to get more space for coming up babies. But you'll get one later.

This post was edited by 1beautylover2012 on Wed, Jan 1, 14 at 15:58

Lina,

I'd like to get one or two now if you have some. The weather for mailing concerns me though. It was 55 degrees here today and by Saturday it will be -6.

Linda

now looking for a way to justify a 650 mile trip to columbus in april ... one way

hmmm

dave

Linda, I sent you the list of AV Russians types I have.

Dave, yeah, it's a long drive to come just to get a plant. But we have a mail service. Think about it! :-)

Dave,

I just solved your 650 mile dilemma. I'll be there. Problem solved!

Linda ;)

Linda, are you coming to Columbus in April? How did you solved Dave's problem? :-)

Lina,

I've never been to the Columbus show. Where is it? How big a show is it?

Linda

The Sticky at the top of the message column allows events to be posted. I noticed the Florida March 7 African Violet show is posted. Also, orchid and other plant shows in U.S. & Canada. Folks may add their local shows! Joanne

Linda, here is the link to my article about Columbus show in 2012 http://www.fialki.ru/node/9413. You can translate it in Google, but be aware the translation is poor. I have photos from the show 2013, but didn't write an article about it. This year show will take place on April April 26 - 27, 2014 at Franklin Park Conservatory 1777 E Broad St, Columbus, OH 43203, (614) 715-8000, http://www.fpconservatory.org. Visit CAVS website for more details at http://www.columbusafricanvioletsociety.org/. Hope to see you there. I can bring plants/leaves that you want at the show. Let me know, please.

Lina.

The show looks great! I think I will try to make it. It will be good to see you again. I will let you know about the plants when I get a chance to look at them a little closer. I'll be in touch.

Linda

Lina,

I got a chance to go through the show pictures a bit more closely. I really like 'Sharon's Way' and 'Ma's Paris Affair'. I don't think I have ever seen either of these. Very Pretty. I also read that you don't care for white flowers so much, (at least I think that's what the translation said) except for 'White Queen'. My 'White Queen' just bloomed for the first time and it is a beauty!
And congrats on your ribbons. Well done!

Linda

Linda, I am glad you want to come to Columbus. I'll be happy to see you again. You'll stay with me, if you'll have time to stay for the weekend.
Yes, I don't really care about the just white AV. I have Cool Mint for over two years (!) and it didn't bloom once! Just didn't grow for some reason. Just now started giving the new leaves. I'll see how it'll bloom.
Do you think to go to Nashville in May? It'll be very interesting.

This post was edited by 1beautylover2012 on Fri, Jan 17, 14 at 19:19

Lina,

I can't get 'Gillian' to bloom for me ever. I have tried it twice with two different plants and it grows great-but, no blooms. I finally got rid of it.

Linda

Awesomeness!!!

Lina...what a beautiful AV!

I would love to grow that variety. Could you tell me how I can find a plant or leaves to grow one? Thanks!

Thank you, Laura! This plant is amazing! You cannot get it anywhere in USA. Only from me. Let me know if you want it. pga@att.net
Polina.

Thank you Becky!

I wrote to hybridizer of this type Mrs. Lebetskaya and she said it's "LE-Polina sport". The real type flowers have light color, not that bright. She said it's really nice sport. I noticed that some sports are more beautiful then the type.

Polina -

hope you will bring the leaves of this plant - to sale in April - and attach the small photo of a blossom to the baggie. They will fly off the table. Save some leaves for your friends form GW. They are driving 650 miles and more to get there.

Linda - I had Gillian. It bloomed for me - not very abundantly though - great flowers. But the rosette was disgusting. The leaves never grow where they are supposed to - plus they are very brittle and break easily if you touch them. Blah! I agree with the way how we judge the violets. You start with the good symmetrical rosette. And if there is no symmetry and the leaves grow all over the place - the overall impression is lousy - even if the flowers are out of this world. Plus it is not a very strong plant. If you couldn't make it bloom - while 100 more in your collection are blooming their heads off ... It is not worth keeping.
I.

I just wonder if not making a good rosette is a problem of that particular hybridizer of that particular AV
Jo

Joanne -

in a very first post Polina mentioned that her tubes were old so petioles got stretched.

If you grow it for the show - you do not let it bloom until you grew a good strong rosette. So this variety has a potential. On the other side - frilly edge flowers always come with wavy leaves - which are much harder to grow as a show plant.

So - if you want to make a show plant out of it - you can - but it will require lots of fussing. If you just want to grow it for your own enjoyment - up the light so petioles do not get stretched - and it will be OK. Polina's plant should be restarted from a leaf if she plans to show this variety. Mother plant will be too hard to whip in a show shape, but it will happily bloom anyway.

Irina

I found the true LE-Polina - and I strongly agree with Polina - her sport is better than the sort. Sort is gorgeous in its own right - but sport has green edge and intense colors - rare combination.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:382672}}

Hi Irina Thanks for great info! I thought you meant Gillian did not form a good rosette. So I wondered if that was a trait of plants from the hybridizer of Gillian. Jo

Irina,

I think one of the most difficult things for a beginner is to do is to get rid of plants that do not grow well. To give, time, space and energy to a plant that does not do well is crazy. (Plus, a beginner usually blames themselves for the yucky growth!)

I now have 'White Queen' which looks much like
Gillian' but grows beautifully. I also have "Starry Night Blue' that I am undecided about. I love the blooms but the foliage is just like 'Gillian'-cabbage-like.

Joanne,

There are a couple of things that will cause poor rosette growth. Sometimes it is poor growing habits and sometimes the plant does not do well under a particular growing condition. As in 'Gillian' where there seems to be a consensus
about its inability to grow shapely, it is the cultivar itself. It really isn't the hybridizer's fault. A reputable grower will not release plants that aren't good growers. Sometimes faults do not show up in plants for several generations.

There is some thought that violets grow best in the climate/conditions in which they were bred. It would be an interesting experiment to check this out.

Linda

This post was edited by whitelacey on Tue, Feb 18, 14 at 23:55

Thanks Irina,

You just cleared one mystery for me, as a newbie I got some optimaras, couple died couple are fine, could not see any reason why. Then I decided that I really like mini violets; got few, and all "imports" are gone and ones from Miami local grower, even tiniest, are fine! Of course it's possible that acclimated noids are just stronger, but mail orders weren't fancy either. Miami has way worse weather than Tampa, and plants just know what is going on outside, AC or not!

Irina,

Was there a reason your Florida friend grew out three generations? Did it take that many for the variety to adjust to his conditions or was it just an arbitrary number?

Aggie,

Plants definitely know what is going on outside! And plants that have a definite blooming season in their native habitat will continue to bloom in that season no matter where in the world they are.

Linda

Linda -

I do not know why 3 is a magic number. Probably 3 is a minimum -= and since now on all the next generations will do good in Tampa.

Aggie - you need to try to grow more other gesneriads. Miami should be perfect for all kind of tropical things... I am thinking Aeschynanthus...

Here is a link that might be useful: Aeschynanthus humilis

Irina thank you so much for the comment I quoted below from you ...

I have been driving myself crazy with Reka Volga (River Volga) and this is the first hope i have ... it is also hope for additional 'difficult' AVs. Growing them out three generations. THANK YOU!!!

As for my Reka Volga...i've had it for over a year .... it seems fine ...smallish but wasn't happy with the amount of light i was giving it - where as many of my other AVs ((minis/trailers etc)) were happy and so i've put it inside a closed terrarium container to increase humidity drastically and started it on more light.... ((again most of my others were fine but this one wasn't happy.)) It is my first russian ((I think)) and i'm not crazy about the 'vigor' but maybe that will change 3 generations from now. :)

ps: this is the first i've ever heard of this 3 generations rule and there's nothing i can find about it but it might be something that just is assumed and spread through word of mouth ... but it's so hopeful... instead of giving away plants that are not doing well just invest more time in re growing leaves.

Irinas quote Feb 20, 2014 ... Regarding the climate/conditions. I shared 4 Russian standard trailers with my friend Thad from FL - he hybridizes gessies. The standard crown variegated trailers 23-River Moskova, 23-River Yenisey, 23-River Volga, 23 - River Severka. They grow well for me - huge guys - and in Tampa FL they sulked and almost died. He restarted them from leaf - new plant - leaf -new plant -3 times. Now they grow like weeds for Thad - and he uses them for his hybridizing.

So yes - they have memory of the climate they were born - but you can retrain them - probably selecting more adjusted clones on the way.

WP -

I do not think this observation is in the books My friend Thad is one of these people who talks to plants and understands their language- so it is his approach to adjust the variety to his conditions. I just can add - that's why it is better to start with a younger plants or leaves - than bring the Show winner home - it will never be as good again,

Second - there are growers that have similar conditions - and I am not talking about climate - probably soil, humidity, lights etc. - you get a starter from them - it will continue growing without a shock. I get a plant from another seller - and it just sits for 6 months doing nothing. At the end - the babies I started from the leaves taken off this plant on arrival - outperform the original plant.

Third observation. Several years ago there was an article abuout micronutrient toxicity in AV Magazine authored by Barbara Pershing. Basically if you neglect your AV for so long - that the soil turns very acid - you will eventually kill it. Even if you repot it - it will be permanently stunted - and even babies of it will be stunted. It is practical just to chuck the damaged goods and get it from a new source. The reason - if pH of the soil is very acidic - or very alkaline - the plant start absorbing some micronutrients in a much higher rate that i needs them - and not absorbing other nutrients and microntrients even it is starving for them. As a result the plant becomes pickled and poisoned and will never recover. I had a chance to talk to one of the consultants for this article, the lady with PhD in Chemistry. I asked her - what can I do if it is a rare plant and we need to save it. She said - try to start a leaf in distilled water and change the water often. You have the chance to leach the chemicals and get a decent progeny - may not in a first generation, but in second.

So - do not give up, try to restart it from a leaf or a sucker. In my culture these trailers grow large and floriferous and bloom well. No terrarium - they wouldn't fit in. I would say that they love good light. 2 T8s are better than 2 T12.

Good Luck

Irina

Irina ..thank you ...wow that is alot of information. :)

I like Thads method of growing plants ... it can be very intuitive :) .

I also didn't realise how bad it was to not repot the AVs .. i have found that many of mine are happier and bloom only when left alone for over a year ...I will have to keep an eye on this situation and maybe put down more leaves as just back up. And maybe sometimes doing a crown rooting rather than removing soil from between roots is easier.

As for toxicity just staying within the genetic material of the plant ..that is very serious ... I had no idea ..I will ...if i ever need it ...remember to try and leach it out with distilled water ... very interesting idea. Thanks. :)

As for the lights i am using right now ... 98% of mine are in sun/natural daylight and many are flowering ... but the 2 that i have had problems with Rob's Twinkle blue and Reka Volga they're under a 13 watt Ott light ...both seem happier ... I may get better lights or they may go to my AV friend for baby sitting. (Karin/froeshli). She might have better luck ...at least she knows more. :)

Silvana from Toronto.

Silvana -

it all depends on your windows ;-)). The bigger the better! Stay Warm!

I do not think micronutrient toxicity is seriously genetic - I think it is more of a saturation of the living tissues with salts that is hard to remove.

On the other side - looking at the humans - alcoholics damage their progeny DNA and the babies are born with serious defects - physical and mental - plus with a predisposal to become alcoholics themselves. It takes 3 generations of alcohol free living for DNA to repair itself. If we would be able to look down our ancestry tree - I bet we all have drunks somewhere - but the human kind is not dying out.

IMHO - AVs perform the best first 1.5 yer of their life - then you need to restart them from leaves or reroot the crown. So if you want to keep a plant for 50 year - you probably need to reroot it every several years to revitalize it.

If you start with a young plant - the way you repot is actualy slip the whole root ball without disturbing in a next size pot filling the sides and bottom. This way - it doesn't feel it. When you get to the maximum size - you enjoy it - and you repot buy removing a couple of rows of bottom leaves, cutting a half inch from the bottom, scraping soil from the top - and plopping it in an appropriate size pot without disturbing the central part of teh rootball. This way the shock is minimal.

I.

thanks Irina ....

so you don't have to remove all the soil in order to worry about old acidic soil contaminating the plant? But i guess if the plant is best only 1.5 years then that's not a problem. I guess it depends on the plant ..i have a noid i call gracie(and her identical twin sisters) who has been with me at least 3 years and still doing very well but maybe my expectations are not the same as others. :) ...it's still beautiful but not the abundance of blooms that we see in show plants and also she has a rest period for a few months.

ok that really makes sense about the micronutrient toxicity ...it's not genetic ...but it will take 3 generations to grow out. Reminds me of the optimara space violets program and if those african violets will revert to something else after several generations.

Ok i understand about not disturbing the root ball ... i would have removed as much old soil as i could with a blunt tooth pick ... or i would have just re rooted the crown.

not wanting to threadjack but here are some photos ...the window... the small Reka Volga and some av's with Noid Gracie in background... Watermelon bay from left, Rob's Voodoo Blue, Cajuns Mckenna trail, Little emily ... (Rob's voodoo blue ... in hydroton bottom and though the cup is too big it is the only one of 8 that is blooming, in the same location ...so i'm trying to figure that one out ... the cajun Mckenna is slowly coming back and seems to love the hydroton ... so i've no idea .. mostly i like to experiment different passive watering methods. :) ((rob's wagga wagga is far right front).

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What a beautiful arrangement you made in your room!

Hydroton with time accumulates salts so leaching and flushing should be part of an AV culture in this media. I guess - replaces the repotting. You sure made it work for you.

I grow several orchids in hydroton - phals and paphs - it sure makes it easier - and you do not lose them to rot. Every so often I just put them in a sink and run the water through pots.

Since you do not grow them in soil - you do not have that problem - but if I repot them often enough - the soil doesn't go that acidic - you slowly take the bottom of the root ball off - and add soil on the top covering the neck, so old soil eventually get disposed off. If you repot the plant that was sitting in an old soil lets say for a year - leaching before repotting is due.

Katherine Thompson was once giing a leacture on how she prepared and grew her AVs for the show - and it is the lady who took top awards and Convention sweepstakes home...she didn't cut the piece of rootball off - she hosed the soil off - so the damage for the roots was minimal. My concern - unclogging the pipes can be very costly...

i.

thanks Irina :) .... they look good cause that's a public room ... must keep up appearances :) ...also i like to show/attempt that growing plants with self watering methods can still look good ... that's an ongoing interest of mine ...

The sansevierias (mother in laws tongues) are succulents and are not in soil at all ...they're the happiest i've ever grown them - before this I had 5 years of sickly looking plants no matter how much i didn't water them. It works for them and i'm happy ... i grow them from babies and leaves in this method.

Some AVs ..are a combination of soil and hydroton ...sometimes more soil and sometimes just a small ounce or so ..the hydroton seem to provide both moisture and air.

Some AVs are happier with hydroton and others just hate it .. will still be experimenting with them.

I'd not really considered growing AVs in only hydroton but I will now ...it would be amazing just to flush the pot with a hose etc... of course something like that would have to wait for summer and outside hoses cause that would be a disaster for my pipes right now with the soil and perlite etc... even if i tried to use a strainer etc. ...

the wicked plants who are happier on the soil mix I will cut the bottom part of the soil ...thanks for that idea :)

Silvana.

I don't know why all photos disappeared and how to fix it. Could not find how to reach HOUZZ support. Anybody knows?

Here is a sport of sport from LE-Polina - same rosette with bloom different colors

What a crazy sporting! Polina is one wild woman - ;-))!