Rainbow Violets -- A Love for Violets Grows and Grows .....
By Nancy Schoepflin
How did I get started in Violets? Well, like many violet lovers, my mother and grandmother had african violets as far back as I can remember. I wasn't involved in the growing aspect of them when I was younger but I knew they were there. My father died from cancer when I was 2 years old and when I was 7 my mother remarried to a wonderful man, Earl Beck, who was a perfect father. He worked for a well known Greenhouse called Armacost and Royston located in Los Angeles, California (home of the Original 10 african violet hybrids). He was an orchid grower and hybridizer then. I learned all kinds of things about plants from him.
We always had plants and lots of orchids, mostly cymbidiums, which were my dad’s favorite. My mom grew her violets in the window. She had a couple of those white metal plant holders that stand on the floor and hold about 8 in each one. So, naturally when I got married and had my own house, I always wanted to have lots of plants too, but not african violets at that time. My first house just didn't have the right light and violets didn't do well.
Then, about 10 years ago, I started one in this new house in the north window and it grew wonderfully. The plant was "Blue Dragon" and I'm still growing it today and it's still one of my favorites. I brought it home from the Florist Shop I then worked at. The owner bought plants from the Los Angeles Flower Market in Los Angeles.
Buckley's Spoon
After that, I brought more african violets home and started reading about them on the internet and learned I could grow them under lights. Oh Boy! Before we knew it I had the spare bedroom full of shelves and lights and plants. Most of my stock is from Rob's and other online websites and of course eBay. It didn't take long to outgrow that small bedroom. Since I was working 6 hours a day in the Florist Shop, 5 days a week, that soon cut into my violet time. Growing hundreds of violets and streps is what I knew I wanted to do full time plus, so I quit my florist’s job in 2004.
Baby Moonbeam
My husband, Larry, and I are quiet people but I'm outgoing when it comes to my business. I’m very enthusiastic and I'm a workaholic and I love it dearly. There is so much to do always!!! I have no help at all as far as growing, computer, paper work, orders, emailing people or financial stuff. I do it all by myself though it’s quite overwhelming at times and that's why I usually don't go to bed until 12 or 1 am and then get up at 7:00 am. My daughter-in-law says I'm crazy to be so busy but my husband is used to it now. He goes to bed at 8:30 - 9:00 pm anyway because he's so tired from working all day. He works for the Water Company here in Simi Valley. My husband isn't interested in the business except to put his two cents in once in awhile. He thinks I should have a drip system for all the plants to save me time, I don't think so Honey! He likes to look at the plants (a little bit) but doesn't want to touch them or work with them. He's sort of a bull in a china closet, if you know what I mean. He shreds newspapers sometimes for me that I use in packing my plants up. He is willing to help me with maintenance and stuff like that but there isn't much of that for him to do.
Little Match Girl
When I started out growing, I would hear of something new to fertilize with so I would try it. I had to try this and I had to try that. My poor plants! One time I thought my plants needed all kinds of additives to their water so I added Super Thrive, and that stuff you buy in the fish store to help eliminate chlorine in the water plus the fertilizer -- together it was too strong. Oh my goodness! I burned out the crowns. So then I went totally in the opposite direction and did not give them anything for two months except water, then their poor leaves turned yellow and they were not very happy little guys and neither was I.
Then I heard that Neem Oil was good for the plants and I started using it faithfully. Every two or three weeks, I misted them with it, mixing as to the directions on the bottle. I use 100% Dyna Gro Neem Oil that I buy online plus I use very weak Peter's 20-20-20 and my plants are now gorgeous and bloom all the time.
The Big Move:
Last Summer (from May to October of 2004), Larry and I built a new growing area out of our garage. That's right, Larry and my two sons and I built a room within a room. We drew pictures and plans and went to work. It's all enclosed with a door or course. I put up the insulation on the walls and stapled it, then paneling over that, we even put insulation on the ceiling with the paneling over it. I have a nice size sink and counter area and a new desk and computer that we just got a couple of months ago.
In November, Larry put up the shelves and we had to buy 4 moveable (with wheels) chrome racks, plus I have shelves hanging on the walls that we brought out from the bedroom in the house. We put in an air conditioner, fan, thermostat and humidity gauges. We don't need a heater because the lights keep it warm enough. I turn half of the lights on in the morning at 9 am then the other half at 9 pm when the 9 am lights go off. My younger son bought me an electronic thermostat where one gauge is in the house and the other one is out in my Nursery. That way when I'm in the house I can monitor the temperature out there, the brand is Brookstone Stores and I love it.
After being out there for a few weeks, we had big problems. Even though I had a fan on all the time the walls started dripping with moisture, it was terrible I told my husband that we must have a leak because the water was running out of the wall near the bottom of the floor, he checked everything and decided there were no pipe leaks. He told me it was condensation and we had to purchase a new Air Conditioner because the one we had was an older one and didn't take out the humidity well enough. By this time I had lost about 100 plants to crown rot, so we lowered the temperature to 66 - 68 degrees. The streps loved it immediately and within two to three weeks I had new center growth in the violets that made it and by February everything was and still is gorgeous and blooming all the time. So all’s well now but that was a “Terrible Winter” for me.
My Schedule:
My typical day starts about 7:30 am. I go out the door about 15 feet to my Nursery. I usually switch over the lights because I run half of my lights at night and half during the day. Then I go turn the air conditioner warmer to about 70 degrees so I don't freeze. Next, I go around and check to see who needs watering. I do keep a tablet hanging on each of the five shelf racks that I have and every time I water, I write the date/am for morning watering or date/pm for night on the tablet because the days go by so fast. I have 10 racks right now, 5 that roll around and the rest are stationary. Then I log on to my computer and check the email and answer emails. I also peek at my eBay listings if I have any on!
More Streptocarpus
The rest of the day is spent planting up plantlets, taking pictures, mixing soilless mixture (about every 2 weeks in my cement mixer that my husband talked me into buying), watering, answering the 
phone, answering questions and emails, washing dirty containers, going to the Post Office (Monday, Tuesday, and sometimes Wednesday), sweeping the floor and washing and sterilizing the floor. I run into the kitchen about 10:00 and have breakfast (granola bar and milk), a quick lunch is at 12:30. Hubby comes home for lunch too, then I go out and work and play with the plants until about 5:30. Larry and I have dinner, either take out, delivery, or something fast like baked potatoes, beef steak and salad. After dinner I usually go back out and clean up the Nursery, then go back in the house to visit with hubby for awhile. Then out I go again and answer more emails and send invoices from orders. This is a very busy time of the year for me, so there isn't much time for recreation. I pretty much stay busy all year round. I try to rest a little on Sunday and visit with our children and grandchildren.
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