The Violet Voice

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Bonnylynn's Journal

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Bonnylynn's Journal Friday, June 10, 2005

So after reading the wonderful interview of Janet Stromberg and seeing several photos of the beautiful Allegro violets I decided I just had to have some and ordered six leaves from Violet Gallery. On March 31st I received my package of leaves and I must tell you that the Violet Gallery does a wonderful job preparing and packing leaves. They only took three days to get here and they really looked like they had been cut the afternoon that I got them. I thought that I would receive just one leaf from each type I ordered but they sent me two of each type and they sent me two gift sets which were both Allegros. I got A-Cupid Pink, A-Lyric (which was a gift), A-Moon Memories, A-Moon Mist, A-Prairie Rose (which was a gift), A-Rose Ribbon, A-Thisbe (I can hardly wait for this one), A-Winesap and I also got Candy Crystals and Dean's Silver Veil. I set them as soon as I got home from work on the 31st (that was 11:10pm). I washed all of them in a solution of warm water mixed with Safer's End All soap. I didn't cut the ends again because they really looked perfect. I really wanted to put them in water mixed with Eleanor's VF-11 but I couldn't find containers enought to do that so I put them in my 1-1-1 mix and watered them with the VF-11. I did put them in a clear plastic container with clear plastic over the top for a green house effect. On the 16th of April I checked several of them and they were rooted. I have been very encouraged by the springtime success of rooting leaves. It has been very much faster than the leaves I set last fall.

Bonnylynn's Journal Friday, April 23, 2004

I bought a violet called Peppermint Kathy from Violetfarmer on ebay for $10.98 and it arrived yesterday. I am hoping that it is the Chimera by S. Williams Suncoast Peppermint Kathy but I really won't know until it blooms. The plant arrived well packed and in very good condition. I didn't think that the price was bad as long as it really is a chimera. It is a little tall as if it was reaching for light and is in a solo cup wicked and a little wobbly in the mix. I will be putting it in my own mix and giving it a good bath with Safer's End All today. It will be in isolation ( a glass bubble bowl with a sealed plastic top) for three months. I am going to let it bloom to be sure it's true and if it is I will disbud it and grow it bigger so that I can eventually try to make it sucker.

Bonnylynn's Journal Friday, April 30, 2004

Today I emailed to both Lyndon Lyons and Florals of Fredrick to ask them about Suncoast Peppermint Kathy. I'm really disappointed to think that it is not considered a Chimera but happy that I didn't pay the Chimera price plus shipping. I'm hoping that they will email me back and let me know what they think. I might also see if there is some one with AVSA that I can ask. I didn't ask Rob's Violets who also sells it as a Chimera because you have to call them and I really didn't have time today to make a long distance call.

Bonnylynn's Journal             Friday, April 30, 2004

When I got home from work tonight the violet leaves with babies I got frompadriftwoodman on ebay were here waiting to be opened. They were packed really well and are in great shape. It looks like there are three or more babies on each leaf. I was surprised that I spent quite a bit of money with this person (the most ever for an ebay purchase) and didn't get any kind of a gift or bonus though. If I ever sell on ebay I'm going to make certain that I include a gift with each purchase. These are the violet babies I got; Optimara Nebraska

         Buckeye Boysenberry

         Chiffon Print

         Buckeye Carioca

         Ness' Crinkle Blue

         Midnight Rascal

         Pirate's Treasure

         Anastasia

         Cherries 'n Cream

I'm so happy to have finally replaced Anastasia and Ness' Crinkle Blue. I lost both of these last fall and for some reason just had to replace them. I really think they are all large enough to separate and hope to do that within the next few days. For now that are in isolation.

Bonnylynn's Journal Saturday, May 01, 2004

Last night when I got home from work there was a box waiting for me to open from Dave (the Bear Tree). Inside I found Rob's Dandy Lion (oh I just love this little cutie), Rob's Humpty Doo, two leaves from Rob's Pewter Bells and two leaves from Rob's Wind Chimes. My collection of Rob's is growing and I'm so happy to have little sweeties. Dave you're the best.

Bonnylynn's Journal Wednesday, May 05, 2004

Tonight I was able to separate and pot up four of the babies I got off ebaythe other day. I potted up Pirate's Treasure, Buckeye Carioca, Optimara Nebraska and Chiffon Print. I got three separate cups from each one and still will be able to separate more in a week or so when they grow larger. They are all in mini greenhousey things and isolated from the rest of the plants. This grower starts his leaves in sand and perlite. I thought that was strange but the roots were pretty amazing. I didn't like working with the sand though. It sticks to everything. Removed as much as I could before I reset the mama leaf.

Bonnylynn's Journal Tuesday, May 11, 2004

Tonight I was able to finish separating and potting up the other four violet leaves with babies that I got on ebay at the end of April. Buckeye Boysenberry had seven babies. Cherries n' Cream had 6 babies. Anastasia only had three babies but they are pretty good sized. Ness' Crinkle Blue had 6 babies, two that were really nice sized. I separated and potted up a few of my own tonight too. I have a friend that saves the clear plastic deli cake tops from the restaraunt she works at. I turn them upside down, put the babies in them and cover them with an elasticized shower cap that I get at the dollar store (15 for $1). I have to do all of my work upstairs now that we aren't heating the basement anymore because it's too cold down there and the violet room is too small. I can hardly wait for the new room Andy is building me.

Bonnylynn's Journal Tuesday, May 11, 2004

I have received emails back from both Lyndon Lyons Greenhouse and Florals of Fredrick. Both assured me that Suncoast Peppermint Kathy is a chimera. I emailed this question to AVSA but have not heard back from them. I guess it really doesn't matter much other than Dave wanted a sucker from it later on. I'll just have to wait and see.

Bonnylynn's Journal Thursday, May 13, 2004

Oh my goodness, tonight I came home to a great big box of beautiful violets from Bev. These came really fast since she is in Wisconsin and they were sent out on Monday. I got;

Everything's Rosy, Music Box Dancer, Hot Pants, Canadian Maid, Silverglade Baubles, Silverglade Meadows, Diamond Girl, Peppermint Trail, and Sacajawea for plants. She also sent leaves of; Plenty of Pepper, Aca's Eye Knees (funny name) and Optimara Acadia. So I have plenty of work cut out for me tomorrow. Bev sends her plants almost bare root and wrapped inside plastic baggies. The box was very well packed and everything was in great condition. I hope she gets the box from me tomorrow to share the excitement. Thanks so much, Bev. I just love trading.

Bonnylynn's Journal Sunday, May 23, 2004

It has been really difficult to get time to write here lately and there aresome important notes I need to add. On the 6th of May I received a box of violets from Heather on the Brat Pac. These were traded for some of mine. I got;

Jazzy Jewel, Optimara Molokai (Emi), Rhapsodie Cora (that I love and have wanted for so long), Rob's Tippy Toe, Sunrise Waltz, and Sweet Amy Sue. The plants were in great shape and well packed. They have their own little "greenhouse" and are doing fine. Then on the 15th I got my trades from Claudia on the Brat Pac (also in great shape and well packed;

Orchard's Bumble Magnet, Optimara Rose Quartz, Lilian Sparkler, Cherokee Trail, Ellie Gardner, and Rob's Kid Wheezy. I am really getting quite a collection of Rob's. This morning I set up the leaves I ordered from Rainbow Violets that I received yesterday. I put the leaves in cups of water with Eleanor's VF-11 because I seem to get babies so much faster that way. The Allegro leaves I put in my potting mix on the 31st of March are just beginning to put out babies but the leaves of Flashy Angel I put in VF-11 water on April 14th already have babies. The leaves from Rainbow Violets are the vintage leaves I ordered so I hope this works. Nancy from RV also sent me a starter plant of Optimara Modesty and two little violet pots. Every thing was in great shape and I would definately order from her again. She is excellent to do business with and very generous.

Bonnylynn's Journal Saturday, July 31, 2004

Well, finally the vintage leaves and others that I bought from Rainbow violets got put into potting mix and solo cups today. I started these leaves in VF-11 water and only lost one leaf (Elizabeth). All of the others had a really good cluster of babies and an excellent root system. I started the leaves on May 22 and today I put potting mix in labeled solo cups with holes in the bottom. I just made a large hole in the mix and set the rooted, babied leaf into the hole. Then I put the whole solo cup into a little larger cup half full of water. This seems to give the roots a chance to adjust to the mix with out going into shock. As the water is used/evaporated the roots get a firm hold into the potting mix and the little leaves grow like bad weeds. I set 2 babied leaves of Admiral, 1 of Soft Touch, 1 of Mermaid, 1 of Nancy Reagan and 1 of Blue Boy which I didn't even realize I had a leaf of.The leaf stem of Nancy Reagan had curled up like the babies were reaching for the light so when I set them into the mix I cut the mama leaf off and put it into another glass of VF-11 water to root again. The babies were quiet large with a lot of roots so I thought they would be fine without mama. I also set 2 leaves of Pen n' Ink and 2 leaves of Optimara Modesty. Maybe when all of these babies are big enough I can trade with some one for either leaves or a baby of Elizabeth.

I have had quite a battle with soil mealies but I'm winning. I have used Murphy's oil soap, Safer's End All and I found a new safer's product with postassium salts that seems to work well. I did lose quite a few babies because they had been community wicked and these things spread so easily. But, I have also saved a lot. Since I have moved into the new room most of my plants are greening up beautifully and I'm getting pretty pleased with how well they are growing. I have a lot of beautiful violets. My Thunder Surprise is just a beautiful bouquet of flowers...I knew I was going to love that little plant. I stopped community wicking quite awhile ago. Of course the violets are still pretty close to each other but at least they don't share the same water anymore. I'm trying really hard to keep everything clean so I don't spread anymore trouble (I never was much of a housekeeper). I still wick the plants but they are now on individual reservoirs. They are all seeming pretty happy. I told Andy the other night that he was right, I do need another shelf unit. He grinned at me and said he already knew that. When I first moved in I had tons of room but somehow everything has grown. I started a new note system for keeping notes as I'm working downstairs. I am printing individual pages of my collection for each violet in alphabetical order with pictures of those that have pictures and plenty of paper to keep notes about the work I'm doing with them. I think I will be keeping the notes in a loose leaf note book so I can just open the page and jot down the notes. I have over 140 violets not including no names so I really have my work cut out for me.

Bonnylynn's Journal Saturday, August 07, 2004

Well, I bought leaves on an ebay auction and yesterday they arrived. I won three auctions at $1.00 each and got two leaves of each variety with two varieties to each auction for a total of twelve leaves. Even though I have had good success with water rooting, I decided to start these differently because Andy bought me a starter tray withe a clear dome lid that makes an excellent greenhouse nursery for them. I half filled each individual cell with perlite and filled them to the top with my potting mix. I bathed each leave in a nice warm solution of Safer's End All and water and recut the stems and then set them in the potting mix. They are on top shelf that doesn't have a light over it but they will get indirect light from the big light on the ceiling and they should be plenty warm enough since the room stays 78-80 degrees. I got;

Silverglade Jingles

Silverglade Slippers

Buckeye Crinkled Peach (same description as Crested Peach)

Buckeye Colossal

Rapid Transit

Holiday Lights.

This is the second ebay purchase that the seller didn't send me a gift (bummer!).

Andy bought me a third rack on Monday and I was really looking forward to spreading out my violets so they had more room to grow, but I have also won another auction and am about to complete that deal. I also have a lot of babies yet to separate so I really don't have as much room as it looked when we set the rack up.

Bonnylynn's Journal Friday, August 20, 2004

Today I set ten leaves that I got from The Velvet Leaf. Three of these were ebay auction wins and the rest I ordered from her website to compensate/justify the shipping expense. her shipping is very reasonable and her packing is exceptional. All of the leaves were dipped in Hi-Fresh and the ends were wrapped with cotton. Each leaf was in it's own baggie with a picture and FC2 description sticker on the outside. She enclosed little plant stakes already labeled but I wrote the date on the other side. One of the leaves wasn't available so she substituted with Elizabeth and also refunded the price of the leaf. There was an instruction page enclosed with drawings showing how to set the leaves and separate the babies when I get to that point. I have more leaves coming from her within days and I am sure that I will be ordering from her again. I highly recommend this vendor....she is excellent.

The leaves that I got are;

Elizabeth (2 of these)

Anthofloris Alexis

Summer Silk (vintage)

Nortex's Snowkist Haven

Pixie Stardust

Apache Freedom (wow!)

Apache Brave

Good Luck (vintage)

Alamo Frills (gift)

I've got my fingers crossed that all will do well. I set them as I did the last leaves I got...sort of Texas style with perlite in the bottom of the little pot and potting mix in the top under a dome.

Bonnylynn's Journal Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Well, it is 8:21 am and I just set two leaves of my variegated Allegro Lyric. Even though I took two leaves from the second row they were still fairly large, but I left them that way rather than cutting off the tops. If the leaves seem to grow I will go back and cut the tops to make the leaves root. Also, I started them in my potting mix instead of VF-11 treated water. It's spring...they should be fine (I hope). I put the leaves in a two ounce condiment cup and put the whole thing in a domed container on top of a plant stand just over the light fixture. I am of course hoping to get variegated babies from these leaves but Janet thinks this won't happen. We'll see...it is certainly worth a try and you can never have too many Allegros.

Bonnylynn's Journal Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Early last night I finally finished the third round of spraying all of my violets with neem oil. What an ordeal. I had to break up the spraying to the number of shelves that I could do in a day because I have so many and my day (free time) ends at 11am because I work afternoon and evenings through the week. One thing I can say about this experience is that I have found I really love variegated foliage. Many of my variegated violets have become very pink and colorful. I wonder if this is because they are kept disbudded or because I moved them all to the lower shelves. I am on the look out now to add more variegated violets to my collection. Of course I hope I never have to go through this again. Another thing I will say is "oh my goodness neem oil just seems to make the plants glow with good health". The leaves on most of my violets just glow and look so very good. I can't wait for flowers though. I am pretty certain that the thrips are gone but of course I will be checking every single flower as they open. This has been very good for me because I have been able to pick up and groom every single violet that I have. I have removed tons of buds in the last four weeks and also tons of leaves. So now I have to get ready to do some repotting and to make a list of all of my extras that I want to get rid of to make room for my new additions that I hope to get this spring.

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