Here we are in September already.  Time just seems to fly by faster as I grow older.  September ushers in the new year for violet clubs.  Last week my local club (Garden State African Violet Club) had its first meeting on Thursday the 11th.  It was a good meeting as meetings go.  Seven new people showed up and five joined.  The other two decided to wait because one of them has to attend another personal meeting on Thursdays so she will not be able to drive her friend until she has finished meeting with her other group.  We had a speaker who gave us a talk on AV blossom tyhpes.  IT was a powerpoint presentaation which kept everyone interested.  Two days later I drove to Morristown to the Tristate AV Council meeting where our speaker was Olive Ma Robinson who spoke and demonstrated container gaardens.  Her talk was interesting and her deisigns which she made were quite beautiful.  Ralph Robinson was also there and brought plants to sell to the members.  How could I resist.  I bought two. 

Over the weekend I finally finshed my 3rd senior test and sent it in to Meredith Hall who will grade it and send the results back by October 15th.  If I pass I will get my gold card and not have to test again for 3 years.

Today was busy for me also.  We hosted my monthly poker game.  Its a group of guys who taught together for yesrs in

a public school system.  We have just begun our  46fh year together.  Amazingly six out of the original seven still remain     but it's becoming harder and harder to get the group together since we have all reitred and have moved all over the state.

Fred in  NJ

It's August already and time has flow by like a madman.  Been busy the last two weeks cleaning out the closet in the loft of things that I haven't touched since we moved here over 10 years ago.  I am definatly a pack rat and I admit it.  We filled 3 large garbage bags with yarn and took them over to the goodwill store.  Hopefully someone will find a use for them there.  Also sent a large box of yarns to our niece in New Orleans.  Now we found more and are packing another box to send to her.  Years ago I used to make botiqued Christmas ornaments and stashed bags of molded styrofoam shapes in one box in  the corner  of the closet.  Taking a quite a few shapes to my daughter for the grandchildren to play with and possibly use for school projects.  Also cleaned out boxes of white pots and reservoirs.  Have more than enough to last me  till I can't grow any longer.  One other box at the bottom of the heap had yards of  fabric I had  woven when I was doing graduate work.  Don't know what I can use it for but  will keep most of it as a memory of what I did in the past.  Now my one big problem is to clean  up all the boxes on the floor so I can maneuver around and water my plants. We have been consolidating all the AV stuff and I hope to be able to put much of it into a few bins I have on one side of the closet.  Maybe then when I need a pot or a reservoir I won;t have to stop work to clean one to use.  I know that some of you must be thinking about how much I have been talking about but the closet is about 8 x  8 and holds a lot of stuff.  Many of the  pots and things I can't use I will take to my club and sell for a  free will donation to the treasury.  Hopefully I will be able to add a few dollars to the treasury.

Fred in NJ

Hi all,

Well, it's been a good two months for me violet wise.  We had our local show the first weekend in May.  I had 7 entries in hort. and took home 6 blues, 1 red, a gold AVSA Standard collection,  the best standard and an award of merit.  I was happy to get the blues because I needed proof of three blue ribbons for my Senior  Judges exam.  Not only was I happy to get the ribbons but like the rest  of the club members we were elated about the new venue.  Last year we held our show in a church hall where we had it 6 years before.  Even with the publicity we only had 8 visitors and we sold so few plants that we lost money,  In fact with the rental fee of the  church hall we lost about   600 dollars which is very discouraging to a club and puts a real strain on the  treasury.  This year we held our show in a local community college.  Not only was the hall free but  they did a lot of publicity for us and were very very good about helping us.  When the show opened on Saturday at noon there were about 20 or more people waiting to get in.  We had   only purchased  a few dozen plants to sell to see what would happen.  In addition to the purchased plants we grew many plantlets and had bagged leaves.  By the end of the day at 6PM we had only a dozen and a half plants and leaves left to sell for Sunday.  Needless to say we were happy and went back to our homes to see what we could scrounge up to sell the next day.   All in all we took in over  900 dollars and with the expenses deducted we made a profit of  about  300 dollars.  Hopefully we will be invited back next  year. 

On June 28th we had our Tristate AV council meeting as well as our Judges council meeting.   After 15 years as treasurer I finally gave up the job.  Last year I also was replaced as president of Tristate and earlier in June also got out of my job as recording secretary of my local club.  Finally  I am free of all offices and can hopefully sit back, relax and enjoy the meetings. 

I am looking forward to the next Tristate meeting in September.  Our guest speaker is going to be Olive Ma Robinson who will talk and demonstrate  on dish gardens.  Ralph will be there and they will be bringing some plants to sell.  Not that I need any more................lol.

Fred in NJ

 

March 8, 2008

I am making an effort to write a few words each month into this journal.  My activities in the violet world are slowing down a bit now as I age.  Still I love growing my plants and judging shows.  So far this year I have accepted three judging assignments.  One in March, and two in April.  This means that I will most likely be adding two more plants to my collection from each show.  I am looking forward to the March judging at Union County where I will more than likely pick up a couple more Maas hybrids.  Since Mr. Maas passed away in the early 80's, all the plants which he registered are now vintage violets.  There are more of his hybrids that were registered by the Union County club which still have a few years to go before they become vintage plants.  Hopefully they will still be around for people to enjoy.

I went to Pennsylvania last Tuesday and attended a meeting of the Springfield AVS.  Their guest speaker for the evening was Olive Ma who spoke on design.  She spoke for almost two hours and gave out lots of good information on line in a design. 

Wednesday evening and Thursday morning I logged on to the VV chat room where we chatted about numerous things.  I met one woman whose alias is "catsnfish" who lives in SC.  She knew a former member of my NJ club who moved there last year.  I in turn asked my friend to join the VV and chat with us on Wednesday evenings.

Thursday was a meeting night of my club.  Since we had to have a short meeting because of the closing of the library we were unable to have much of a program.  We did however, have a plant and leaf swap and as usual I  came home with two more AV's.  One was a plant of Rob's Scarecrow and the other a leaf of Optimara Jamaica.  The Rob's plant has buds and hopefully it will last till my show in May where I may be able to use it in a design.

That's about all the activities with AV's for now.  Hope to see more of you in the Wednesday chat.

Fred

 

February 21, 2008 and edited on March 8, 2008

Hi again,

My entries into my journal have been almostnon-existant lately and I apologize to all of you who are interested in what I have to say. 

Today I attended a meeting of the Tristate AV Council which was the group that made me presidnet for eight years.  Thankfully now it is in the capable hands of Janet Riemer, former AVSA President. We had a very nice meeting with a program on mini-sinningias by Betsy Gotshall who has been growing them for about ten years.  The nice  thing about the talk besides the growing info was her gifrs of plants to all the members.  I was happy to get a plant of Sinningia Snowflake which I grew over 15 years ago and really liked. 

Our show in the spring of 2007 was a very nice show but not financially successful.  The rental of the church hall ate up most of the profits.  Needless to say we looked around for a new venue and were lucky enough to find a welcome mat at Mercer Community College in West Windsor, NJ.   The details of the Spring 2008 show is on our recently updated web site which I have linked below.  Please take a look at it and if you are near NJ the first weekend in May drop by and see our show.  It's free and we will be selling plants and leaves at reasonable rates.  There are also some photos of last years show winners.

Fred

 

Well VV members it's been a very nice spring for violet shows in NJ.  I was lucky enough to have been invited to judge four of them.  At each one I received a gift plant from the club and of course had to support their treasury by purchasing a plant or leaf or two or three.   I guess to be totally frank I have to admit that this addict came away with half a dozen from each show.  I just got back from my own show.  My plants were not too good this year because of all the medical problems I had but I still managed to garner 4 blues and two reds.  My S. sigi falls managed to win Best species and the Philadelphia Species rosette.  I also have to admit I came home with 8 more plants and leaves.  Lord knows where I am going to put them.  My additions this spring have been enormous and I have added over 30 plants and leaves to my collection.  The following are the ones I picked up at my club show today.           

 New Additions

Chicago Flair (8917) <(D. Hoover) Semidouble pink ruffled pansy/darker eye, thin white edge. Variegated dark green and white, plain. Standard

Elegance (Eyerdom) Semidouble red-orchid/white edge. Plain. Standard

Glenna (7610)  (D. Harrington) Semidouble rose two-tone ruffled/green-edged upper petals. Medium green, heart-shaped, quilted/red back. Standard

Jolly Fun (H. Pittman) Semidouble rose/white edge. Dark green, plain. Miniature

Kosmicheskaia Legenda-2 (9499) (E. Arkhipov) Single-semidouble bright purple star/hot coral and variable white fantasy. Medium green, pointed. Standard

Radiant Glow (T. Davis) Single burgundy ruffled star/white eye, edge. Dark green, plain. Standard

Rebel's Splatter Kake (8695)  (R. Bann) Single-semidouble pink large fluted star/darker eye, purple fantasy, white-green edge. Medium green, spooned, quilted, glossy, serrated/red back. Large

Tat'ianin Den' (9628)  (B. Makuni) Double white frilled large. Medium green, standard

I'm a bit overwhelmed.

Fred in NJ

 

 

March 9, 2007.

Hello everyone.  I have been away for a long time from this forum.  Just a brief note that I was in the hospital for 5 days at the end of January with a bleeding ulcer.  The ulcer came about from the medication I had been taking for almost 2  years for arthritis.  I was in ICU for 2 1/2 days and in a regular room for the rest of the stay.  They gave me 3 blood transfusions because my hemoglobin was below 7.  Fortunately it all healed after a few weeks on Nexium.  Since my release I have had to take it easy and watch my diet. Nothing to eat that produces acid and  no spicy foods.  My second endoscope showed that the ulcer was completey healed but I am still on the medication for another few more weeks.  All in all it has been a rough 9 months for me.  What with the fractured foot and then the ulcer, it hasn't left me much time to have a normal life.  Hopefully it's over now.

Meanwhile, my local violet club has been told by the mall management where we have had our spring show for the last 5 years that we could not come back this year.  New management took over and they have stopped all organizations from using their space till they figure out what they want to do.  It's a problem which we have to face and reorganize since we will not have the mall traffic to see the show and buy plants.  For this year we are going back to the church hall we used    years ago.  It's not the best solution but at least we will have a show.  I hate to see a club not have an annual show because once they get out of the habit of doing a show it makes everyone a bit lazy.  Where our club used to sell a few hundred plants in the mall, we don't expect the public to purchase no where near that number due to the lack of customers.  We cancelled  out plant orders from Lyons and other sources and will be relying on members growing plantlets to sell.  There isnn't going to be much income but we will save money on items we spent on at the mall.  In the past  our shows have netted between 300 and 600 dollars.  Hopefully we wont have a loss this year. 

Thanks for reading about my troubles,  I hope to be back at full speed soon.

 

 

December 29, 2006

Hello again,

Back afer a long long hiatus.  Foot has been out of the cast since the end ofSeptember.  4 1/2 months was a long long time.   Spent the next 3 months doing physical therapy to get unused muscles back into shape.  Now back enough where I can climb stairs to my computer and plants without a boot on my foot.  Got back behind the wheel ofthe car in late September as well.  Driving never felt so good.  My plants are still a wreck but gradually getting them back into shape.  Lost about 2 dozen from lack of care but then I had too many anyway. 

Managed to pass the AVSA exam and am now a Senior judge.  Also managed to judge the Philadelphia show last October.  It was very nice but not as large as usual.  The Tristate AV Council show in November was a winner.  We managed to score a blue rosette on it.  Although I only entered 2 chiritas I came away satisfied we did a bang up job. 

My local club has been having problems however.  The mall which has hosted our spring show for the last 5 years has been taken over by new management and is not permitting us to hold our show there this spring.  We are devestated because it was our money maker.  We are now going back to the church hall where we held our shows before.  Not only will we have to rent the space but the traffic there is no where near as good as   in the mall.  We are cutting our plant purchases to a bare minimum.  Most of us are growing plantlets to sell becuase there will be little or few people to purchase them.  Sad but that's what's happening.  Only good thing is that we won't have to stand guard over our plants till 2AM like we had to do at the mall. 

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and will have a healthy and happy new year.  I can only hope 2007 will bring me back to normal.

 

 

Tuesday, August 23, 2006

Well guys, here I sit.  Still have my foot in the cast/boot.  I am beginning to think that it's becoming a permanent part of my anatomy.  I find it even more difficult lately being cooped up and not able to get around.  I have been trying to climb the stairs to my loft only once a day.  Doctor's orders, or so my wife says.  Still finding it difficult getting around because the boot is so cumbersome.  Consequently my violets are suffering.  I just hope I don't lose any from the neglect.  Fortunately they are tough little plants and seem to want to live in spite of the lack of water and repotting. 

I have been reading all the messages from the VV but lately they seem to be far and few between.  I  wonder how many of them I have missed.  I think there is a dead letter office somewhere in cyber space for lost emails. 

I have been busy with trying to get things done for the first meeting of my local club.  At our show in the spring we had a few sheets of paper out for people to sign if they were interested in either coming to a meeting or just to be notified of our next show.  Hopefully we will pick up a couple new members.  Local clubs are finding it difficult to exist because of declining enrollment.  We all need some new blood and preferably young bodies who are able to help with all that goes on with a show.  It seems to me that most of the clubs where I speak have members that are primarily senior citizens.  So few have younger members.  I guess the young people are too busy working to earn their daily bread and don't have time to stop and smell the roses (would have put violets there but so far only Ryan has a sniffable one). 

We had an executive board meeting for our club over a week ago and for our first meeting we sent for a video from the AVSA library.  It's a great resource that is often overlooked.  Since we meet in a library, video equipment is available for our use which is wonderful.  We have also decided on a theme for our annual spring show.  It's fun to try to get a theme that hasn't been used before.  Two years ago we did one called, "Violets.com" and it was really good.  Lots of clubs try for originality but there are only so many things you can think of for violets.  I think this coming year's theme is unique.  Sorry, I can't let the cat out of the bag yet.

Hope my rambling hasn't turned anyone off.  I'm just happy to use this forum to vent my frustration a bit.  Just can't wait to get back into the water (and I do mean this literally). 

Fred

 

Monday, August  7, 2006

Still have the cast on my foot and will have it there at least until August 18th.  Hopefully this ordeal will be over by then.  I have been in the cast/boot since the second week in May and although my foot  is in no pain, I am hampered in getting around.  I still climb the 16 steps to my loft to check on the violets but when I have to water I have to push myself to do the job.  Needless to say that my plants are suffering from the lack of care.  Fortunately violets can take lots of abuse before giving up. 

I just finished taking the senior judges test and mailed it off to Meredith Hall.  I will have to wait until October to know the results.  I need to score a minimum of 93 points on the exam to pass.  The test wasn't hard, just lengthy.  It's an open book test with about 90 questions that have to be answered and referenced with page numbers and any changes that have been made to the handbook.  The hardest part was typing it out  word for word and making sure that all the pages were noted.  If I pass I have to take the senior exam again next year and the year after that.  When I have passed three exams I will have my permanent gold card.  I really will be happy when and if that happens.  Just keep your fingers crossed for me.

It's beginning to thunder outside now so I will shut down the computer and take a break. 

 

Saturday, July 8, 2006

Sitting here in my loft late at night thinking about all I would like to do once this cast  is removed from my foot.  It's really cramping my style.  I haven't been able to drive anywhere for almost two months now and it looks like the fracture in my foot is going to take at least  six more weeks to heal.  As I said, it's cramping my stye.  Can't go out for a drive,  can't go swimming, can't do much of anything.  About all I can do is climb the steps to my loft and play games on the computer. 

In my spare time I am working on the Senior Judges exam.  It isn't hard, just rather lengthy.  I suppose it should be enough to occupy my time but I get pretty tired of looking up answers and typing them onto the electronic exam.  My plants are being neglected because It's difficult to  water them.  My movements are stiff and rough because of the plastic on my leg.  Eventually it will be removed but until then I am house bound and unable to get to the post office to mail out leaves and plants.  Mrs; J. and Diana, I haven't forgotten about what I owe you and it will get there eventually.

Time now for bed, sorry this entry is a downer. 

Goodnight all

Fred in NJ
     

Sunday, June 25, 2006.............First entry.

I have just finshed reading Mrs. J's. response on eliminating thrips and some other diseases.  I just would like to add a few personal notes.  I think that the emphasis she put on isolation is extremely important.  If you don't have anything now you will continue to have clean plants providing you don't bring anything in to contaminate your collection. 

I have tried a number of things to get rid of foliar mealies including removing all the plants from their pots, cutting them off at the soil line and drenching them in malathion.  I did this outside one summer day and rerooted all my plants successfully, however, I brought in a plant from a "good" grower almost a year later, put it with my clean plants and discovered a short time later i had foliar mealies once again.  Isolation is the one good method of keeping your plants free of disease.  If all else fails at this point I would use Neem Oil.  I no longer use Malation because I feel it is much too toxic.

I had a case of soil mealy bug on some of my plants and cleared it up by repotting and using Marathon which I purchased from Cape Cod Violetry.  I know it's expensive but it works. 

One of my recent additions was a plantlet of Glenn H.  I had it in isolation and the center started to gnarl.  I took a couple leaves off the outer edge and tossed out the plant.  The leaves are in a covered container and hopefully will develop clean plants.  I don't want to have a mite problem.