Favorites Among African Violets

If you can grow an African violet successfully without getting the urge to start a collection, you ought to be psychoanalyzed. You’re different!”

We are normal people. start with one lone saintpaulia, but six months later, we have a dozen sturdy plants, which we proudly rooted in water.

After a year, the house begins to look strangely small. We swapped, rooted, divided, and bought new varieties as soon as they came out.

As we start clearing the tool shelf along the cellar stairway, which gets optimum African violet light from a nearby window, someone stamps down a foot and hands down an ultimatum.

When this happens, there’s nothing left to do (if you don’t want to leave home) but keep a few hundred of your favorites and give away the rest—to other normal people like yourself.

I faced this crisis not too long ago! The difficulty was not parting with some African violets but deciding which ones to keep.

New African Violets

After long mental turmoil, I clung to these favorites among the newer African violets:

Snow Prince

A new white seedling, 1950, has many large sparkling snowy blossoms with rounded petals. These are carried. on well-branched stems above light green heart-shaped leaves of flat growth.

Purity

I couldn’t part with PURITY—the first pure white. It is free-blooming even when small and has apple-green plain-type foliage.

Tinari’s Pink Luster

Although the older PINK BEAUTY, with its many blossoms, is still high on my list, the new TINARI’S PINK LUSTER—the color of a baby’s shell-pink ear—is already deeply entrenched among my favorites.

Usually, pink and white varieties have anemic-looking foliage. But not this one. The strong, dark green leaves with bronzy tones are pointed and a trifle cupped and quilted. Blossoming is free and easy-15 or more flowers on a stem.

Saraband

Among the so-called reds—red only in comparison to the blue purples—there are several I couldn’t do without.

First, SARABAND, a Ballerina type, is an improvement of the Fringette strain. Red lavender would best describe it.

Miniature sequins seem to sparkle on the freshly opened blossoms, and the undulant foliage has a comfortable, relaxed appearance.

Wine Velvet

WINE VELVET has a more prissy starched look with its stiff, dark green. pointed leaf. Flowers do not drop but fade right on the plant, which may or may not be an asset depending on whether you like to pick your blossoms off the plant or off the floor.

Wine Red African Violets

I like Velvet Girl, Ruby Bouquet, and Helen Wilson Bouquet among the African violets described as wine red.

Rain shows that Geneva and Tinari’s Mammoth Red VELVET GIRL is a slow grower, typical of the girl varieties. (Lest someone thinks both a girl and boy are necessary for hybridizing, let me say this refers to leaf type, not sex.

Each African violet flower contains both sexes.) The two upper petals of Velvet Girl are garnet red, while the three lower petals have a lavender-red tone. The girl leaves have a lighter green center.

Ruby and Helen Wilson Bouquet

The clear ruby wine of RUBY BOUQUET gives it the distinction of being the most intense “red” of the doubles.

Leaves are of the boy type and quite light green for a “red.” HELEN WILSON BOUQUET has small “pompon” type double flowers of wine color.

It is the only one of the Bouquet group with girl foliage. In fact, the foliage is more attractive than the flower—my favorite girl foliage after that of Ruffled Beauty.

The young leaves are lustrous dark green with a light center with eight veins radiating like white outstretched fingers. As the leaf ages, it takes on a distinct blush around the white center and on the back of the leaf.

Sugar Plum Girl

The compact plants are just the right size and shape to grow in a teacup. Another newcomer, little SUGAR PLUM GIRL, has the white edge of Lady Geneva, but this time it rims a plum-colored flower—a plum with a sugar coating—on a plant with girl foliage.

Tinari’s Mammoth Red and Rumed Beauty

Undisputed for the title of largest wine red is TINARI’S MAMMOTH RED with large oval leaves.

Lavender on the red side describes RUMED BEAUTY’S plump viola-like face. The two upper petals are a darker shade.

This one has my favorite girl leaves of any plant I have. They look all spruced up in pink and lace as if ready for a little girl’s party.

Tinari’s America and Lady Geneva

There are still many blues in my collection, TINARI’S AMERICA has clear blue blossoms with crimped edges, six or more to a stem. The mammoth-type leaves are crisp and heavily notched.

I have never experienced any difficulty with LADY GENEVA’S so-called temperament. To me, she is a serene lady, indeed, always looking her best with a trim white border on her lovely blue dress.

Miss Liberty

Miss LIBERTY’S deep purple-white-edged blossoms are held high above the heavily crimped girl foliage.

Star Sapphire

For a distinctly different flower shape, STAR SAPPHIRE is tops. H you can imagine a small purple starfish 1 1/2″ inches across with a double yellow stamen in the center, you’ll have a picture of it.

Lacy Girl

Whenever I see LACY GIRL, I think of newly set pin curls, for that’s what she has all around the edge of her dark blue blossom. The foliage is strong and somewhat waved.

Blue Heiress and Fancy Frances

BLUE HEIRESS has large blue twinkling flowers with scalloped duPont girl foliage of deep green. Sprightly FANCY FRANCES has dark blue pansy blossoms, often with more than the usual five petals.

The girl-type foliage has an unusual form—toward the end of the leaf, the serrations smooth out in a blunt arrowhead.

Double-Flowered True Blues

Among the double-flowered true blues, GRAND AWARD, new for 1952, stands out as a stately prince in royal purple. The flowers are very large for doubles. 1 1/2″ inches across, and the foliage is heavy but pliant.

Three cheers, too, for the NAVY BOUQUET with its deep blue flower and strong, crinkled foliage.

The DARK BLUE DOUBLE FRIGETTE is royal blue and heavily fringed. Both these last two have red on the undersides of the leaves.

Aurora and Sailor Girt

On the lighter side, the delicate blue of AURORA, new for 1952, is blended with white. The slightly fringed single flowers are carried on reddish-purple stems.

Foliage is strong. green and somewhat waved. SAILOR GIRT is an older favorite —light blue with girl-type foliage.

Marine Bouquet and Brussels Sprouts

And seeing double again—there’s MARINE BOUQUET, vivid light blue and very much in evidence with its numerous flowers.

BRUSSELS SPROUTS stays with me because it is such a good conversation piece, not for its beauty.

The blossoms really look like Brussels sprouts turned purple with cold, and the foliage hasn’t quite made up its mind whether to be stiff and unrelenting or relaxed and friendly. You can’t blame it—imagine being a flower that looks like a vegetable!

Delight Rainbow

The new DELIGHT RAINBOW has clusters of large double medium blue flowers and dark green glistening leaves of a distinct heart shape.

Azure Beauty

Another double I couldn’t part with is AZURE BEAUTY, white with light blue shading on the center of the petals. The heart-shaped foliage is quilted dark green satin.

Minuet and Painted Girl

Dancing the MINUET, a Ballerina type, has large single flowers of light mauve with wavy edges.

PAINTED GIRL, 1952, is the reverse of Lady Geneva—white petals with a purple edge. Some flowers are more deeply bordered than others. The scalloped girl foliage is slightly cupped.

Blue-Eyed Beauty and Blue Delight

Twinkling BLUE-EYED BEAUTY has a white blossom with blue chalk centered around the yellow stamen.

The new BLUE DELIGHT changes from blue at the edge of the petals to white. then to blue again at the center. The foliage is pale green.

So, these are the favorites that stayed with me—that is, in their entirety. Before grateful recipients carried away all the other old favorites.

I surreptitiously pinched a leaf off each one. They’ve already rooted in water. Maybe I’ll have better luck next time I clear off that tool shelf!

44659 by Ruth Marie Peters