French Lilac - plant 2

Last summer I received a plant of French Lilac and immediately fell in love with it.  It was such a gorgeous plant and I absolutely loved it.  My absolute favorite of all of my violets.  When I moved in March, I lost my plant and I was heartbroken.  There are two strains of the plant... the original has wonderfully wavy leaves and the other has more flat leaves.  In my search for a new plant, I was scared that I'd end up with a flat leafed variety...

Last week, I found one on ebay from a seller that I greatly respect.  The photo appeared to have wavy leaves, so I bid on it.  I bid more than I've bid on any plant because I wanted it that badly and I won!  The seller wrote to congratulate me and told me that it was actually just starting to bloom...

She arrived in today's mail and I was blown away by her beauty.  Gorgeous wavy leaves, beautiful blooms... I'll take photos of her tomorrow as my light tonight was really crappy.  I'm in love though!  <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

More leaves!

In my last post, I talked about getting new leaves put down but I never posted what they were!  Here's the list:

1) Cambridge Missy - (Adams) Semi-double blossoms with fringed green edges.  Medium green girl foliage. Miniature  

2)Mikinda Girl (A. E. Adams) Single cerise. Crown variegated green and cream, girl foliage. Miniature  

3)Wondrous Girl (H. Pittman) Semidouble light blue. Variegated, glossy girl foliage. Miniature (DAVS 1296, TX Hyb)  

4)Nancy's Baby Girl (D Rollins)  Dark blue flowers over dark blue girl foliage.  Miniature  

5) Kentucky Bride (D. Rollins) Single white large pansy/pink blush. Medium green, serrated girl foliage. Standard (DAVS 1601) 

6)Navy Girl (408) 12/01/1954 (F. Tinari) Double dark purple. Quilted, cupped, girl foliage. Large  

7)Persian Prince (8266) 07/28/1995 (S. Sorano) Semidouble medium blue pansy. Medium green, ovate, scalloped girl foliage. Miniature  

8)Little Clown (4917) 07/28/1982 (R. Nadeau) Single white sticktite/variable purple. Girl foliage. Semiminiature  

9)Ramblin' Lassie (9022) 03/23/2001 (S. Sanders/R. Brenton) Semidouble blue-lavender star. Variegated medium green and white girl foliage. Semiminiature trailer 

10)Shiawasee Trail (9023) 03/23/2001 (S. Sanders/R. Brenton) Double blue and white variable star. Medium green girl foliage. Standard trailer

I've already lost Navy Girl.  If anyone has a source where I can buy a set of leaves without having to buy 10 and then pay $10 shipping on top of it, please let me know.  I really want this one!

Yesterday, I received more leaves!  lol

Midget Silver Fox (E. Champion) Double dark blue. Mosaic variegated dark green and silver. Miniature (Mosaic leaves!  Squeee!)
Ness' Crinkle Blue (8136) 01/19/1995 (D. Ness) Double dark blue star/thin white edge. Dark green, quilted, serrated/red back. Semiminiature (I've had this one multiple times with no success... maybe this time?)
Precious Pink (6025) 07/05/1985 (H. Pittman) Semidouble pink. Variegated, plain. Semiminiature (DAVS 913, TX Hyb)
Appalachian Tussy Mussy (KC Arceneaux) Single to Semi-double pale lavender pansies. Crown variegated foliage. Semiminiature (User Database)
Rob's Slap Happy (9040) 05/31/2001 (R. Robinson) Semidouble dark coral pansy. Crown variegated dark green, white, cream and pink, quilted. Semiminiature
Rob's Chilly Willy (9461) 07/30/2005 (R. Robinson) Double silver-white star/medium blue overlay, edge. Crown variegated medium green and white, pointed. Miniature
Rob's Love Bite (9039) 05/31/2001 (R. Robinson) Semidouble black-red pansy. Crown variegated dark green, cream and beige/red back. Miniature
Rob's Antique Rose (8451) 05/23/1996 (R. Robinson) Semidouble silver-rose sticktite frilled pansy/darker shading, some silver-green tips. Dark green, pointed, glossy, serrated/red back. Semiminiature
Mac's Misty Meadow (10153) 11/06/2009 (G. McDonald) Single white sticktite pansy/green edge. Medium green, plain. Semiminiature
Malyshka Rusalka (10084) 08/07/2009 (K. Morev) Single-semidouble fuchsia frilled pansy/variable red eye; darker upper petals, white-yellow edge. Medium green, plain. Standard (Russ/Ukr) (Yes, I have this one but the leaves are so tiny that I put down that it's nice to have mature leaves finally!)
Rob's Kalangadoo, Very unusual 'leaf chimera' with semimini trailing foliage.  Double orchid blooms with dark blue fantasty streaks.  Unique, dusting and streaking of gold on pointed green foliage.

I received a crown of Kalangadoo.  Per a posting from Ann-Marie Keene, " I emailed Rob, he says it's chimera in the way that it can't be reproduced true by leaf alone, has to be suckers."  One leave broke off, so I'm going to put it down and see what I get.  Should be interesting!

Today in violets

I put down about 15 varieties of leaves today, most of them being girl foliage.  One of them had already rotted so I saved what I could of the leaf but I don't know if it'll survive.  If it doesn't, I'll be in search of another Navy Girl!

I also have babies coming up from my last set of leaves that I put down.  I didn't blog about that or take photos at the time but here are a few that are peeking through right now.

 Broadway Star Trail

 Buckeye Seductress

 Rob's Pewter Bells

 Malyshka Rusalka (Baby Mermaid) - I received a leaf of this a year ago and had a baby going strong in March before we moved.  I checked on the baby in early May just in time to save 3 leaves because it was rotting.  I was very upset but was excited today to see that one of the leaves has a baby coming up!  The other two leaves look good still, so maybe I'll have more coming up from them... it was a slow plant before, so it's hard to know for sure!

Double Black Cherry - Again, I was very upset when I realized that my plant was dying and I rushed to save a few leaves.  The leaves weren't in great shape but one of them has mouse ears!  Hoping to see babies popping up on the other two leaves that I saved!  Unfortunately, my French Lilac didn't make it either and no leaves could be saved by the time I discovered it.  I have one offer of a baby when they're big enough but I can't hold my breath since sometimes babies don't make it.

 I inherited this violet at one of our club meetings a few months ago.  I was supposed to give classes at work on African Violets and I wanted to use this as a demonstration but things have changed at work (including a promotion!), so those classes won't be happening.  Today was the day that I decided to go ahead and fix her up. :)

 I don't know why I decided to cut the neck so short.  Maybe because it was on such an angle?  Anyway, this is how short I cut it off...

   I removed some leaves and put them down as "insurance" for the plant and they're now domed with the rest of the babies.  Since we don't know what the plant is, some of the ladies in the club were very curious to see what they looked like after we revived them.  I lost the other two that I'd gotten but this one has been happy by the kitchen sink and a few other ladies also took some of them, so next year should be fun to see how they turned out!

 Renee also had a few troubles but she's coming through well.  I also put a leaf down from this plant as insurance as the woman that I got this one from has lost her plant.  It's been a rough year for violets so far!