Fantasy Violeteers African Violet Club's Newsletter

December 2001

Volume 1 Number 7

appy olidays!

Announcements:

Remember -- our website can be found at: http://www.oocities.org/fantasyvioleteers. It contains newsletters, links and more information. You can see what has been added by looked at the Latest Updates section on the homepage.
You can email all the members who have joined the our Yahoo!Group fantasyvioleteers by using the address: fantasyvioleteers@yahoogroups.com
Raffle! Try to bring some thing African Violet related to the next meeting! Bring $0.25 and buy a raffle ticket and a choice of the Raffle items donated by our members!
Do you have an idea for an article? Would you share how you got interested in African Violets? If so, please email an article (it needn't be very long) to fantasyvioleteers@yahoo.com , or give it to the Communications Committee. Remember - it's your Newsletter!
Trade lists are slowly coming in to the Communications Committee. As they are received, they will be added to the Club Library and added to the website. Please email/hand over your Trade Lists to the Communications Committee (Briony Gniechwitz)
Capital City AVS is having a judged African violet Show and Plant Sale at the Sacramento Garden & Arts Center at 3300 McKinley Boulevard, Sacramento, on April 7th, 2002 Saturday 2-5 and April 8th, 2002 Sunday 10-4. This event will be listed on our Upcoming Events page -- http://www.oocities.org/fantasyvioleteers/events.html
The Editor of this Newsletter has received a request from our members for a leaf of Special Attraction and Sky Diver. If you are able to spare such a leaf please contact me either by phone or by email at fantasyvioleteers@yahoo.com
Upcoming Meetings:

Mark your calendars! Meetings are usually the third Monday of the month, from 4-6 pm. Reminders of these meetings will be sent out via fantasyvioleteers list groups 1 week and 2 days before the meeting date. These dates will also be listed on the Fantasy Violeteers website under Meetings.
- January 21st, Monday, 4-6 pm
  - January's Meeting will be held at the Chico Public Library's Conference Room.
- February 18th, Monday, 4-6 pm
  - February's Meeting will be held at the Chico Public Library's Conference Room.
- March 18th, Monday, 4-6 pm
  - March's Meeting will be held at the Redeemer Lutheran Church, which is located on Moss and Hawthorne Avenue in Chico.

Minutes of Fantasy Violeteers General Meeting On December 12, 2001

The meeting was called to order at the home of Marilyn Larrance in Corning, California at 2:06 P.M.

Members present were Briony Gniechwitz, Jan Bernhard, Marilyn Larrance, Marlys Moak, Marie Rilea, Marilyn Green and Betty Garcia. Sharon Walker attended as a guest.

The Minutes of the November 7, 2001 meeting were approved as published.

CORRESPONDENCE

None

TREASURER'S REPORT

November Balance ----------------------- $24.75
>Liability Insurance ------------------------ ( 20.00)
Members contribution to Insurance - 15.50
Balance ---------------------------------------- $20.25

MEETING WAS SUSPENDED FOR A DEMONSTRATION OF SELF WATERING POTS AT @ 2:17 P.M.

MEETING RESUMED AT 3:40 P.M.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Marie sent in the money for the Liability Insurance.

Our meeting will be held in Marie's church at Moss and Hawthorne in Chico starting in March. The meetings in January and February will be at the Library on the third Monday of the month.

NEW BUSINESS

None ANNOUNCEMENTS

Briony has new member packets.

Briony passed out a pamphlet on "How to Grow Beautiful African Violets".

New directories were passed out.

Marie made a motion to adjourn the meeting and it was seconded by Marlys.

MEETING ADJOURNED @ 3:45 P. M.

Members:

Briony Gniechwitz, President
Marilyn Larrance, Vice-President
Marie Rilea, Treasurer
Betty Garcia, Secretary
Tina Sorenson, AVSA Representative
Marilyn Greer
Jan Bernhard
Marlys Moak

Recipes/ Hints

Labeling your African violets is often a challenge. Are you looking for a different method? Try Marlys Moak's way. She uses white electrical tape on the pots of her plants. She writes on the tape with black ink. Apparently the tape comes off easily when you want to clean up the pots. I know I'm going to try this!
Worried about that cat or child nibbling on your African violet? Don't worry too much - it won't do the cat or dog or human any harm at all to ingest African violet leaves, blooms etc -- as long as no pesticides including systemics have been used on the plant. There are even recipes, and I mean for cooking, that include African violet blooms. I had one I wanted to try for the Holidays and add to this newsletter. Of course I can't find it now!

The Beginnings of the African Violet

I have had a request for an article about the beginnings of African Violets - how they were found etc. I found this in a magazine I recently purchased. As an affiliate of the AVSA, we have permission to reprint articles.

The following is the second half of an article printed in the African Violet Magazine, Volume 21, Number 3, March 1968, Page 46-48

African Violet: World's Most Popular Houseplant

By Mrs. E. M. (Hazel) Lewis
1104 Sangster Road
Gadsden, Alabama 35901

1935 Price List A 1935 Christmas price list of Armacost & Royston described these plants as follows: "Our new and greatly improved types of Saint Paulias probably represent the most worthwhile novelty of the past decade. "Blue Boy", "Neptune", "Admiral" and other named varieties have created a sensation wherever shown. Saint Paulias are so attractive and have proven such a satisfactory house plant that we predict an enormous sale of plants this season. In anticipation of this demand we have grown a very large stock and can supply 3" and 4" in full flower in named varieties or assorted as our customers wish." When these named introduction were placed on the market by Armacost & Royston, shipments were made to many countries such as South Africa, Australia, Canada, and many European countries, as well as generally distributed throughout the United States."

The popularity of the African violets in this country (and one might say the world) began in 1936 with the introduction of these first named varieties. It spread fast, like a prairie fire, consuming its victims with desire. And today only one with very strong willpower can resist acquiring each new variety.

Petersons Carry On Armacost & Royston did not carry on as hybridizers and did not continue to raise African violets. But J. A. Peterson & Sons of Cincinnati, Ohio, purchased plants from them and had the foresight to recognize these outstanding varieties and keep them true to name, thus preserving the original stock. Peterson & Sons had begun to grow African violets in 1910 when they obtained 100 Saintpaulia Ionantha from W. K. Harris of Philadelphia. From that time on at least one greenhouse was devoted solely to African violets which became their main crop. During the depression of 1927-1928 it was necessary to cut back African violet production, but still some were kept in stock.

Benary stated in his catalogue of 1893 that variations in color in African violets might be expected. He probably never dreamed of the penchant these lovely little plants have for mutating. Most of the new varieties we read about were produced by hybridizers working with mutations or sports, or descendants of mutations and sports.

"Blue Girl", a mutation of sport of "Blue Boy", is the mother of most of the "girl" type varieties. "Blue Girl" originated in 1941 at the greenhouses of Dale Ulery, Springfield, Ohio. The girl foliage is easily recognized by its lovely fluted leaves with large white spots in the center of each leaf next to the petiole. "Duchess", another sport of "Blue Boy", discovered in propagation benches in Michigan in 1939, is the mother of most double-blossomed plants. "Pink Beauty" and "Pink Girl" are the forbears of most of the pink varieties. "Lady Geneva", another sport of "Blue Boy" is the mother of most of the Geneva-type varieties. "Star Sapphire", another sport of "Blue Boy", is the mother of most of the Star type varieties.

Dr. Reed's Article Dr. S. C. Reed in his article, "Origin of the Stars", (AV Magazine, March 1959) states: "A beautiful shower of stars has been falling over the African violet world for the last few years. The new Stars represent even greater hybridizing skill than did the double pinks and, like them, have enhanced the stature of the most successful of our houseplants." The star-shaped flower is a far cry from the original violet-shaped flower of the native species. The star is symmetrical while the wild type flower is asymmetrical. All African violets have only a sing petal which is divided into five or more lobes. The stars have the petal divided symmetrically into lobes of equal size and shape.

Since the middle of the 1940's the hybridizing of African violets has been one of the salient reasons for their ever-increasing popularity. This can be attributed chiefly to its floriferousness and adaptability to varying conditions of home culture. It is not unusually for an African violet to bloom without ceasing for a year or more, and some plants have been known to have been in constant bloom for more than three years.

Interest Is Amazing Montague Free stated in his book, "All About African Violets", that when he first saw the African violet growing under the name of Saintpaulia Ionantha in the greenhouses of the Union Botanic Garden of Cambridge, England, he certainly had no idea of the popularity they were to achieve as the most widely grown house plants in the United States. Be that as it may, as soon as it was discovered there African violets would thrive in ordinary dwellings, in practically any part of the world, interest increased to an amazing extent.

An example of this interest is the tremendous response to a small notice placed in the "Flower Grower/" 20 years ago. This notice was a call to all African violet growers to come to Atlanta Georgia, to attend an African violet show. The show opened shortly after noon. By 3 p.m. a traffic officer had to be called to handle the crowd; by 7 p.m. it was estimated that 5,000 people had seen the show. More than a hundred Atlanta amateur growers entered exhibits. Others brought plants from all over Georgia, Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Tennessee. There were also growers present from Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio, and Iowa.

Magazine Widely Read Those attending were so interested and so amazed at the response to this initial effort that some of them just could not leave Atlanta without forming an African violet society. Thus was the African Violet Society of America, Inc. born. Today the "African Violet Magazine" its official publication, goes quarterly to over 12,000 members. Each year a national convention and show is held, attended by members from all over the United States. Regional, state, and local organizations have also been formed, with their own publications, conventions, and shows. Judging rules have been set and judging schools held so that competent judges are available for these shows. The growing interest in these organizations and shows attests to the popularity of the African violet.

The love of the African violet, like an infectious disease (sometimes diagnosed as "Violetitis") has spread to other countries. Helen Van Pelt Wilson stated in one of her books that the African violet is a born internationalist. Modest as it appears, the Saintpaulia gets around, and today is the most popular house plant in the world. Many individuals in other countries have become members of the African Violet Society of America, and England and Australia now have their own national organizations. The many articles written by growers in other countries that have been written for our magazine prove without a doubt that whether you are in Bermuda, Brazil, England, South Africa, or Australia, you will be able to say, as did one woman, that "I have been able to have African violet adventures in three countries, each one completely different in climate and conditions. My efforts to grow my beloved African violets, sometimes under quite adverse circumstances, proves the real fascination this little plant has for those of us who have fallen under its spell."

Of all the plants that botanical explorers have endured hardship to collect and introduce into cultivation, none could give the discoverer more pride and satisfaction than the African violet. If Baron Walter von Saint Paul could see today's many glamorous varieties, descendants of the species he collected in African, he should feel that his work was well worth while. Few house plants give so many people so much pleasure.

Search Continues And so, if African violets are grown on a window sill or in a greenhouse, if they are grown in an apartment in New York City, in the desert climate of Arizona, or in Alaska, or in South Africa, the challenge is there. The challenge is there and the search continues. The search for new species continues in the mountains of Africa; the search for new varieties for the ever-elusive "yellow" continues among amateur as well as professional hybridizers. One could slightly paraphrase Shakespeare and say: "age doth not wither them or custom stale their infinite variety."

In next month's Newsletter, a bit of fun . . . how to tell if you are addicted to growing African violets

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Created: 2001-12-31
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