Fantasy Violeteers African Violet Club's Newsletter

February 2002

Volume 1 Number 9

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 $0.50 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 6th, 2002 Saturday 2-5 and April 7th, 2002 Sunday 10-4. This event will be listed on our Upcoming Events page -- http://www.oocities.org/fantasyvioleteers/events.html
• Horticultural Fair Tentative Schedule! Since Marie indicated that her schedule is dependent on her daughter's health, I really hope some of you can try to come for the slots she is signed up for -- that's why her name always has a (?) next to it. That way, if she (or anyone else) can't make it, we still have 2 or more people to be by the stand. The more the merrier!
  • Tuesday, March 12th, 10:30: Set up.
  • Marilyn L. and Briony G. will set up - anyone else wanting to help is welcome!
  • Saturday, March 16th
  • 10:00-1:30 : Briony, Marie (?), Sharon (?)
  • 1:30 - 5:00 : Jan and Betty
  • Sunday, March 17th
  • 10:00-1:30 : Marilyn L. and Marlys
  • 1:30 - 5:00 : Briony and Marie (?)

Upcoming Meetings:

Mark your calendars! Meetings are usually the third Monday of the month, from 4-6 pm, and unless otherwise noted, will be held at the Redeemer Lutheran Church, which is located on Moss and Hawthorne Avenue in Chico. 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.

• March 18th, Monday, 4-6 pm
• April 15th, Monday, 4-6 pm
• May 20th, Monday, 4-6 pm

Minutes of Fantasy Violeteers General Meeting On February 18, 2002

The meeting was called to order at 4:05 P.M. by President Briony.

A quorum was present. Attending were Jan Bernhard, Marilyn Greer, Marie Rilea, Sharon Walker, Briony Gniechwitz, Marilyn Larrance, Tina Sorenson and Betty Garcia. Tanya Sorenson attended as a guest.

The reading of the Minutes was waived and they were approved as published.

CORRESPONDENCE

A letter was received from Susan B. Hoffmann, AVSA Awards Chairman, Virginia Beach, VA Asking for contributions towards show awards for the AVSA's 56th Annual Convention and Show in Washington D.C. After discussing the matter, a motion was made by Briony that we should not send any money for awards this year. It was seconded by Marilyn and the motion passed.

TREASURER'S REPORT

Balance from January 2002 --------------------------------- $52.25
NCCAVS Membership and Magazine ------------------- (9.00)
Balance ------------------------------------------------------------ $43.25

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Since we joined the NCCAVS late in the year, they informed us that we would only have to pay half the dues, so we remitted $4.50 for dues and $4.50 for the magazine.

Horticultural Fair - March 16 and 17 at the Chico Fairgrounds - A tentative schedule was arranged and will be posted on E-mail.

NEW BUSINESS

A nominating committee for new officers, consisting of five people, will be needed. In lieu of appointing a committee, Jan Bernhard made a motion that the same officers be retained for next year. Marilyn Greer seconded the motion and it was passed by the members present.

Marie moved to adjourn the meeting and Jan seconded the motion. Motion passed and meeting was adjourned at 4:25 P.M.

Respectfully submitted by Betty L. Garcia, Secretary

Members:

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

Recipes/ Hints

• March will herald Spring and along with it the temptation to bring in cut flowers from outside. Be forewarned that you may also bring in unwanted pests such as thrips. You may want to be sure to keep these cut flowers away from your AV collection or like some of our members, stop bringing them in entirely. Also, after working in the outdoor garden, please wash your hands and maybe change clothes before playing with your indoor lovelies. Again, you may bring in pests on yourself or your clothing.
• Spring may also mean Repotting. While this can be horrendous task, which you dread, try to think of it as a time to take a good look at your African violets and admire them. Is one looking unhappy? Did one grow particularly well since you last repotted? Try making a note of these things. Also, try to repot only part of your collection at a time so it doesn't feel quite so much like work. Some ideas to reduce the resulting mess: lay out newspapers to repot on. When you are done fold them up, soil medium and all, to dump on your compost pile. Or invest in one of those potting trays - I've never used one yet, but have heard rave reviews about them. Remember, you can't re-use your soil mix, but it can break down nicely outdoors - unless you've put poisons in the form of pesticides or systemics in it. Please refer to manufacture's instructions for proper disposal in such situations.

How Marilyn Greer Got Interested in African violets.

By Marilyn Greer. Edited by Briony Gniechwitz

Question: When did you get your first African Violet? Under what circumstances did you get your first African Violet?

Answer: My aunt and an "old family" friend both grew AVs and I just loved visiting their homes. The friend shared an AV with me while I was in college; it didn't last long in my dorm room though:(

Question: What do you like about African violets?

Answer: I love indoor gardening, much more rewarding than outdoor in Northern CA!!! I love all the different leaf types and blooms these little plants produce, and they grow all over my home. I also like the idea that I am part of a group helping out an endangered species avoid extinction with my small collection :D

Question: Do you have a favorite African Violet? If not one cultivar, maybe some type? Like a flower type or color or a type of variegation?

Answer: My favorite AV is one that I rescued from a homecare patient about 7 years ago. It is a no - name that resembles Newton Peer Review; presently it is 24" in diameter and usually has huge pink blooms on it. My favorite hybridizer is J. Dates, he really had a sense of humor, and his AVs have unusual leaves and blooms. And I am really enjoying building a collection of the species plants, they are all different in size, leaf type and have delicate little blooms on them most of the time

Question: How many African Violets do you own now?

Answer: Right now I have about 75 AVs.

Question: Do you think your collection is complete? Or do you think there are still African Violets out there that you would like to own?

Answer: To me there is no such thing as a complete AV collection, there are just too many varieties out there to have:) Space and time limitations are sort of keeping me under control.

In next month's newsletter - Decapitation Isn't Murder

Visitors since January, 2002

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