Yes, take a few leaf cuttings

I trim pretty drastically when re-rooting AV crowns... I know we tend to think leaves = energy, but when a plant is making new roots, fewer leaves mean less surface area for losing moisture. I'd remove at least 4 leaves and probably the 5th medium sized leaf also. Once it roots, it'll grow out beautifully! And you'll have 5 leaves to root for backup / extra plants.

Will you cover it to retain moisture while it roots? I'd pop a plastic bag over it, with something stuck in the pot to hold the bag off the leaves. Some ventilation is good, especially since you had a rot issue, but higher humidity will keep the plant from wilting until it can draw up moisture with its new roots.

That said, I have zero experience with primula, just lots of experience over the years with AVs.

As a side note, our MAG plant swap is about 20 minutes south of Frederick this year, May 20, at Aspenhill's spectacular place. I know that's a pretty good drive from DE, but it would be such fun to meet you, Joseph, so I had to mention it!

Thank you Jill! I'll proceed with the operation tonight. Regarding the MAG plant swap, I can't do it this year but maybe next year after I pass by my retirement date. Do you still grow flowering vines?

Glad to here you'll be retiring soon!! I'm doing more of everything again this year after several years of very little gardening. I do have some morning glory seeds, not sure about their viability, but if I don't plant them then for sure they won't grow! I do see a few volunteers of what's probably Grandpa Ott's. Your JMG's are always stunning.

"Your JMG's are always stunning."

Hi everyone! I'm involved in some other forums, but never thought to pop over here. I currently have about 100 standard violets that are a variety of Optimaras, Rivermist and Russians. I had more last year but recently moved and purged a bunch that don't seem to enjoy MN. I have some other random ones mixed in with them. Here are a few pictures of some of the ones that are currently blooming.

Optimara LooXo Luminuos


Rivermist Winx


Rivermist Venus


Rivermist OhhLaLa: sport


Optimara LooXo Pretty

Pretty!

Hi Nathaniel,
We have two African Violet societies in MN, both based in the Twin Cities. And a Gesneriad society (GSTC) that tends not to deal with AVs, but the rest of Gesneriaceae. I belong to the latter. Did you go to the recent AV society show at the Northtown mall?

I only have one cultivar of AV, presumably one of the ten or so originals, as it came from Grandma who had had it since at least 1940. I like it because it never ever stops blooming.

for everyone else...

Petrocosmea starts from leaves just as easily as AVs. In a 2.5 inch pot.


In 2 inch pots.


Primulina dryas 'Latifolia Dwarf'

the watercolor pattern on OohLaLa, although all are gorgeous!

Rick, cute babies!

@leftwood, I did stop by the show they had in April. It was my 1st time going to a show so I was not sure what to expect. We didn't have a club where I had moved from.

critterologist said: the watercolor pattern on OohLaLa, although all are gorgeous!

The Rivermist Violets are some of my favorites and hybridized right here in MN. I have Rivermist OhhLaLa, a chimera, in addition to that spot and another one. I'll post pics of the mother plant and other spot next time they are blooming.

What's blooming for everyone else?

Here are some of mine that are.

EK-Scarab


Purple Puff sport of Rivermist OhhLaLa



Rivermist Calypso


Kz- Fantastic


AE- Playful Wolves


Optimara mySunshine

Fantastic is indeed a great name and it lives up to its name.

Unfortunately I don't have any flowers to show.

I am really just getting blooms again. Last summer, we were looking at moving so we were traveling regularly to the twin cities from Indiana so my collection started to get neglected. Then with the move, I decided to switch everyone over to wicking. Then I disbudded for a few months for them to put energy into foliage and root development. Im finally letting them bloom. It's been a long 9 months of just green plants.

When adding new plants to the database, how do we typically handle sports. For instance, I have an Optimara myWildSide which typically is green, but has a pink sport and white sport too. Should all of these sports be included under the standard myWildSide.

ndmpkt13 said: When adding new plants to the database, how do we typically handle sports. For instance, I have an Optimara myWildSide which typically is green, but has a pink sport and white sport too. Should all of these sports be included under the standard myWildSide.

I suppose. I see poeple posting sports of cultivars under the cultivar entry, though I wouldn't do it unless therre's a regular photo already.... Not too sure. I dont think we're really supposed to do that but oh well

Absolutely not. if people are publishing sports of cultivars under that same cultivar name, I'm sorry, but these people don't seem to understand the whole purpose of cultivar naming: it is to differentiate that plant from others.

Some cultivars in other species can have different color flowers, for instance, and that would be evident in the individual cultivar description. But that doesn't happen with AVs, as they are always propagated with asexual material (not seeds). New plants are exact copies of the mother plant. If they are not, as in the case of a sport, they are no longer that cultivar.

What a mess things would be if they were, since, for example, practically all AVs in the world (excluding in the wild) are descendants of ten or so original hybrids. Conservatively, a quarter of those are sports. Should we regress and change the names of the those 4,000 (out of 16,000 cultivars) back to the original ten?

Even with a caption explaining it is a sport, it still should not be placed under the parent cultivar. Very few viewers actually read captions or delve deeper than a pretty picture or gotchya headline, and this is how pseudo-facts are spread throughout the internet and social media.

This is my opinion, because I have been chastised multiple times for pointing out inherent inaccuracies in the database here that constantly reoccur. The administration here, weighs the "fun" of the database against the importance of accuracy, and makes a decision. So if you want the real answer, you better ask them.

I disagree, simply because there's no other place to share photos and info about sports, which I think sometimes can be reversions to a parent type. If a sport is stable enough to be reproduced and distributed, it gets its own variety name, and that's a different thing. I'd like to know if a particular variety is less stable and given to producing sports, especially if I have one that's blooming "wrong." Photos of sports with captions noting them as such are definitely useful to me. I don't think it's a matter of having the database be "fun" rather than "accurate."

I was thinking if they are being sold as separate plants as MyWildSide is, then they should probably have their own entries. Now if I had a plant that just sported, I'm not sure that should be listed under the main one.

https://selectivegardener.com/...

As a side note, I couldn't even tell you who the mod is for the av database. I'm not sure if there really is one. Other groups have very active ones but I haven't seen that in the short time I've been on this one.

Yes, it does seem like if it's a known sport (as opposed to something that just happened to a plant you had), it should have its own entry.