Spring is fast turning to summer, and the time is right for shipping African violet plants and leaves. Conditions are perfect all around the country and even overseas - there is bound to be a whole lotta swappin' goin' on! If there is a variety you have wanted, now is the time to look for it - chances are that its owner will be happy to share with you and that the treasured parcel will arrive safely in the mild weather. Likewise, share your treasured varieties freely with anyone and everyone you can - more varieties in more places means more assurance that favorite cultivars will be on hand for future generations of AV enthusiasts.

Late spring/early summer is also the perfect time to harvest leaves for rooting. The vigorous leaves in the second or third row from the center will be eager to root! Pick all of your favorites and share them with friends - see the notes in Tips and Tools about how to ensure that the name stays with the plant.

If travel is in your summer plans, check to see if there are any commercial AV vendors on your way and make a stop - with the internet and mail order business booming, vendors welcome first-hand contact from enthusiastic visitors. Imagine the delight of vendors hearing folks "ooooh" and "aaaah" over AVs that have been growing unappreciated because all of the orders come in through the mail and the internet where people do not actually see the growers' hard work! I speak from experience here - one visit from you can not only make a grower's day, but will surely result in the finest possible service and plants in the future. It is also a great pleasure to meet the faces behind the violets.

Since this is the season for growing, I would like to personally dedicate this issue to commercial vendors, large and small, without whom we lovers of AVs would be sorely challenged to acquire the varieties we hold so dear. Call or write your favorite vendor in the coming months to express your appreciation personally!

~ Rich Follett
  VR newsletter Content Editor
  Founder of related group SweetViolets

It is easier to say "don't top water" than to explain all the problems one could run into by doing that, but there are some good, legitimate reasons not to bottom water also.

The crown could rot, if a person were to carelessly water right over the top of the plant's crown and all or even just get a few drops on some leaves. If you wonder what I mean just go to a greenhouse this time of year. They are using straight cold water, and a soft shower wand. They pass it over all the plants, soaking the leaves and everything. Their plants look fantastic! So, if they can do it why can't we? First of all there are no african violets in that green house, so they are quite safe to water with cold water and shower wands.

The violet hates cold water, it spots their leaves. The water drops can burn holes in the leaves if put back in the sun or under the gro lux bulbs directly after watering. Also the water drops can rot the leaves if it is a very humid atmosphere. Yet they love a bath! Now "go figure" as one of my sisters in law would say.

Top watering is good in that we are flushing the salts through the soil and out the bottom. You would still get some fertilizer build up but certainly not near as much as in bottom watering.

By bottom watering there is little chance of getting water in the crown or on the leaves, but if you forget to remove the water your violet is sitting in you could drown it.

There are many more dos and don'ts for either side. So folks, I think top or bottom watering is just a matter of preference, BUT whichever you choose to do, do it carefully. Consider watering time to be you and your violets bonding time and you will never fail to please them.

There is a lot of advice out there, but you have to be practical too. I give you this link: I hope it helps a bit. http://www.rachelsreflections.com/broke.htm

There are some people who join this list only to unsubscribe after a few hours or so. When they answer the goodbye note I leave for them they more often than not list too many bingo messages as the biggest reason they are leaving. If there are any of you who are "bugged" or "ticked" by the bingo messages why not use your mail program to block them? You can have them deleted at the server or on your computer. Should you need help with the settings don't be afraid to email me for instructions. I will have them sent to you ASAP.

It really works!

This month's recipe is one of those old-fashioned church supper type of dishes that are getting harder and harder to find. I found this one myself in a box of old newspaper clippings from the 1930's It is absolutely DELICIOUS, and I don't know how your weather has been, but if the rest of the summer is as rainy as it has been here in the Shenandoah Valley, there will be PLENTY of green tomatoes to work with!

~ Rich in VA

Green Tomato Sweet Pickles

• ½ cup salt
• 1 gallon water
• 6 qts. Small green tomatoes
• whole cloves
• 1 ½ qts. Vinegar
• 6 lbs brown sugar
• 1 stick cinnamon

Dissolve salt in water, add tomatoes and cook until they are nearly tender. Cool tomatoes and put one whole clove in the top of each. Mix vinegar, brown sugar, and cinnamon, boil five minutes and pour over tomatoes. Let stand overnight, remove tomatoes from vinegar syrup and heat syrup to boiling. Pour over tomatoes again, let stand overnight, heat to boiling and pack into sterile jars. Seal. Makes 6 quarts.

In the present Newsletter, Madeleine is telling us about her favorite African Violets.

Madeleine is well known for her attractive slide shows. She is a real expert in taking picture of African Violets. This monthly column will certainly give us an opportunity to learn more on some of them.

This month, Madeleine is telling us about her Sassy Shell:

Thank you Madeleine for your contribution to this column. I agree with you, this is really a lovely plant.

Who will be the next member to present their favourite African Violet? Please email your suggestions to: camirelc@sympatico.ca

~ Claire

Every year, varieties of African violet are lost forever simply because no one takes the time to propagate them and because some of the folks who DO propagate them fail to take steps to ensure that the name goes with the plant. Here are some helpful suggestions to keep vintage varieties alive:

FOR PLANTS IN YOUR COLLECTION:

• Always label the pot AND the plant-markers can get lost, and pot markings can fade or be forgotten!
• Never let yourself get down to just one plant of a favorite variety - keep leaves put down and make sure a friend has the same plant in case yours goes to the AV hereafter
• Start a new plant of favorite varieties each time you repot, then find someone to give the new plant to when it has grown.
• Make sure you mark plants in either permanent marker (okay) or lead pencil (better). Water-soluble markers wash away, paper labels get blotchy or can peel, and even permanent markers can fade to near-invisibility in bright light!

FOR LEAVES YOU ARE PUTTING DOWN:

• Work on one leaf or one plant at a time - setting down three kinds of leaves at once can lead to confusion!
• As with mature plants, label the pot and put a marker in the soil.
• Start leaves individually (one per cup) rather than putting several into a single container. It takes a bit more space, but if a pest, fungus, virus, etc. infects one leaf it will leave the others alone!
• NEVER mix varieties in the same container.
• Make sure babies are clearly labeled AS SOON AS they are transplanted - ONE per pot, and label both plant AND pot!

WHEN SHARING LEAVES/BABIES:

• Make sure leaves and/or babies are labeled correctly and LEGIBLY
• Give paper copies of AVSA descriptions along with leaves/babies whenever possible
• Make sure the recipient knows the significance and importance of making sure the name follows the violet when he/she shares leaves and babies in the future
• Always keep some sort of written record of what you have shared with whom and of where YOU got varieties from, and the name of the hybridizer if known

If we take a little extra time and care now, we will be able to enjoy treasured varieties for generations to come!

Behind every African violet enthusiast is a long-suffering, neglected spouse or family member. My wife Mary Ruth in this edition offers us her perspective on the OTHER side of AV addiction!

Share the JOY? SHARE the JOY? Well, I suppose so, if that is what you want to call it. I am what you might call an African violet widow. I am not quite sure when or how African violets completely took control of our life; one minute, my husband had an African violet that his Grandmother gave him, living in a pot on the windowsill in the kitchen, and the next minute there were a hundred, then two hundred, and now more than a THOUSAND. Who really NEEDS A THOUSAND African Violets? We'd be better off adopting rabbits. This one's pink, this one's white, this one has green edges, this one's a trailer -- all I have to say is this: If it is pink and green, why is it called an African VIOLET?

As if the REAL world of African Violets isn't enough to deal with, lately he has gotten just as involved in VIRTUAL violets - internet groups, e-mail leaf exchanges, on-line catalogue shopping, surfing the net, voting for virtual violet show winners, moderating an on-line African Violet group - it never ends! I feel like I have to wait for the virtual violets to come into bloom just to get a chance to check my own e-mail, as much time as he spends on that computer!

And then there is the CLUB he started, where he meets with twelve other violet lovers every month to exchange stories and get even MORE plants! There HAS to be a light at the end of the tunnel. If there were, he would probably stick some plants underneath it!

My entire house is lightly dusted with DIRT. Not dust, mind you, like a normal house - we are talking DIRT. Dirt in the kitchen when I go to start on dinner and he has been washing flower pots in the sink, dirt in the bathroom when he has been photographing plants (only the bathroom has the right light and the right color wall for a background!), dirt in the living room in the winter when he has been repotting and it is too cold to work on the screen porch, Dirt in the dining room when he has spread plants out "just until he has time to put them away", dirt in the computer room when he has been listing plants on eBay or putzing in the window greenhouse, dirt in the hallways where he bumped into something when he was carrying a tray of plants from the computer room to the basement, where his lights come on at night and make the whole neighborhood think we are drug dealers, and even dirt on the kitchen counters when he sets down a tray of plants to answer the phone. I am NOT from a farming family

It is consistently surprising to me how creative my husband can be about finding new things in which to GROW violets. I have learned that anytime I buy Tupperware I have to buy three so I can have ONE to use for the kitchen, and Ziploc baggies are now ordered by the case. I never have to worry about Richard emptying the trash now that African violets are a part of our life - I just hope and pray that people don't see him going THROUGH it first to pull out all of the containers that might offer possibilities for propagation!

Any flat surface is a potential site for a tray of violets. The kitchen counters, the dining room table, the porch, the floor in the computer room, the closet, the TV trays in the living room - tell me, have YOU ever waken up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and sat on a tray of violets covering the toilet seat in the dark? I have, and the experience is unparalleled, I can assure you.

Last year, Richard hired someone to build a really big window greenhouse in the computer room. He is very proud of the fact that he built it entirely out of recycled materials to save money and that he can grow three hundred plants in there. He neglects to mention that his "greenhouse" functions like, well, a GREENHOUSE and causes the air conditioning to go on when it is thirty degrees outside. In the summer, the computer room is like having our own personal sauna, and the computer just THRIVES on all that heat and humidity. Can you say, "reboot?"

The light stand is a source of constant joy and amusement. Every house with cats needs a spare litter box, and with the constant blinding glow from midnight until 10 a.m., we save a great deal of money on night light bulbs.

There is an UP side, though. I brag on Richard's African violets to my friends and acquaintances all the time. Last year, one actually BLOOMED - it was a community event! All in all, it has been a tremendous boon socially - if I meet someone who does not know me, all I have to say is "the violet man is my husband" and I have everyone's FULL attention.

Don't get me wrong - I am not bitter, really - at least I know where he is when he keeps me waiting for an hour to go on a dinner date or I wake up in the middle of the night and he has disappeared. I just look for the eerie glow of the lights and there is my Richard, lost among the violets and looking like a three-year-old with a guilty conscience. Would I like to live a violet-free existence? You bet. Do I want to go through the rest of my life without seeing that look of wonder and sheer joy on my husband's face and in his eyes? Not on your life. Just sign me:

Domestic Violets

~ as told to Richard Follett

Well, VR friends, they say every dog has its day, but this month it is the CATS' turn! Televison may have Cagney and Lacy, but yours truly has Callie and Grace. Believe me, they are every bit as entertaining as a TV program could ever be! They have been having a merry war for years now over just who has dominion over the African Violet growing territory, and now they have demanded that I present BOTH sides of the story! Here, in a sort of feline She said/she said, are our feline AV enthusiasts. Perhaps you will be able to decide for yourselves who reigns supreme in VioletLand.

My Story: Callie

(editor's note: this is strictly an alphabetical presentation, and does NOT necessarily represent favoritism!)

My role is that of the GUARDIAN. You can see that very clearly in the following picture, where I am watching over Richard's violets to make sure that no harm comes to them.

Richard's violets are very important to him, and I respect that. Besides, they taste a bit like grass in the winter when all of the REAL grass is covered up with snow. They sometimes upset my stomach so I leave green slimy hairballs behind for him to clean up, but he never complains - at least he knows when he finds them that I have been dutifully at my post.. The only thing I ask is that he leaves a corner of the window greenhouse clear for me to stretch out and enjoy the sun. Every once in a while, I knock over a plant or two on the way to my corner, but he really NEEDS to practice rooting leaves and repotting, so I am actually helping him out. Besides, Gracie is the REAL violet terror. You wouldn't BELIEVE what she would do if I were not here to stop her!

Without me around, Gracie would SHED all over the violets. She is a long-haired cat and leaves hair on everything she touches - not a sweet and petite non-shedding shorthair like ME. Given this information, isn't it only FAIR that I should be the one to bask in the corner of the hotbox? She is ALWAYS trying to sneak in there when she thinks I am not looking. Not only that, but she has been known, on more than one occasion, to CHEW on AV FLOWERS! I only sample the leaves, and only on rare occasion when the poor violet is ready to overflow its pot and NEEDS to be trimmed back! I would NEVER eat the flowers that Richard works so hard to see. Ah, well, what do you expect? Gracie was once a wild cat, and I have always been a domestic housecat.

Once, when Richard had the flu and forgot to change the litter box, Gracie: ooooooh, I can't even say it. THAT kind of fertilizer African Violets will NEVER need.

Suffice it to say that, in the world of Richard's violets, I am the PROTECTOR. So what if I jostle a plant or two and break off a few leaves now and then? It is all in a day's work, and I think it is a small price to pay for the kind of quality service I provide.

My Story: Grace

Well, here I am in a moment of leisure, lost among the violets in my own personal tanning bed. What can I say? Beauty has its privileges, and it takes a lot of effort to keep this long coat looking so gorgeous.

I know that Richard SAYS the light stand is for his African violets, but it's funny how he never has a complaint when I come around all warm from sitting under the heat lamps and freshly groomed, asking to be petted. He thinks he is doing me this big favor by leaving one tray empty so I can bask in the light without disturbing the violets, but who wants to lie in the same place all the time? If he REALLY understood me, he would spend an hour or so every day clearing out a DIFFERENT tray so I wouldn't have to be bored by the same view all of the time. Humans can be so inconsiderate, you know?

As for the whole litter box thing, all I can say is that Callie is just jealous, and jealousy is NEVER pretty. Even if I did fertilize the violets in my own special way once or twice, I was just trying to help! A tray of violets and a litter box have a lot in common, after all. Looks like a duck, walks like a duck, etc.

If Richard had any real sense, he would THANK ME for all of the hard work I do making sure he always has leaves to put down to root. I have been responsible for THOUSANDS of new plants, all because I am considerate enough to break off leaves to keep him busy. Little Miss Goody Two Shoes Callie wouldn't know how to break off a decent violet leaf if her life depended on it! And the way she HOGS that window box is just criminal! If she ever gave me a chance to get in there and enjoy some REAL sun, maybe I wouldn't have to be so creative in the light stand. She has SUCH an over-inflated sense of self-importance! I think she was weaned a bit too soon.

It would be so easy if everyone would just realize that I am perfect and leave me alone. I am so much better than an African violet. I love to be petted, and no one ever has to wait for me to come into bloom to be beautiful. True, I need feeding every day and my litter box needs to be changed more often than every six months like Richard does for his violets, but I give a lot more back than they do. The silly things won't even BLOOM for him half the time, and yet he often pays more attention to them than he does to ME! It is really quite ridiculous. I don't know how a cat of my standing and obvious attributes came to develop affection for such a fundamentally FLAWED human. On the other hand, where would he be without me? It is very clear that he NEEDS me to help him with his violets. It's all part of the sacrifices we cats make in the name of human companionship.

This month we feature another wonderful original AV poem form the lady who has become our ersatz poet-in-residence, Alana. Thank you, Alana, for a wonderful contribution!

AV Addiction

African Violets are addicting you know --
There are so many beauties you just "have" to grow
And caring for them can become quite a task
"Then why have so many" you may want to ask?

Well, these little sirens possess a great power
It's hard to resist when you see a new flower
They will help clean the air, and they won't make you fat
My kind of addiction -- how healthy is that!

They cover my tables and a part of the floor
But I still have a pathway to get out the door
And they're helping to increase my agility
As I dance around trays -- No, you don't want to see!

When your child has left you with an "empty nest"
Your violets are there to make sure you don't rest
They demand food and water so relentlessly
There's no time to miss children -- so it seems to me!

And I'm doing so much more for re-cycling --
As I propagate leaves in almost anything
So now that I've listed all the good these plants do
I've defined "AV Obsessive Disorder" for you!

~ Alana

We have also had a lovely quote submitted by Mrs. Margie Hubbard for this edition of the newsletter. She writes:

Thank you, Margie, for this beautiful thought.

My friend and fellow AV enthusiast Stephanie Sions has just acquired a new .com address devoted to African Violets! The site is under construction at this writing, but will be available shortly at the following link: secretvioletgarden.com

I have purchased plants from Stephanie on eBay, and I can tell you first-hand that the care she takes and the customer service she prides herself in providing is likely to become the benchmark for all other AV vendors! Stephanie's new AV site will have every kind of information about our beloved Saintpaulias, pictures, advice, articles, links to other AV websites and lots of other wonderful and new features. Best of all, Stephanie is offering a service where she will keep a record of your AV wish list and notify you when she tracks them down! Here, in her own words, is Stephanie's description of her new site:

Please visit Stephanie's new website at your earliest opportunity. Way to GROW, Stephanie!