African Violet Progeny

I'm so excited!!! Remember the 60 violet leaves that I set down to root back in the late spring? Well, finally, after two months we've got "mouse ears" as the new plants are affectionately called. Most of the May leaves and some of the June leaves have sent out their first plants and they are looking great. Each leaf can produce many children, so I just leave them to grow and grow until they fill up their space. I've had as many as 10 baby plants off one mother leaf. Once you take out the mother leaf to separate the babies, you'll often find babies that haven't emerged yet ... so it's always exciting! The little plants stay with the mother leaf until they are about the size of a nickel. At that point they are generally strong enough to survive on their own and they get put into little thumb sized pots by themselves ... that's when the plant rack really looks like a plant nursery ... Of the 64 leaves I started, I've only lost two, which is a good success rate!

Stopped in at the garden center yesterday to pick up some spray calcium for the tomatoes (blossom end rot .. ugh) and they had a whole stand of little violets outside looking hot and tired and pretty sad. Well, what a bonanza they were!! All named violets! I picked up a few and then thought they were such a great deal that we went back for more. So I have 8 more little violet children to add to my collection! Today I have to spend some time organizing them on the plant stand. They sure love this hot humid weather in Virginia!