African Violet Society of Syracuse

On May 2 & 3, 2009, we held our 56th Annual Show and Sale at Beaver Lake Nature Center in Baldwinsville, NY

 Today our membership has decreased to 32 members. We are a fairly small club but we have a lot of fun getting together each month to learn about the care and growing of African violets. We are always looking for new members and guests are always welcome at our monthly meetings held the 2nd Thursday of each month September thru May (April's meeting will be the 3rd Thursday this year).

We have 2 auctions per year and many interesting programs.  See our monthly Newsletter for information about the program for the upcoming meeting. At Christmas we donate to the Children's Christmas program and we sponsor a youth group each year. We also support and are an affiliate member of the New York State African Violet Society and the African Violet Society of America.

In January 2008 we had our annual  "Top Dawg" show (on left) where for fun members brought in their worst African Violets. Some of the classes were Longest Neck, Most Yellow Leaves, and Dirtiest African violet. The title of "Top Dawg" went to the  'Worst' of all the classes.

Everyone always has a great time at this event.

Barbara Ellison, at right, gave a wonderful program on Design. Each year at our annual show there are many beautiful and creative designs exhibited by our members.

See our 2009 Show Schedule for a list of the Design Classes in this year's show.

               Mary Ryan won Best In Show at our 2007 show with her perfect little African violet, Optimara Little Moonstone.

 

 Each year, as a fundraiser for our club, we sell African violets at Dickman's Farm at their annual garden show.

 Jim Wildman and Mary Ryan worked hard at selling African Violets at the sale.

Our club President, Kathy Garbarino, gave a wonderful presentation on Growing African Violets at the Dickman Farm's VaVa Bloom Garden Show

1. Trailers make great windowsill and hanging plants in your house.
2. Low maintenance and easy to grow
3. Takes a lot of abuse as far as missed watering and neglect.
4. Forms a bushy plant but will overgrow if ignored.
5. No leaf cuttings needed, just break down the plant or use the top of the crowns to get new plants.
6. You can increase the bush look by taking the crowns out so it will branch out and sucker.
7. The plant takes on a nice bush form providing there is the proper lighting and care.
8. If the plant does not form a bush or sucker, it might not be worth growing, be selective.
9. Rob packs the soil down when transplanting to keep the plant in the pot securely.
10. Mark the bottom of the pot with the name instead of using a stake so it forms a bush more readily.
11. Use a shallow pot or fill the bottom with Styrofoam or perlite to create a shallow pot.
12. Use a 6-8 inch shallow pot for most trailers that are standard in size. Some mini/semi-mini can be put in regular pots to grow into a bush.
13. Thin out leaves on trailers to let light and air inside the plant for better growth.
14. Most of all experiment and grow for fun, try a few at a time and be patient.

Ralph "Rob" Robinson of The  Violet Barn, Naples, NY gave a great program on growing African violet trailers at one of our fall meetings

At our November meeting, Penny Moore gave a very interesting and  informative program on making an Underwater Designs. Here are some of the notes from her presentation:

1)      Bring your own water from home and let it sit overnight to delete the bubbles, you can take off the bubbles with a rod of some kind but it is time consuming and dangerous to the design.

2)      Bring shears, tweezers and lots of your design material with you just in case things do go as planned.

3)      Do not put hot glue on the bowl to stick things down with, you will not be able to remove it later, use green floral clay that is sticky.

4)      Any size is good but be aware that a round bowl will cause some distortion of the design.

5)      Dark blooms and Geneva blooms is best, lighter blooms will fade very quickly.

6)      The color of a drape used for background will detract from the design due to the color and reflection.

7)      Some line material can include houseplants, ferns and shrubs from your yard. Test the material overnight to see what effect it has on the water and test a bloom to see if it holds up.

8)      You can use a thin green wire wrapped around the stem of your line material to bend it in the direction that you want it to go.

9)      Design has to stay in the bowl, cannot touch the sides or go over the top of the bowl. Keep it under the water level to be safe.

10)  Sand is a bad thing to use as it causes a dirty look and can really do the design harmful effects.

11)  Watch the color of the base materials such as marbles or rocks as it can cause a distraction from the design itself. They can cause the design to be too heavy in the bowl.

12)  You can pick up stones, marbles and other materials at you local aquarium store.

13)  Accessories can be used but the design’s line and blossom is the focal point

14)  Hide the mechanics so the design will not float and so it looks good for the judges and public.

15)  The water should be to the rim of the container, sometimes evaporation is a problem.

16)  Make the design as tight as possible; the water will cause a lift up effect on the bloom.

17)  Practice your design at home then you will not panic when you build it at the show.