Hi and welcome.
It really depends on the variety and the environment.

Hope you'll stick around :)
Dora

Hi
i have several and like the last post its up to the violet i think i have all sizes and to be honest for the money it cost to have them I dont think its worth it my opinion.

I haven't found Optimaras to be expensive. Unless you ordered from them directly? When I find them around at local stores, they have always been around $5. Of course you generally don't know the name that way. My Rhapsodie Teressa used to bloom almost literally all the time, and when it was happy, EverLove bloomed a lot as well. I have a NOID that I'm fairly certain is an Optimara, and it blooms pretty well for me considering that it is in a north window in my bathroom, maybe a few times a year but for a month or two during each blooming. It would probably bloom more often in a brighter window, but I don't mind.

My current Teressa is a restart which has now bloomed for the first time, and my EverLove is adjusting to being converted to wick watering and moved. I also have Martinique, Jamaica, and Maui approaching blooming size. Jamaica and Maui still need to be converted to wick watering. Once everything falls into place and they start blooming, I can share my experience as to how often these particular varieties bloom. From my experience in general with Optimaras so far, though, when they are happy, they are almost constantly in bloom.

Juliebees,
It's unfortunate that you haven't found the expense/investment to be worth the payoff/return.

While there is a cost associated with any hobby or interest, perhaps we could help share some tips that could help to cut down the outgoing?

Dora

I agree that purchasing Optimaras from Selective Gardener can be a little costly, however if you go to Home Depot or Lowes or Walmmart you can usually snag a plant for under three dollars. I have even seen them selling for $1.79 and when they are going out of bloom usually u can get them for even less.
Fred in NJ

Oh please don't get me wrong i have bought some from lowes ad home depot also from the optimaras web site and i will say thy seem to have strong leaves and bloom a lot through the year but as far as there beauty I seem to always go back to the buckeyes, or the Ma's to me the verity is just not that many to choose from in the Opti. now I found a seller in or very close to my state and I buy from her she can get the plants to me with less stress on the violets and they are big not starter plants and she has so many to choose from thats what i been doing for the past few weeks and I am having so much fun she carries the chemieras and the pin wheals oh its christmas around here. next year I am going to try to visit her green house and man i am saving my dollars for that trip.
I did not mean i would never by a Opti. I do have about 15 of them I just have the same ones and it gets boring to have the same violet. I like spice to my girls. I do have a few secerets in growing the Opti's if you need to ask any questions I will be glad to help if I can or maybe someone else here can answer you. good luck in all and happy growing.

"a day without a violet is like a day without sunshine"