Sorry, I ment to post these in the gallery.

James-Lucky you! Mad Cat...top center, right? What color did you get from the awesome blooms? The green/red contrast is wonderful.

Cindee, I took the photo's today, it hasen't bloomed yet. I can't wait.

Great looking plants!

Great looking plants, James. I was wondering--what kind of set-up is that with the four AV's in front? Do you have them embedded in pebbles? How do you water them? Just curious to learn more about keeping them! (I'm pretty new to all of this...)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wish

Wish, It's just a wrought iron plant stand with a plastic tray filled with gravel with small plastic pots that hold the plant dixie style cups [so there easy to rotate]. Here's a pic of the pond [tray in middle blocked by pitcher plant].
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Wow! I'm drooling...I didn't realize they were suspended above a pond! What a fabulous set-up. Your plants must love it...I can only dream of something like this living in a NYC apartment...We don't have room for washing machine, let alone a pond...

Do the AV's get their moisture from the pond water being wicked up to them through the gravel?

Wish, no the plastic trey keeps the water out. I either water them from the top or pull them out and put in a trey with water. The mini's are tricky to water, there's so little potting mix in the small cups. I had a great pic last year where everything was in bloom [even the waterlily] but lost in in a computer crash. The pond is fiberglass, 130 gal and 6'x4'. Since it's indoors I keep mostly tropical fish and 2 mudskippers.

Wow James, that is some pond! Honestly I didn't even know there was such a thing as an *indoor* pond. :)

I used to have a good sized collection many years ago, since my grandmother was an avid African Violet fan and had many beautiful ones years ago, and gave me many leaves to start my own. At present I only have two varieties, neither of which has a name as far as I know. I'm just wondering in Optimara is marketing some unnamed ones these days , since in years past they always had name tags with the pots. Anyway I'd love to have more , but my indoor gardening is so varried as to what plants I grow and how many , that I really don't have room for more violets at present. Years back I did have one or two "minis" and one I was fond of was a pink "trailer" and I'm not sure the average person has ever even heard of those, though they're quite nice. I do think many of the fancier ones, need to be ordered from Rob's or another online source , since all that the stores sell in most cases is the Optimaras , which are nice enough , but not necessarily the prettiest. I'm prone to love the doubles the most and also the variegated ones. I've had those as well. Anyway I love your violet set-up!!