This is what it looks like now. I wish I knew it's name. The underside of the leaves is more pink than red, and coordinates well with the blossom color. I love it!

Sue

Wow! What a drastic recovery!

Well done!
I am not current on all the optimara pinks, but there is a group on facebook that "specializes" in identifying optimaras (African Violet ID). Maybe you'll have some luck there :-)

Karin

WOW!
Tell me, Where Were the Roots on Those Mouse Ears? I am used to roots growing in soil or water but where in the world were the roots growing on that leaf? The mouse ears look like air plants. Were they equivalent to suckers and you potted the mouse ears in the same way as suckers and then the sucker/mouse ears developed roots?
Thanks for posting this. Now I will check for plantlet/mouse ears sprouting in unusual places!
The flowers are lovely.

There were no roots on the mouse ears. The only roots were on the mother leaf, so I planted her, too, at an awkward angle.

I had never seen an AV baby grow like this before, and I enjoyed the experience. It was fun to share it on this forum.

Thanks for your comments.

Sue

Thanks for the update, Sue!
Theoretically, a new plant can sprout from any cell on a leaf, especially an Optimara. hat is how some commercial growers produce masses of violets. it is called meristem propagation. A Google search will show some examples.
This is for commercial growers, the circumstances have to be right, however, it is possible! Joanne

Amazing recovery!

I have been reading some of the old archives on the Houzz forum because they seem easier to access going all the way back to 2005. Back then, there was a discussion about Optimara going from leaf propagation to tissue culture. I also recall more recently Irina mentioning that Optimara now uses tissue culture, although only leaf culture is what they show on their video on their website. But that is for their headquarters. Not sure what local growers of Optimara plants do in other states where they are not producing the same high volume and want to produce variety. Joanne