I'm not an expert, but it looks pretty happy to me! :-) What kind of light is it getting?

Currently it's been sitting in my kitchen window. Bright filtered light during the day now that it's winter. Believe it's north facing

some of mine also stretch up like that, even though they are in a bright south window (with a sheer between them and direct sunlight). I have come to believe that it's just the regular growth of that certain plant.... but I also have one that was nice and compact, but in a east window it started getting leggy... so I moved it to the south window and it has started growing more compact. So this one may need more light than what it's getting... just a guess. :-)

BTW what kind of potting soil did you put it in? There's lots of opinions about what they need... but something definitely fluffy. You can buy A. Violet soil... that's the easiest way.

I will try moving it to a different window, to see if that makes a difference. I have it potted In AV soil I also added some perlite to it

I also rescued 2 new ones from the cart of death at Home Depot, couldn't help myself for $.98 I figured maybe they could be saved :) they are sad looking now a lot of leaf damage but I'm hoping once they grow out they will be great. Just reported them and have them in quarantine

Good job for rescuing them! I tried that with an orchid one time... and it was a failure... but I'd love to be able to rescue some violets! ;-) Looks like you have a good start there to the most sneaky, addictive house plants. ;-)

Orchids are my favorite!! The trick to rescuing them is to check their roots. If they are rotted its not worth it but if most or all are alive and well then it is definitely worth it. Most of the time they are water logged! I have about 15 i rescued. Get to know the person who works the garden center well and when they hit that shelf see if they can mark them down more. I think these african violets will be the death of me ; )

It needs more light. It is reaching up to the light source. Maybe since you've moved it, it will do better. Mine always liked the morning sun.

loveofbostons- i have one orchid thats happy... its a moth orchid and no matter what its either blooming or growing a new leaf! but ive pitched three other moth orchids that i rescued that juat faded away. :( and one other one that im not sure what it was. someone gave me a cymbidium orchid and its just huge and never blooms. im not sure what to do with it!!

As part of my downsizing my collection during our family's move, I gave away all but one of my orchids. I joked that whoever came to the Open House had to leave with either an orchid or an AV. Most chose an orchid, which was what I hoped. The leaves on the orchids were getting big, fat, wide, leathery, with dark red on the edges. They looked very happy not blooming. "Seen one orchid, seen them all," one person, who chose an AV, commented.

Unless you can supply your cymbidium with very bright light & cold temperatures in the fall, you may have to enjoy this orchid as a foliage plant. Ha, Ha, the person saying "seen one orchid, seen them all," has obviously never been to an orchid show!

suyoder I agree with terrilou about the cymbidium. One way to tell is by the color of the leaves. If they are dark green not enough light. I believe they should be more of a yellow green. Unfortunately in my are I can only get phalaenopsis. I love this type but am always on the lookout for others. Have no idea where to get them besides online ordering and orchid shows. Fortyseven_gw that was an awesome idea to downsize I would have loved to come for your open house!! I have to disagree with the person that made that comment and agree with terrilou again. Orchids are beautiful! And with so many different species you have never seen them all!

Where do you guys get your plants from? Local stores? Online? Any places to avoid?

Check out the orchid forum and orchid gallery on garden web! they are an awesome group!

Thanks Joanne and loveofbostons! Yes - love the open house idea, Joanne! :-)

Terrilu, I know I am breaking into an AV thread, but I can perhaps give a bit of help with the Cymbidium.

Loveofboston is basically correct, Cym's like lots of light (leaves should be rusty green color) folks in Southern California use them as landscape plants...Don't know where you are, but if a cold climate, as soon as spring allows put them out in a lightly shaded area (probably not direct sun), and feed them heavily 30-10-10 fert. Make em grow. Just as the pseudobulb (the knot at the base of the leaves) begins to mature...mid to late summer, cut off the nitrogen...0-5-5 fert. or smilar, or even no fert, and leave them out to experience some cold nights....they can take some light frost. The standards (leaves to max. 6') are most difficult to bloom. The miniatures (leaves to about 3') are easier. Some miniatures will bloom without the chill. Each new pseudobulb will produce one or two spikes of blooms in winter, then no more. Next spring it will produce new growth that will bloom the next winter. To divide the plant, carry a current bulb and about two back bulbs attachd to it into the new pot. After about three years the old bulbs are usually leafless, but they continue to store food for the plant until they dry up. Good luck.

I just came back to GardenWeb after a lonnnnnnng absence, and can already feel it coming....You folks are gonna have me growing AV's yet.

Bill

What do you grow, Bill, besides orchids? Everything, I bet! The gratification with AVs is that they bloom a lot. However, they are a bit fussier than orchids, not as tough or as dramatic as orchids, and attract bugs like bees to honey, so they have to stay indoors. Many folks on the Forum raise both. I ventured over to the greenhouse forum you mentioned, wow! Lots to digest. Joanne

Joanne, Here's the shocker.....I really don't grow all that much stuff inside. After about 2 years at the local orchid nursery, I realized there was really no future there for me, and while the friendships were still intact (they still are), I left to pursue other means of supporting my family. I sold my entire collection of plants, and for years grew nothing but a few perennial's in our large yard.

I was able to retire on SS a few years before my wife, and to keep myself out of trouble, I went back to the orchid nursery part time for a few years, and left again to be free to travel and do things with my wife.

After I retired the second time some of my old interests returned, and I set out to have something blooming in my yard every month of the year. I left the greenhouse job the second time with 4 orchid plants...each of which I had a special interest in. I still have these four plants. Last year our two boys gave us a 50th anniversary party, and used two blooming Phals. on the table with all our memorabilia. These two plants are blooming again this year.

We do volunteer work at a local opera house, and one of their donation levels gives the giver an orchid plant. That plant is again blooming, so I can say that at this time in my life I have 7 orchid plants.

There is a small hdge podge of a collection of other plants that must be brought in each winter, but other than a large Birdsnest Fern, and two Clivias (with about a dozen seeds sprouting/growing) there is nothing really spectacular.

I grew some monster AV's in the greenhouse with the orchids, and found them very easy to grow and propagate from leaves. Last winter I picked up a fallen leaf from under a grocery store display, and now have three plants growing (spank my hand, but it would have been swept up and discarded)

I found the postings about AV's from my recent greenhouse ramblings, and a couple of nights ago saw the postings about wick growing the miniatures in a canning jar with a condiment cup, and I just lit up.......I can think of some very interesting things to do along that line, so probably you "Ain't" heard the last from me yet!

I probably need to start a topic on here for "Ramblings of an uncontrollable plant nut", or something, to keep me from rambling in all the wrong topics. Oh, well, they would probably throw me off for printing such unbelievable stuff......!! I'll work on control....

Bill

You don't know me, I don't know you - but it was very interesting to read your story! :-) And the pic of the Clivia... so beautiful. My grandma gave me one that's identical! :-) I haven't come across many people who actually know what a Clivia is. I had one person ask me if mine was an amaryllis. I said, "Um NO." :-P

Welcome to the AV world again! It's rather addicting.

Hi Bill and Suyoder, That is what I love about this forum, the "serendipity" of shared topics and common interests!

Bill, I enjoyed your story. The retelling of the anniversary party is fun to read about. Glad that you have experience with AVs and find them interesting. This forum has info about hybridizing going back ten years, if that interests you. I suspect there is less to know about AV hybridizing than orchids. For one thing, AVs are relatively new compared with orchids.

I slowly acquired about sevenorchids. I have re-homed all the orchids except for one that I plan to keep.

There there are roses. We just moved into a new home that has a dozen plants, two are beginning to bloom, one red and one apricot, about the color of the orchid pictured above.

Joanne

Joanne - mmm roses. I love them but have never quite been sure how to proceed. I tended a flower bed one time that had roses and lupines together... it was the most lovely flowerbed, but all of my rose tries have ended in slug disaster. Of course, I've only tried miniatures so far. I would love to try climbing roses!

Beautiful The rose lis stunning next to the lupine. Same color as the one blooming here.

You would need to do some research to find out what kinds of roses grow easily in your zone 6b-7. Maybe start with the easy to grow red climbers or pink tea roses that develop as bushes.

I don't know about slugs, I don't recall if there was a problem with them damaging my roses. Perhaps they did, as I tried to grow fancy roses, but they would not take. We had slugs. The climbers and the tea roses were unaffected.

Maybe now that you are in a new environment, you can try roses again. If neighbors grow roses, perhaps they can advise you. I discovered that when I tend to see the same kind of plant in yards over and over, there is a reason, they grow in my zone. Joanne

you have made me add Clivia to my list of want plants !

Wow,,,,if they are spanking your hand for picking up a leaf then they have to BEAT mine to a bloody stump!!!

The plant department people at Lowes know me well,,,,been going there for years!!! They always ask if I found any good violet leaves broken off the plants! (I mean already broken,,,I would NEVER steal one off a plant) Usually I find quite a few, not only violet leaves but begonia leaves (yes they can be started also!) succulent pieces and what ever people are careless enough to break off.

One day I was there while the lady was shaping up the violets and she just kept handing me leaves as she pruned and talked to me! Sadly a lot of those baby leaves died when our furnace went out this winter.

Well today I must go grocery shopping,,,but first I will stop at Lowes to see what I can find. Wish me luck!!!!--Rosie