Rob's Love Bite

Mac's Strawberry Sunday

Mac's Just Jeff

Mac's Black Jack

If you search for those on Google Images, I bet you could get a good idea of what they will bloom as. There was actually a thread on here recently with pictures of Mac's Black Jack. If you search for that one in the search bar at the top of the page, I bet you could find those pics. :-)

I have leaves of all of those varieties down right now... So I'm eagerly waiting to see them grow and eventually bloom. :-) Best wishes, finding the perfect red!

Thanks, I'll check those out! I guess a dark, rich red is rare color for african violets!

its not as common thats for sure! i just picked up a deep red optimara recently...it is the most gorgeous dark satin red! i have a few other reds coming along that ive seen pics of but they havent bloomed! im eager for them to grow some more, cause a deep red in real life is SO gorgeous!

George McDonald, the hybridizer of the Mac's, has done a lot of work on the red spectrum in minis. I have yet to get some more of his hybrids - for now I am waiting on Mac's just Jeff to grow up....

Karin

According to Optimara, a true cardinal red African Violet does not exist. This is as close as I have seen. It is a noid, poss O. Arizona. It has stayed small enough to fit on a narrow kitchen window sill.

I will, thanks for your thorough explanation! I was wondering why I haven't been able to find a cardinal red yet! It wouldn't be surprising if scientists one day creat a true red violet with genetic splicing. With all the genetically modified crops out there (for better or worse) adding in a true red gene for african violets doesn't seem far-fetched. I wouldn't be surprised if some of those fancy Russian/Ukrainian varieties have been genetically modified in some way. They look so different from the original wild african violets that it doesn't seem like just cross-fertilization created some of those wacky shapes and patterns.

Lyndon Lyon has a semimini called Spring Cardinal that looks promising. It has close to a true red bloom and gorgeous variegated leaves. I'm thinking about this one myself now! They are selling the plants and the leaves.

It is worth a try. Suggest you get a plant because variegated leaves are harder to get started and take a longer time to develop. Lyon's often sends a plant with a bloom so you can get an idea what it might look like. I find that a red with a variegated leaf has a greater "pop" effect and stands out better.

Regarding Russian, could be they are modified in some way as they are very different looking. There are several Russian reds that were developed much later than when I did my research. I don't have personal experience with any Russian reds. Joanne

No, you are not going to find what you are looking for. A "red" violet isn't fire engine red. You'll probably have to try several and see what you like and what grows well for you. Just Jeff probably isn't it. It can be difficult to grow well and one of its attractions is the mosaic foliage. The later the red (probably within reason), the "better" the red. Early "red" violets aren't very red at all.

You might try a Mac's if you can find one, maybe Rob's Love Bite. I had that one some years back and I did like it although it stopped doing well for me for some reason. I have Little Maya now but it's probably not the color you want. Perhaps try two at a time and see how that goes. Online colors invariably lie :) Hortense Piittman has quite a number of reds that you should try (not all, obviously). The Jollys tend to be good plants and I am now growing Precious Red but it hasn't bloomed yet. That will give you a variety of hybridizers and colors.

If they don't grow well for you, you won't like them no matter how good the color is.

Diana in PA