Looking good! Senk has another sucker coming I think. Purple NoID seems like a very good plant - in good hands of course. A Noid from the middle pic just started to open... hard to say... I can say that I like the photography.

Irina

Thanks, Senks does have a sucker but it is tight in below a leaf with a blossom stalk. I am hesitant to remove it as the sucker crown is not very big yet. Wedged in as it is, I might cause damage.

The Photography, I do not do. Here is another photo taken today of a plant I rescued in 2014. The photo was taken to update my records. I have posted pictures of this plant before. The photography is good.

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Optimara what?

Irina, First I been reading your posts about show plants with great interest. I have been so involved with basic culture, just pleased that the plant is alive, that it is interesting to study the care and grooming of beautiful that you have been discussing. It is like going up a level in thinking about these plants. Thanks for posting from and for a different perspective.

The plant is deep velvet purple/blue with a red reverse, definitely Optimara, poss Rhapsodie Evelyn. I gave it a whimsical name, Bleu Velvet.

Your plants are beautiful. The second plant looks like "The King" which I also grow.

Nope. I grow it too. Both dark purples have wrong flower shape.

The second purple is obligatory single, relatively thick petals - lots of substance in the blossoms - it is one of the state named Optimaras IMHO. The King has skinnier petals with a little frill on them and it is often comes as semi-double. The pic I made - got to much light from the top - but the color of the flower at 9 o'clock is about right.

The First Plant is named variety Senks Big Bells

The Second, unless it is Connecticut, is not Optimara. It is a lavender/lilac double with red reverse. It was in such bad shape I didn't dare wait for more blossoms to open. The roots were black mush. I wanted to see the blossoms before I decided whether to grant the plant real estate. I am short of space.The plant is doing very well after a major repot and blossom removal so when it blooms again, I will post a picture.

The Third The plant is darker and bluer than the photo although it has that light lavender cast on the back side of the petals. In some lights, there is a lighter cast to the petal face. There is an old dark purple double violet with a plain reverse (tinge of pink along veins) that is considered to be a good grower and bloomer. I will try to find the photo again.

The fourth picture I posted to show the photography is definitely Optimara, possibly Evelyn which varies from a purple to blue with red reverse. according to the light. Very outstanding single and almost indestructible so Optimara, unmistakably.

These are the last noids I am acquiring. I have a list of named varieties that I am growing out, including species and since I now have enough experience to manage a core collection, it will be named varieties only in the future.

I was talking about the fourth one - that is agreed to be Optimara. The double purple - no idea.

The second one - the one you rescued from rot - the color is kind of boring... Unless it will be stunning when opened...

Irina

I can agree that color is boring however it is small enough after a repot, hardly more than a crown, so I will give it one more chance. As you noted, I hardly gave it time to open fully.

The double purple grows so well and is of enough interest to keep for now. It does form a fine rosette and dbl/trpl blossoms.

As my named varieties grow, I will have to make some hard decisions about noids and space but they will make nice gifts.

Yup - and there is a small chance that the person who gets this kind of gift will be interested in learning how to grow them! So - you are improving the universe - one blooming plant at a time.