One of Irina's points is that the Schultz African Violet Food you are using ... is FERTILIZER.

It's perfectly fine to use ... in a mixture of 7 drops per liter every other time you water. I've used it myself ...

Oh.. I guess I miss understood what she said. Thanks.

I guess I write with a Russian accent ;-((...

LOL.. no worries. :)

Yup!

My opinion : Macaroni & cheese is neither fertilizer nor food.

Oh Leon NOOOOO!!!!! Macaroni & cheese (homemade ONLY) is one of the favorite things I love to make. Reminds me of my mom. And being a little girl again! Oh there I go tripping down Memory Lane again,,,,sorry. Rosie

I think the secret is in the cheese... We had Russel's Convenience in our office building - and they had ready made lunches from a local organic meals supplier - it had smoked Gauda cheese and small specks of red roasted pepper - not bell, but something very mildly hot... yum...the idea was to split it into 2 meals to get less calories... never happened though. They would only bring 2-3 boxes every day - and in 10 min they would be gone.

I don't know,,,,I have had some other mac & cheeses and they were really good also, but the one I make is my mom's recipe. Simple, quick and full of memories. Ohhhh don't get me going down that street again! Rosie

PS No peppers of anykind in my world. eeeewe!

Barbara, I think it will be very cold very soon. I heard that this morning it was -1C in Calgary (that;s about 30-31 F). My violets survived last winter because it was pretty mild in eastern Canada. In the winter of 2015, in February we never got about -30 C. That;s about 0 F for all you US peeps.

Yolanda

Nope, 0 F is about -15C. -30C is -22F.

Happens here in Denver too, in January, but not every year.

A foot from the window and an additonal light - they will be cosy.

Irina, winters here are long. Last spring, it did not get warm until the end of May. Our house is pretty small. It's about 1100 square feet. Some of the violets are in the basement. The home was built in about 1958, and we only changed one set of windows. The windows were original to the house. The people who owned the home before us -our predecessors in title - did very little to make the home better. At some point in time, some more of the windows will have to be changed. We still have an oil burning furnace for heating in the winter. It gave out on the coldest day last winter. The problems of living in the North

Yolanda

Yolanda - you are one strong lady! Since I was born in Western Siberia - I am familiar with the climate. There is a reason why people wear furs there.

My son took a job in Phoenix Arizona. Now he compains - every time the temperature is above 110F ( + 43C) he gets a persistent headache - even if he is in AC environment. And it is pretty much 4 months in a row.

Irina, I understand why people wear furs. I was told by one of my old (old in age) that we live in a strange country. It can be 30+ C in the summer, and it can be below -30 C in the winter - a 100 degree difference. But we all survive. There is always spring to look forward to.

By the way, in western Siberia, did you meet any Lithuanians? Just asking.

Yolanda

I was dating one for 3 years, but he never proposed. Rat.

Why did you stick with him so long ?

Was young and stupid ;-)).

Don't feel bad...that's all of us.

Leon, we're all young and stupid? (chuckling because I know how old some of us are). Yes, I know what you meant...but couldn't let that pass.

Not young anymore.... but wisdom doesn't always arrive automatically with age. ;-((

Irina, I know Lithuanians can be funny, weird and strange. I know because I am one of them. Being young and stupid is often what happens when we are young. It is a rule. That's why we now grow AVs.

Yolanda

Antonas could grow anything and he had a magic touch with animals... My best g-friend in Moscow was from Lithuania. My mother is an Estonian, so we both had some Baltic water in our blood and shared the love of salted herring and potato pancakes.

I'm a Polish Jew, born in Warsaw and luckily got out before the disaster. We also ate salted herring (with rye bread and onions) and potato pancakes. But those were only made on special days.

Leon -

you sure did get out on time - and many years later - you keep learning new skills and engaging in new pursuits. And this wonderful life could be lost...

Potato pancakes - latkes, deruny, draniki, bulvinial blynai in Lithuanian - is a staple kind of dish in northern Europe... Not enough pinapples - but plenty of potatoes. LOVE them. And good salted herring will go with them as well as a lox.

Here - think about a shot of a cold vodka and some herring to go.

Irina, Leon, we were always brought up a little differently. Everything was about speaking and being Lithuanian. We, my sister and I, were supposed to marry Lithuanian boys. That certainly did not work well - my sister married a Dutch immigrant from a large family - six boys and two girls; and I married a Polish guy. My older daughter can, however, speak Lithuanian well enough to be understood in Lithuania. My younger daughter can understand most of what is said in Lithuanian. They love cabbage rolls and the potato pancakes their Lithuanian grandfather used to make. I miss the potato pancakes.

Yolanda

It was some time since I made cabbage rolls... I think it was last month when I made
potato pancakes - they require a couple of good size potatoes, a medium coarse grate. an egg and a couple of tablespoons of flour. Salt, pepper, garlic, oil for frying. They are actually faster to cook than fried potatoes. My Estonian language knowledge was basic, and i did not have any practice for many years. My fridge smells like home-made pickles - my Mom just started another crock with cucumbers, salt solution, horse radish, dill, black currant leaves and garlic. Everything is from the garden. It cooled down here - and cukes are producing again.

Mom lives in Senior living and her neighbor lady is from Armenia. Mom picks the grape leaves for her - and she makes dolma - it is a dish similar to cabbage rolls - it is made with grape leaves to wrap the ground meat with rice.

Polish heritage here; you've all reminded me that I need to shop for a large head of cabbage for my annual batch of golabki (cabbage rolls.) I freeze them in small quantities and enjoy them throughout the year that way.

And now, Irina, you have made me long for my dear departed mother's potato pancakes, with homemade applesauce, yum! And my maternal grandmother's sweet and sour "pickles" - just paper thin sliced cukes soaked in a sugar/vinegar solution. Simple and delicious!

(With apologies to the OP Barbara - we certainly got off topic here...but food will do it every time! ;-))

Gołąbki actually means "pigeons". But it's used for cabbage rolls.

Ok,,,ok,,I have been silent as long as possible. As long as we are off topic allow me to confess. I no longer have the desire to make cabbage rolls. HOWEVER,,,,,for those of us like me who love them (but too much work) let me offer this.

The amounts to use depend on your sense of proportion for the size of container, but put all of these ingredients in a crock pot or a small (or large!) roaster--chopped cabbage, diced onion, 1 cup regular rice + 2 cups water, 1 jar of Ragu (or any brand/type of tomato sauce), small can of diced tomatoes or chop fresh tomatoes (optional but I add one or the other to mine), diced green pepper and ground beef (already browned and drained of grease). If there is anything else you add to your cabbage rolls it goes in the cooker as well. Seasonings added of course also.

Stir everything up and cook until tender and rice is done. I do stir about every 1/2 hour. And it tastes the same. Just not so time consuming,,, even though you have to cut up veggies! Ok,,food is great but my next post will be about violets!!!!! Rosie

The cabbage rolls in Russian - will be "golubtsy" - same root as in Polish - pigeons.

Large cabbage leaves, slice the center vein off to make them more flexible, blanch them in a boiling water to soften up a bit, stuff with seasoned mix of parboiled rice and raw ground beef. Sautee them a bit, put a layer of sliced tomatoes, shopped parsley and sour cream, cover with the lid and cook on a low heat for 20-30 min. Yum!

I don't know about heritage...I married a Japanese girl, and we ate just about everything. But now that I'm widowed I'm tired of cooking so I eat out a lot. Garbage most of the time but no work.

Hi Leon! Which is exactly why I found an easier way to make stuffed cabbage! Same ingredients,,,,,,so much less work! And tastes great!!!! Rosie

Hi everyone, in Lithuanian they are called "balandeliai", which is the word for more than one pigeon. I have seen the suggestion to use savoy cabbage, which has more pliable leaves. I did that once and the cabbage rolls were devoured by the kids and the Polish husband. Try savoy cabbage for the cabbage rolls.

Just a suggestion.

Yolaand

Ok. I'd like to take back my post and get back to talking about my African Violets. Here is a picture of what they look like now. I trimmed off the suckers and they look pretty good to me. I have them in the sun in the morning for about 5 hours and then I put them under a light for the rest of the day. So I think in total they are getting about 10-12 hours of light. I think they look really good and healthy. I even took some of the suckers and planted them to see if I can grow some new ones. Fingers crossed!! :)

Here! Here! Back to violets sounds good to me. Yep your plants look as though they are doing well! They are very pretty. You are lucky,,,,my Walmarts never, that I can see, gets in violets. In fact their plant department is pretty sad. But good luck with yours! They should be just fine! BTW do you know if Walmart carries Optimaras? I know Lowe's and Meijer do. Rosie

GOOD JOB! Very healthy looking plants.

Hey there! I'm a newbie to AV and started reading this thread. Just wanted to comment that one of the Walmarts near me sell Optimara violets. I have 3 Violet's from Optimara but they aren't labeled with the specific name. Am I missing something on the label?

Welcome to the world of Optimaras. They stopped labeling their plants several years ago. ;-((. It is good to start with Optimaras - they are tough, reslilent plants. Cast Iron. When you get more experience growing them - you will graduate to the fussy named plants.

Hi Patty and welcome! Yeah our Walmarts doesn't sell them. I think I have only seen them a couple times in our store and honestly that plant dep't. is the pits. Anyway, as Irina said, if you go to Tennessee and buy your violet directly from Optimara they will grace you with a tag. And a higher price probably. I will not get on my soapbox about this again. I ranted in past posts.

But when you gain experience with Optimara's, go to their site. They have plant identification and you may be able to figure out what variety it is. However,,,,,a plant obtained without a tag should always be labeled NOID-possibly Opt. Pennsylvania (for example). Look up past posts and you will find a lot of information! Rosie

Anyway, as Irina said, if you go to Tennessee and buy your violet directly from Optimara they will grace you with a tag.

Or .... if you buy your Optimaras from Select Gardener, where you will pay a higher price (though you should also get a higher quality plant).

If I remember correctly, Optimara stopped labeling their plants because they couldn't insure that labels wouldn't get switched once they shipped them to a retailer.

Then people would complain because they purchased a wrongly labeled plant.

For the amount of money Selective Gardener charges... you can get much more interesting violets from Lyndon Lyon... and more of them. They are commercial plants, the result of many years of a careful crossing and selection. Optimaras are the ambassadors of the African Violet Nation in our houses. It is up to us to go further and see more.

Thanks for all the input! I bought and put some leaves down from Fancy Bloomers a couple of weeks ago and I'm expecting 2 minis from Bloomlovers this week.

Good for you! BUT, now may I just add,,,,,I would like you to meet my friend, Miss Patience. I am sure you will rely on her more than you think. Whenever things are not growing/rooting etc. as fast as you would like, have a conversation with her! Miss Patience always will help! lol Rosie

Lol, yes Rosie....I'm having a hard time being patient. A watched violet never grows! I'll post some pictures of the plants I have now tonight.

I'm having a problem with patience right now too. I had 6 leaves (3 different plants, 2 leaves each) that I've been waiting on for what seems an eternity. I'm still waiting for one of them to produce. I can't wait to post some pics!

Ok just keep in mind Miss Patience is at your beck and call BUT you are the one that has to call her!!!! lol. Remember a watched pot never boils!!! Rosie

Royals fan-MO6a(6a)... here's what they look like today.. Sept 29th. They have wonderful little leaves inside the crown and they are growing like little troopers. I'm so excited. I hope to see some new flowers one day! :) I also noticed that the suckers that I repotted have started to root because when I tug on them just a little bit, they are stuck in the dirt. They won't come out. So they are rooting. I'm so excited! :)

They really look good!

Absolutely lookin' good!!!!! Rosie