AV;s with bell-shaped flowers are rare.

It's a more recently discovered characteristic.

Optimara has a couple of belled varieties, a blue ... and a pink.

Optimara also has the myViolet series, which, essentially, have white blossoms with a colored center. There appears to be a variety which has blooms with a red center, and plants which have blossoms with "blue" centers.

The flowers also have a kinda open belll look to them.

http://www.optimara.com/newvarieties.html

Jeff, I've been intrigued by bell shaped blooms for years and always keep my eye open for a new one. So many of the bells are semis, minis or even micro minis! Try looking through these: ebay; african violet plants; bell

I was surprised to see there was at least one red - although it didn't look very red to me. (Dale's Sleigh Bells)

Good luck with your project!

Anne

Hey Jeff, another thing you might do is switching up the theme a little and use violets with the word Wedding in their names. I don't know how hard it would be to find any of these but that would be something to research if you're open to it.

Nice list of "Wedding" !!!! As far as red, I still say Opt. Pennsylania is a good one. My favorite! Rosie

While I can understand the desire for bell-shaped flowers if this is for a wedding, I would think you might have some wiggle room and be able to also make use of Star-shaped flowers due to the patriot theme of the ceremony. Might make your task easier. Otherwise, you might need to consider cut flowers of various sorts as parts of the centerpieces.

I agree with Paul, and I remember a thread in this forum saying they had bell shaped flowers that were sorta open a little too much. So you may end up with star shapes anyway if that happens to you. Just food for thought. Rosie

Yes, a good many of the bell shaped flowers that I ran across were only bell shaped for a short period of time. They matured to a star shape. I have about abandoned the bell shape flowers idea. Im just going to go for smaller red, white and blue AV blooms.

There is no way, I am doing wedding centerpieces. This is for a patriotic celebration, sort of a civic duty. (I got hoodwinked.)

Oh, missed that...no wedding...got it.

:D

Heheh

What about 'American' AVs...

American Beauty (1403) 12/25/1963 (M. Lanigan) Double red. Plain, ovate. Large

American Dream (5088) 11/10/1982 (S. Whitaker) Single white frilled/pink shading. Ruffled. Large (TX Hyb)

American Dynamo (B. Bryant) Semidouble rose-wine pansy/white edge. Variegated. Standard (TX Hyb)

American Frills (1708) 07/08/1967 (S. Reed) Double dark pink. Glossy, ruffled. Standard

American Hero (T. Foote) Lavender two-tone frilled. Heavy. Standard (TX Hyb)

American Joy (1350) 05/16/1963 (S. Reed) Double purple. Ovate, spooned, quilted, fluted. Standard

American Maid (G. Hightower) Double bright pink ruffled/some green edge. Variegated, ruffled. Standard

American Mayfair (1709) 07/08/1967 (S. Reed) Double dark purple. Pointed, quilted. Standard

American Melody (1349) 05/16/1963 (S. Reed) Double pink frilled. Spooned, fluted. Standard

American Spirit (B. Bryant) Double wine-red/darker tips. Dark green. Standard (TX Hyb)

American Vigor (1348) 05/16/1963 (S. Reed) Double pink. Plain, spooned. Large

Americana (1595) 03/14/1966 (Eyerdom) Double light blue/dark blue tips. Medium green, plain. Standard

Aurora's American Beauty (Benke) Double red. Plain. Large

Hello America! (10051) 06/03/2009 (E. Arkhipov) Single white large star/lavender-purple splashes. Medium green, ovate, wavy. Standard (Russ/Ukr)

Hortense's Miss America (3721) 10/05/1979 (H. Pittman) Double rose/white edge. Plain. Large (TX Hyb)

Tinari's America (621) 01/17/1950 (F. Tinari) Single light blue ruffled. Round. Large

:D

Wow! 1950 for the last one. These AVs have been around, like, forever.

Well now, that is one impressive list! Rosie

Sorry, didn't mean to come across like that, wasn't looking to impress :-(

In fact it's a so unimpressive list when you think that this took all of 2 seconds to find, copy and paste. :-)

Very good d. Im afraid most of the people attending the celebration would fail to make the distinction that all the AV's had American in their name. I like AV's and I can't even do it!

I'm afraid most of the people attending the celebration would fail to make the distinction that all the AV's had American in their name. I like AV's and I can't even do it!

Then ... why put yourself out like that ?

AV's are a tougher flower to make centerpieces out of (as you need whole plants). If the guests won't be able to tell the difference between an African Violet and an Aster, ... why go to the extra trouble ?

You can make the centerpieces much more easily and cheaply by using cut flowers (lilies, carnations, etc.). Also, you could get the REAL colors you want this way.

The thing that strikes me is that all of the AV's you might use for such a project would have to be blooming all at the same time. Unless you're a florist, or have the resources of an AV nursery at your disposal, that could be a tough thing to pull off ...

Impressive in the fact that you are trying to help! ALL help usually only takes a couple minutes. I just though it was nice of you.

Aegis does have a point about everybody blooming at the same time AND looking good!!!

Geeze I wish I lived near you! I could make some nice arrangements from fresh flowers (used to work for a florist!) Carnations can be dyed, couple that with babies breath (which can also be dyed) and a few other things and you have reasonable killer arrangements! Rosie

I wish you guys lived near here too! I could pick your brains more readily!

Good question. Why do it at all. Mainly, because I said I would. Probably won't do it again any time soon though. Believe me!

Secondarily, I have quite a bit of time to work with and so while it may sound a bit uppity/optimistic, I don't anticipate a problem getting Optimaras to bloom. I have decided to use Optimaras for that very reason. I have been shopping on selective gardener website and think I have found some whites and reds that will work.

You guys are all correct though on the level of difficulty. (What was I thinking?) Shouldn't be a problem though and I only have to make three. The plants will be auctioned off for charity sometime during the event.

Thanks for all your help in this matter. I knew if there were answers, I would find them here!

Awww, come on Jeff I think it is nice of you to do. I feel (just my opinion) those that can,,,,,,, should. It's a good gesture. And as long as you have the time what is the harm <:D Will you post a pix of the final result? Rosie

PS. Ok just had a brainstorm. Picture a red Opt violet with a few sprigs of natural white babies breath and then blue (can use florist spray) sprigs of babies breath tucked in it. And then a white Opt violet with a few sprigs of blue (sprayed) and red (sprayed) babies breath. And finally a blue Opt violet with the sprayed red and natural white babies breath! I can picture it in my head. Maybe a tiny American flag in each violet and red/white/blue ribbon bow???? Oh I wish I was closer to you!!!!!

Good idea Rosie. I hadn't really given much thought to augmentation as far as color goes. It might be a good opportunity to introduce a couple of small pieces of true red and blue to go with the quasi reds and blues of the AV's.

Thankfully, I do have an artistic partner here who can assist with the fine tuning once I get all my plants and pots collected up. I will definitely check and see if we can't incorporate a few of your ideas!

Thanks Jeff, glad I could help out! You can also cover the actual pots in a square of patriotic fabric. Or just a plain white fabric, that would make the actual violet and amendments pop in my opinion. Rosie

I would recommend not using a "patriotic " fabric unless it was mostly white. If the fabric or Mylar was heavy on the reds or blues, I'd worry it would make it too obvious that the blue or red AVs really weren't.

Not a huge fan of painted flowers, personally, but incorporating cut flowers like white baby's breath or carnations (red or white) for example, could look very nice. Not sure what else might work for natural blues. Love lobelia but that tends to be a purple blue.