So this is my first African violet. I didn't know what to do with it so I put it in the glass house. I figured it would rot outside with the high overnight dew points here in zone 10 Florida.

Looking good. They prefer the same conditions as you - so if your glass house is not getting too hot and gets a decent amount of a natural light - you are in bloom!

Okay. I bought this plant only a couple of days ago. I only bought it because I thought the white flower's green frilly picotee edges were unique. The hybrid was developed using seeds that were sent into space by NASA for six years. I don't know how much of it is gimmick but they say it resulted in desirable mutations?

Anyway I planned on keeping the plant indoors when I bought it but afterwards I remembered that the reason why I don't have any houseplants is because the awnings on my windows block all the light. I figured the second best option was putting it in the glasshouse. The glasshouse gets very bright dappled sunlight. Otherwise I'd keep it outside on the deck.

Do AV's handle mist/condescension on their leaves nearly every late night/morning well? I could put it outside under the covered deck then. It would be protected their from the frequent rains we get in summer and from direct sunlight. The temperature is very comfortable outside this time of year but summers are hot at around 93° every day.

AVs do not do well in FL in summer outside. The heat kills them. You will need to take them inside.

I guess it'll just die then. I have no place for them indoors. I guess it's just a short lived annual here

Do not let it die - pass it on to a neighbor . Bad karma - you know...

Irina, I'll see how it does and if it starts to look unhappy then I'll pass it on if I can find someone to adopt it. But many of the plants very commonly treated as annuals up north are perennial here or elsewhere. Wax begonias, impatients, moss rose, many herbs, some vegetables, etc etc, ect are all in fact perennial. I've grown many things people say won't grow here so I want to see for myself how it fares in my personal conditions. I've had a lavender plant for 3 years now even though everyone says that lavender won't grow here.

You have a lavender thumb! Yes they are perennials - subshrubs. There are some cold tolerant ones - I can grow a hardy lavender in CO. The secret - never trim it to the ground - and only remove the dead stems in spring when it greens up.

Some people enjoy the garden - and some want plants inside... I draw the line on plastic ones!!!

The Green Sensation is not one of the so called 'space violets'. I got this one by accident at Lowes last year. I bought 6 of them, at only $4 a piece! I saw a green bloom and grabbed as maybe as I could over the next few months. I am in Fort Laud. So I know the heat and rain. Can't grow them outside, maybe on a north covered porch, maybe. But pests will invade it easily.

So they SO easily grown on most any window sill here. I found out this 'Green Sensation' is a super expensive variety!! Sells for over $18 a seedling on the internet. On selectivegardener.com The blooms will last for well OVER a few months. They look fake. I lost all of them in a few months, only have one left, now for over a year, it needs a lot less water, and lower light to keep alive to keep blooming. Much easier to keep alive and in bloom, than other violets.

It never stops blooming. Where did you get yours? Was it affordable or expensive? At the website I mentioned, they have the 'space violets' as well, the 'Everfloris' brand. Expensive 'plug sized' plants. When I saw this green one, at Lowes...I was shocked, and just kept buying them over the spring/summer. IF they turn up again this spring at Lowes, I will be buying them up again. Super expensive, take a look. Try to keep it alive ,it is well worth it.

All these Optimaras originate in Holtkamp Greenhouses in Nashville TN. Selective Gardener is their division where you can buy a finished named plant even is it is not sold in the stores right now. In stores - they usually send boxed blooming plants of several different colors, no name tag. These go for $4. Sometimes you can guess what it is, sometimes not.

Space Violes are large with wavy leaves and frilly blossoms. The propaganda that they are everblooming - is just propaganda.

The only plant that is everblooming is made of plastic. Living plants come into bloom, go through it, accumulate more energy - send some more, So - there is a charm in living things, ever changing, leaves and blossoms dying, new emerging.

The plant you got is pretty tough and the blossoms are long lasting. You shouldn't have problems keeping it alive.

MY 'Green Sensation' has been in constant bloom since i bought it...and the 5 others since LAST Feb. at Lowes. Each bloom cycle overlaps the next. The blooms look almost fake they are so perfect and never turn brown, they get a little brown/limp a day or two before they go bad. Then there is another ring of blooms already starting to bloom behind the that go bad. After months on the plant. This one is 'everblooming'. The so called space violets just produce so many blooms, it seems to be in constant bloom. But 'Green Sensation' IS in constant bloom, if it is happy.

Because you keep it under Aerogrow....it is superjet charged.

Green flowers always last long - they are almost like leaves... You have your plants in a well fed, well lighted, pampered condition - and Florida's Joe is still deciding - to keep it outside, inside or just chuck the pesky thing.

PoohBear, it's from Optimara. Why do you say it's not one of the hybrids with space violet genes? Their own website says it is.

www.optimara.com/newvarieties.html

No my Green Sensation is NEXT to an AeroGrow light, and I almost never fert. it wither. BUT it is on a windowsill 8 months out of the year. When i discovered this violet in Lowes last year. I posted on HERE that I foudn this gree nviolet and asked if anyoen knew the name. I got a lot of replies and told to go to Selective Gardener and see it.

I found it at Lowes for only $4. Instead of $18 for a plug sized plant.

Someone on HERE told me this violet was super expensive and told me to go to that website selectivegardener.com to see it . I never saw a connection to the 'space violets'. There are only like 4-5 varieties of them. Then 'Green Sensation' is a separate variety. The name alone shows it isn't a 'space violet' Their names all start with 'Ever'. So it is not from the 'space seeds'.

Heck the plug plants for the 'Everfloris' /space violets are only $9-10. This one is $18. It is a different one. Not from that group of violets. I read it many times, it is not an 'Everfloris' ...that is where I read about it, and other sites, that the blooms last many months, and it almost never goes out of bloom. Thus it costs so much. But I was finding them in the trays of new violets at Lowes....for months. Then they stopped showing up.

I also stopped getting the 'Violet Barns' early warning newsletter/email, that let you know when violets were being delivered to local Lowes,....so I could go and buy fresh violets the day they arrive. No matter how many times I apply to get that email sent to me,....it stopped showing up after the first 6 months. I CALLED them, and they told me 'your on the list, you are getting it',.....I am NOT getting it, they dont believe me:(

I miss it, I cant figure out when the fresh violets are there. They only last a few days, so i cant get violets now:( I dont get that email from Violet Barn or Selective Gardener, one of them sends it,...there must be others on HERE that are on the email list. I assume??? Anyone??

Well I cant get it for some reason. So it is pure luck now IF I see a violet plant. I assume they are going to be getting them pretty soon....spring??? But I wont know when they arrive. So...my luck of getting any new unique ones ,or even plain pretty ones is now gone:( They might get a lot more Green Sensations, and I will miss them. Now that I can grow them and get them to stay in bloom, I want like 5 more:) And I want 'Hearts Aglow'.....it turned up to! Before I knew it was a brand new variety. Now i like it and want it..but...wont know when it is there.

PoohBearLvr: No, Green Sensation is not one of the seeds that orbited in space for years and it is not one of the Space Violets series, that is true. BUT if you follow Florida Joe's link and read the description, Selective Gardener clearly states (and I quote) " With the addition of Space Violet genes for continuous blooming, this variety is truly a step into the future of African Violets." So they have used the Space Violets to produce this variety - it shares their genetic make up.

And if I am understanding you correctly, you believe that Hearts Aglow was being sold at Lowes? I was not aware that Lyndon Lyon Greenhouses were supplying the big boxes these days. And Violet Barn, too? Are you positive you have the right info?

I re-read that line about Green Sensation,guess you are right. I was buying up all the Green Sensations last year and a guy there had pics on his phone of a violet he has like 8 of. I thought it was Hearts Aglow. It is another new one. It has a big red cup shaped single bloom,with a white interior. He got it at Lowes and now has like 8 of them from 1 plant. I forget its name, thought it was Hearts Aglow. It is shown on that Selective Gardeners website, but the name isnt there. Thats what reminded me of it.

That is also what I thought AnneC. Lowe's is supplied only by Optimara in Tennessee. Heck I WISH Lowe's could get things from other vendors. They are the only place in my area that sells violets beside Meijer, and they are also locked into Optimara.

PoohBearLvr I also have bought Optimara Green Sensation from Lowe's. It is distinctive and you will always know it when you see it. It has been out a few years, and it is not rare by any means. Propagates readily from a leave and just as easy to care for as any other violet. Now and again, Optimara will send some of the more distinctive violets to our Lowe's. I have picked up Opt. Rocky Mountain and Opt. Smokey Mountain, Opt. Cora, and a few others that are not the run of the mill mainstream purple or pink. It is even hard to get a white Opt. Ontario for instance, from Lowe's.

Here is a pix and information about Hearts Aglow. It is not new. Been around since 1996. Over 20 years. Boy she is pretty! Optimara can't touch her she is registered, and Lowe's only contracts with Optimara. Optimara has the big box stores kinda locked in.

Hearts Aglow (8516) 11/09/1996 (S. Sorano) Semi double fuchsia star/ivory blush. Dark green, quilted/red back. Standard

Florida_Joe, we sorta got away from your dilemma. I don't know about growing violets in Florida. True, some things we grow here are annual but in Florida that same plant is perennial! That is just the difference in zones/growing conditions. I know a lot of folks have violets in Florida, I have read about them. But if indoor growing is not an option for you with violets,,,,,then I don't know if they will do ok outside in open ground. Maybe grow them as I grow the begonias up here (s'east Michigan). Plant 'em, cultivate 'em, stick leaves in the ground near the mother plant and hope for the best? In a shady spot of course. Maybe under a small shrub? I am only guessing, as I said, have never been to Florida and don't know anyone who lives there, so I have no brain to pick! Sorry.

Now Irina,,,,,,she isn't pesky! She is beautiful!!! Rosie

Rosie, it's on a fully covered deck. It won't get any rain or hot sunlight where it's at but it will still benefit from any breeze. I took some of the soil out of the pot because I thought it was mounded up too high around the crown of the plant. I figure in a humid climate like this one it probably makes sense to have it planted high. Mealy bugs are going to be a problem in the summer here I suspect.

Well that Hearts AGlow is still a violet i would like to get. It is similar to the red with a white center one that i am looking for...it is on the SelectiveGardener website. But i keep forgetting the name,it is a bigger bloom and more defined white center..

You want it - you get it from Lyndon Lyon: http://lyndonlyon.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_2&products_id=121

When upstate NY will get warmer...

And itr will be significanty cheaper than anything from Selective Gardener.

Florida Joe's- African Violets are the hybrid Saintpaulias that grow naturally in relatively high elevation montane forests in central Africa in a dappled shade. The best temperature range for them is - my guess - 68-84F. No matter if your covered porch is shady, comfortable and breezy - it will be too hot in summer. A friend is trying to grow AVs in her back yard in Cuba.. in a shade of an old mango tree.. Some actually adjusted - they look ratty in summer - but do really well when the heat goes down. But she planted them in a kind of a rock garden - and she keeps this area moist - so they never dry up, the evaporation from the moist rocks cools the area.

Yes Irina, I'm very aware that daily summer highs in the 90 degree range isn't ideal for them. I'm very excited however to test my green thumb. I'll keep y'all posted on how it goes. It's sprouting new leaves now and it looks perfectly content as of now while the temperature range is perfect.

in the heat of summer...heck late spring, that violet will stop blooming, the crown will get super tight, and then the pest s will invade. You don't have 1 windowsill wit h6in of space to put it inside?? I have tried violets outside, thinking 'AFRICAN' VIOLETS came from Africa. So they should be able to take strong light and heat...like Africa. BUT nope!

Even in total shade outside on a covered porch, they stopped blooming in weeks, and the growth went nuts for a month or two, then the crown got so tight, leaves couldn't get through to grow. Then mealybugs got to it and that was that. Just advise from south Fla. :)

As long as it looks content it's staying outside. I guess I could put it in my bathroom window when it starts to look less than happy.

Pooh, so I was able to find it a cool spot in my bedroom but it's really cramped because it's between the window and the wooden shutters I have inside. It's the best that I could do unfortunately. I also dropped the plant by accident while moving it and broke half of it's leaves. I'm pretty angry at myself now. Hopefully it will recover quickly enough. Anyone have a heat loving flowering plant/cuttings that they may be possibly be interested in trading for this one in the future once it recovers and if it turns out to be more trouble than I'm willing to handle? I keep my shutters closed and my house dark because I find the sun here on the Suncoast of sunny Florida just unrelenting, and it's my only retreat from all the blinding light. It doesn't really make much sense to have a plant where I'd never really even get to admire it anyway. Also It seems "behind bars" now behind the shutters.