We love your questions!

Aw thanks, Joanne. Mwah.

I have more, wanna hear?? Heh heh. New thread possibly coming up....

Joan

Edit: P.S. What name would you suggest?? ;) General creativity invoked. :D

Of course, your posts are fun and your creativity enjoyable!

I got a charming haul today. I will post pix later or tomorrow.

J

Seriously if you don't get a name tag at the time of purchase,,,,,it will forever be a noid unless it is so remarkable that there is no doubt. Such as Opt. Smokey Mountain or something like it. And you have to pass it along or trade it labled NOID. You can say "looks like so and so" but its name will forever be NOID.

Many of the Optimaras are very close in description and color so there is no way to be sure and the only SURE way is to buy from their website. They will NOT tag what they send to big box stores. Rosie

Oooh, Damask Rose, thank you very much! No wonder I missed the identification: the Optimara picture has far less white on it, and looks like a much warmer pink. How did you spot that?? I will have to remember that the amount of pink showing on bicolors can vary with conditions. I think I saw that somewhere when I was reading about "Space violets." I have a couple of those too.

I agree about "Farrah" vs "Raspberry Whatever," lol. Oh well, plant naming. I'm sure I'll get used to it. Meanwhile I'm enjoying this plant, by any name. I look forward to when I can bring it into bloom here at my home, so the flowers and form aren't so beat up. I also lift the leaves every once in a while, to enjoy that wonderfully scarlet reverse.

Just have to say thanks again. Can't tell you how much I appreciate your help.

Rosie, thanks re the noid advice. I think I saw you write that, regarding another noid request a while back, and I do remember it.

I don't mind not having "the real thing" since I'm not growing for show. It's just... I like to ID things. Birds in my back yard. The wild grasses in my field-going-back-to-nature. All the different kinds of trees in my woods, and even in my county. I just like *knowing,* you know? It makes me feel a little closer to and more a part of my world. I thank you all for your help.

I do have some NOIDS also. And like you,,,,I grow what pleases me regardless of a name or no name!

Like you "I like to ID things"! But at the end of the day if her name is NOID then so be it!!!! lol

Glad you are just enjoying your violets for their beauty! Rosie

Joan, Optimara has a wonderful website.

Joanne

Thanks, Joanne. I went there first. :) Then over to MyViolet. Looked through all those pictures, several times. I'm now kind of wondering about a 'Farrah' ID. All the pictures I can find of that plant are much more of a two-toned pink, but no white. It might end up being "Raspberry Sparkle" after all, lol! I still wonder if maybe the websites' photos aren't quite up to date with production. I'll check back over coming months.

You're very welcome, I'm glad I could be of help! I'm not 100% certain about the Farrah I.D., so if you would like I think Optimara has a Facebook group where you can ask them to identify an AV. I have seen the violet you have at grocery stores around here; it is like a pink version of O. Lucia. Whatever the name is, I sure wish they would change it to Raspberry Sparkle! : )

Have a wonderful evening,

damask_rose : )

Hi Joan,

The photos on MyVariety are not up to date. They are a reference.

The reason is each season, what Opti releases are test-marketed so they wait to decide if they will continue them before they update their official photos. They determine whether to continue by what sells the most and they can easily reproduce.

You would need to find the list of what Opti released this year to stores and compare it to what you got.

There were a lot of pink releases this season in general in stores from other vendors.

The same could be true for Opti.

They often release several in a specific color range within each season that look nearly identical. For example, if they were experimentally growing in a specific color range for a specific year, they might offer several styles in that color range.

As Damask Rose said, there is an Optimara Facebook ID page.

They are others also that are probably not official.

Opti used to have an unofficial link on their website to let people post photos for others to compare.

Optimara releases only about a dozen, to 20 in a season, which includes new, plus some classics, plus a few random experimental unnamed ones.

The photos on MyVariety often do not match exactly, especially with two-tone or bi-color. It takes patience and a skilled eye to notice the differences.

Optimara is primarily a commercial retail seller. When they first developed AVs, they were simply numbered, some were patented. The names were developed later for marketing purposes and to encourage multiple purchases.

Most in a color range are not too dissimilar from each other. The company goes for what is "middle of the road" and primarily for retail (non-collector) markets. They can - and have - produced exotic samples, but they want to sell at a flat price. Not a range. Their strategy is for mass sales. Not exotic, unique specialties. That is probably the key difference between a large scale commercial mass-market distributor.

You will notice, they constantly improve features on the classics such as bloom count and bouquet shape and color.

Or with the lighter colors, they strive for better, improved color or consistency in

Much like the fashion

Joanne

I apologize but I’m trying to post a question to this AV group - why is “African Violets” not an option when I make a new post?

I don't understand your question. Are the words African violets the first two words???? Not that it should matter. Try again, I do think it is a little user unfriendly at times, but try again. Anyone else???? Rosie

Chris Wathen, ...

Be sure that you are in the African Violets sub-page of Gardenweb/Houzz.

Anything you post from there should wind up in the African Violet Discussion page. As you post, I think that you get the option to have your post show in any other (2) discussion pages, as well ...