Question: I’ve notice that when repotting, you will remove a lot of the plant’s leaves as well as roots. Do I need to do this, and if so, how can I tell how much of each to remove? Answer: There’s no need to do this, especially when potting into a larger size pot. When repotting into the […]
Question: I just acquired a violet from a relative that had not been repotted in quite some time. As a result, it has developed a very long and twisted stem. is it possible to get rid of this awful looking stem and save the plant? Answer: Yes. Normally we eliminate a violet’s “neck” by repotting and covering […]
Question: My Columnea are never as beautiful as yours. My conditions are good, but they always look weedy and don’t bloom very heavily. What am I doing differently? Answer: Like violets and most other plants, Columnea nearly always bloom from the newest growth. This means that the more new, healthy growth there is, the more potential there is for blooming. Assuming […]
Question: How to I get Columnea ‘Light Prince’ to be full? I have a pot from a previous order that actually has some buds, but is long and ‘spindly’. Answer: C. ‘Light Prince’ is a beautiful plant, and can bloom quite heavily, but it tends to be more seasonal in nature than some of the other Columnea. We find that […]
Question: My species plant of S. orbicularis purperea is growing well, but has begun to sucker heavily. Is it best to grow single-crowned, or am I better off letting is sucker naturally? Answer: Unlike our modern hybrids, which are developed to grow best in a specific form, the Saintpauliaspecies plants can be successfully grown either single nor multi-crowned. The AVSA Master […]
Question: I’ve seen trailers described as pendulous, spreading, naturally trailing, and semitrailing. Could you tell me the difference? How should they be grown? Answer: These are terms adopted by some hybridizers and growers to describe the growth habits of trailing varieties. Unfortunately, these will differ somewhat amongst growers and catalog listings. This is partly because hybridizers don’t […]
Question: The crown of my plant stops growing and divides into 3-4 little sucker-crowns. The plant seems to be dividing at the crown and I can’t seem to distinguish which one is the true crown. I had a plant do this previously, and when the two crowns were large enough, I split them and got two […]
Question: I’d like to know why some of my violets grow by spreading out and others are growing upright like trees. These drop their bottom leaves and grow taller. Is there anything that I need to do to look after them? Answer: There are a few possibilities. If “spreading out” means that the plant is becoming wider […]
Question: I have brown scarring on the backs of my lower leaves. Why? Answer: This is a question we received by phone. We didn’t immediately have an answer until he happened to mention that he grew in clay pots, and also wondered why the bottom row of leaves was bent over the pot rims. The culprits, of […]
