I told my plant friend (who is also a singing friend) how I’ve been researching the African violets and how well the ones I have are doing, and she sent me home with a new African violet and two leaves from a miniature African violet! The collection grows!

I also found out that once a plant has lost its identity and name it is called a NOID, or No-ID. There are so many named varieties (16,000 according to the African Violet Society of America FAQ) and African Violets bloom differently under different conditions, which makes identification of a named variety impossible by visual means. A hybrid plant is named if it comes from a traceable named source. Most big box store African violets are not named, according to the AVSA. So I will be learning the descriptive terms and use those to describe my violets. I like that there are so many varieties, and they are growing well for me.