I will be the pattern of all patience; I will say nothing.

After my success with Spock, my miniature African Violet, subsequent attempts at germinating more from seed were failures. In fact, out of the package of 30 seeds, Spock was the only survivor. Had I known it was so difficult to raise them from seed, I would’ve probably bought  a plant to begin with.

I’ve not always had any affection for saintpaulia, mostly because the common ones are the sort of clumsy looking, large, purple (well, violet) variety that often decorate office cubes. My dad had some in his office, but they were sort of blah as well, especially next to his gloxinia, but I suppose the appeal of these furry little fellas is that they make excellent houseplants. They can do with less light than your garden variety bloomers (ha!), and they’re not too fussy if you keep them not too warm and not too cold. I keep Spock in my bedroom where it gets morning sun and give it a sip of water every morning or so. He’s a happy little camper.

When Spock started doing well, I started thinking hey, this African Violet business isn’t so bad at all, so I set about to find them. The problem is, they’re a little hard to find. You can get them from the Osh or Home Depot Nursery, but they’re kind of beat up and sad looking. I didn’t want to order another bunch of seeds and start all over again. Besides, the seeds were like dust, and really hard to manage. Finally, I searched online and found The Violet Barn, home of Rob’s Violets. The site is pretty outdated. In fact, there isn’t even an order form. You type up your order and quantity and do your own math. They send you a note and charge you when they ship. I was apprehensive, but the prices were quite decent and they have a huge variety of violets and begonias. Not just the violet kind of saintpaulia, but they’ve blues, whites, pinks, yellows, reds, greens, semi-doubles, doubles, buttercup shaped, streaked, trailing, standard… It was too easy to get carried away.

Anyway. My order showed up yesterday, but I was out. Afraid that my plants would be deader than dead by the time I got to them, I went to the post office in the morning to pick them up. And was pleasantly surprised when I opened the box. Inside the USPS box was one of those reflective bubble-wrap bags (like the ones they give out with Royce Chocolates to keep them from melting). Inside that bag, were my five little plants surrounded by air-bags.

Each little plant was carefully slipped in plastic (to avoid moisture loss from the soil), painstakingly buffered with foam, then lovingly wrapped in paper so they could stand and not run around inside the box. Given each plant was a miniature, and no more than 2″ large, that was a lot more dedication in one package than I’ve seen in all the other purchases I’ve made online, put together.

Each little plant came out of the box just perfect! I’ve never received a plant in the mail intact that way before, in fact, most times they’re pretty beat up and take a while to recover. I think these babies will do fine in their current little pots for a while – too perfect! Anyway. They’re now sitting in my workroom window – and I can’t be happier with them. Anyway, continuing with my Star Trek theme, I named the saintpaulias Luc and Hugh. Need to name the begonias as well, and the dwarf hidcote so it doesn’t feel left out. Suggestions welcome.