i am extemely sorry but the violet is unsaveable. i feel your passion for such a long lived plant. dont woory though, if it does die i will cry with you

Is there anything I can TRY to do? I'm literally having guilt ridden dreams and losing sleep over this.

If the crown has rot, there is nothing you can do. However, if the crown (center) does not have rot and the roots look healthy:

1. Remove from that big container.
2. Get a very small pot (2" or less) and fill with slightly damp perlite.
3. Remove any bad leaves
4. Put healthy crown in perlite and put under a dome. Domes can be deli containers or you can put in a baggie of some sort as long as you keep it inflated (a straw works for that).
5. Do not fertilize.

If you can save your AV, it will not rot any further but will stay looking the same as it grows new roots.

Good luck and keep us updated.

Linda

NeverGreen -

it is a corpse. The violet should have really good drainage and lots of air in the soil. You cannot grow it in soup bowl full of muck.

Lets say - all violets you can buy - are propagated from the same mother plants - so they are all clones. The fact that this specific plant is lost - doesn't mean the end of the world - there is plenty of genetically identical plants around. So you can find the same variety or very close to what you had variety and grow it.

Growing plants is not a rocket science, you can learn. And your Mother would be proud of you if you will grow a couple of AVs really well to remember her and to remember this first plant. Read FAQs, look at AVSA.org website and get yourself a book in a library.

There is know-how to get - and most important - you treat the plant as a living organism trying to create conditions it requires. Like - if you keep fish- you will get them a nice fish tank with filter, air, light, will feed them etc. If you have a cat - you won't try to to stuff him in a fish tank, he has his own preferences and will use his claws to get out of this fish tank. Plant cannot climb out of the unappropriate environment, you need to know beforehand what it will prefer -and then watch to see if it is happy or not - so you can adjust the conditions until it is happy and growing and gratefully blooming for you 10 months out of the year.

So in a memory of the one that is lost - learn how to grow another one well.

Good Luck with Greening Your Fingers

irina

I'd definitely try to grow new plants from the leaves you removed. One for you and one for your mom. Although they won't be the original plant, they'll be copies of it and still have a sentimental value. Please don't be so hard on yourself!