Yay, I have happy Harold and Tommie Lou both rooting :-)

Not too big on plain leafed varieties I noticed, barely anything that isn't variegated...

Still, this reminds me to learn a bit more history :-)

Karin

I hope all violets lovers grow at least one of the Original 10 as its important to keep our violet heritage going. I have grown Blue Boy & Neptune for years and would grow the other eight if I had the room. Blue Boy is on my top ten favorites list and is surely an important variety as I believe mutations of it produced doubles & whites, (or could have been pink.)

Its also rewarding to know that Nancy Reagan, Happy Harold, & Tommie Lou are still being grown. I recall having Top Dollar back in the day but don't know if it is still around.

TerriLou

I believe the commercial growers should keep those plants in circulation or at least, on the back shelf. I notice VB offers the old varieties and Species.

As for myself. I happen to really like Species AV's. I grow all the Species I can find because I do like the simplicity and delicacy of the flower and leaf.

I am entranced by the latest cream/pink/chartreuse variegated leaf, wasp/fantasy/sport chimera blossoming Hoop Dee Doo Latest and Greatest....

BUT..one day a simple delicate pale violet blossom will open on a simple delicate plant. It is a new morning, the dawn of a new day and the most lovely vision from the ancient old world..The Wild African Violet.

I think Tomrmie Lou, Happy Harold, Blue Boy are grown because they are time tested and people like those plants. They have earned the Good PlantKeeping Seal of Approval.

Now if I can just find room on the shelf for the wild, the old and the latest/greatest :)

JMHO

The original 10 hybrids offered by Armacost & Royston are listed as Admiral, Amethyst, Blue Boy, Commodore, Mermaid Neptune, Norseman, Sailor Boy, Viking and #32.

Tommie Lou, Happy Harold and Top Dollar are all early registered variegated plants.

Tommie Lou was registered in 1967 by Tommie Lou Ogden and was recognized as the first stable variegated plant. It was a sport of White Pride. These were much later than the original 10. Blue Boy was registered in 1948 but I suspect they were offered before registration began.

Happy Harold, Top Dollar and Nancy Reagan are all variegated plants registered and released in 1971 by Harold Rienhardt and I believe these all resulted from the same cross (Purple Gold and Tommie Lou). Top Dollar may still exist but I don't think it seems to have fared too well. I have Nancy Reagan but it seems to be running a little small perhaps some aren't. Happy Harold appears to have held up the best although it does drop.

One grows what one likes. I would like to get Blue Boy again. My tolerance for droppers is somewhat limited.

Diana

Lucky

I share your sentiments about the species violets. I grow a number of them & also appreciate their simple unadorned beauty. Although I do grow and enjoy the glamorous hybrids, oftentimes its nice to look upon what nature created before mankind made "improvements."

I didn't realize that there WERE a "top ten"... so that's cool! Thanks for starting this thread. I love learning new things.

I missed Lyndy Lou in that group of Rienhardt crosses. I have no idea what happened to that one but there were 4 of them. Someone on another group posted and mentioned it had been named for Lyndon Lyons. There's no photo in FC2.

Suyoder

The list is not Top 10..it is Original 10 hybrids introduced by Armacost and Royston as Diana posted above.

Top Dollar was an early variegated. Tommie Lou was the first variegated.

Hybridizers are confusing to me as I thought they had to be dead to be famous, like poets, but Mac is still very much alive as is Pat Hancock (Buckeye, I think.)

Sisk, which photos seem to attract my attention on the internet are hard to find and I believe she died recently as did the hybridizer of the Silver Glade plants.

Any of my information may be wrong. I know very little about hybridizing or the early history of AV's.

Thanks for the info. The Sorano family is very much alive. (Lyndon Lyon's) and there are several newer hybridizers. Jeff Smith is also very much alive, and Kent and Joyce Story. Nancy R in Canada, among others. On, and the grandsons and granddaughters or great grands of the Holtkamps all run the business. There is a NJ hybridizer., Ted K of the Jersey Series. The Cajun's series are fairly new. Ruth Bann is still alive. It is true that many others died prematurely, and unexpectedly, sadly.

kent and joyce story.... how do i find their hybrids?

It is correctly Kent and Joyce Stork. Kent has been instrumental in developing red blooms among others. Tomahawk, Powwow, and Arapahoe are a few of his reds. Most vendors carry some of his hybrids; I suspect they can be found on Ebay also.

so they dont have a website? their book was just a huge help to me. :)