Beautiful plant. I've got a young one now that blooms an almost solid blue. I'm hopeful that cooler temps will bring out more of the white.

Was your plant repotted with soil every year ?

Others may disagree, but I think violets just get old. No matter how many times you cut off the bottom, scrape the neck, & repot, it seems to me there is a limit. The longest I've kept a violet in top shape is probably two years, maybe a bit more. I don't really keep track. I just notice over time that both blooms & leaves are smaller and overall the plant just doesn't have the same luster. Hopefully, by that time, I have already taken leaves and a new vigorous plant is ready to replace the old.

I remember the very knowledgeable Irina, who used to post here, only kept her mature plants so long & then replaced them with young ones. As she said, they are the ones that grow & bloom best.

As far as color changes, I don't really know. Perhaps the plant is unstable to begin with or its just getting senile! Your plant was beautiful and certainly worth growing again.

Terri

Thank you both, Terri and aegis1000.

Yes, I did change the soil every year...but I have a hunch terrilou is right. It is the same in my experience. Older plants just no longer perform that well anymore. I did like the idea of keeping one plant going for a long, long time. I had even read about some old lady having kept a violet going for almost half a century...which I found incredible. I have put in leaves before but for whatever reason, the plants that I got like this don't seem to last that long - I pretty much lost them all. Now that my specialty Blue Mist is gone, I am only left with 3 sturdy Optimara violets that I picked from the store.

Hi fortyseven,

The paler flowers had appeared long before I went on my trip, so this was not a question of lesser care in my absence. The fact that I found it limp MUST have been though.

It didn't have any blooms when I returned but I remember it was already no longer producing that well before I left.

I am trying to remember whether the plant really had that blue in the picture in the beginning and I think that part of it is really just the picture. I don't remember it being quite THAT blue - rather a baby blue. But it was definitely more vibrant than what I was getting towards the end.

Oh, well...I guess I can start with the specialty ones all over again. :-)

Hello everybody, I wonder if I propagate by leave, will the blue mist flower look like the original plant?

Elsa -

Seems that this plant has some variability built into it. You start it from a leaf - and lets say - you get 5 babies. Grow them all till they bloom - and you will be able to pick one that looks the best, one or 2 will probably be solid blues and one can be totally white. You keep the best - and give away the rest as gifts to friends and relatives.

Irina,

Thanks for the advice. It seems the offspring will never be the same as the original. If I order leaves from the Africa violet vendors, will the offspring also look different?

It is always better to start from a true blooming plant. But again - grow several babies to bloom and select the best for your collection.

Irina,

Thank you.