Today I received my order from Travis' Violets - picture below :-).

Everything arrived in impeccable condition, I was so impressed with the packaging!

You could not damage those violets if you tried hard. :)

I got Tiger, Alamo explosion, Ma's second thoughts, Rebel's strawberry bite, Sugar Plum, Blue Dragon and Ness' Antique Red (who even has one bloom!).

Poor Travis explained that they had a rough year as they discovered the city was putting some kind of chloramine in the water; he mentioned that normally, his plants are of higher quality.

They all looked very nice to me, very similar to an order I placed with Lyndon Lyon about 2-3 years ago.

It is true the plants are still very young and on the fragile, spindly side - but I assume this is because they are very young and not quite established yet.

The exception was Blue Dragon that is a beautiful, strong, grown-up plant (not pictured here).

If I give them the right care, should I expect them to get stronger and sturdier as they develop? Since Travis said his plants are normally of higher quality ( can't compare myself as I wouldn't know how a plant of "higher quality" would look like at this early stage of development) is it possible these will never reach the variety's maximum potential?

Is there any specific advice I should follow to get them to grow stronger?

My plan is to leave them in the square pots they came in for now (the soil mix seems fine) until they become stronger. I wouldn't really want to do any repotting with them right now. Alternate Optimara food and Dyno Gro every time I water at 1/8th teaspoon per gallon (very weak). Take a break from fertilizer once a month or so. Place them under lights for 5 hours in the morning until the SE window gets its afternoon sun. My stand sits against this SE window so I use of combination of natural and fluorescent lighting. You can see it to the left in the picture. (The plants won't be sitting where they are in the picture :-)).

Due to some surrounding vegetation, this window gets pretty filtered afternoon light, but with these plants being so fragile I am afraid not to expose them to light a bit stronger than it should be.

Do you have any other advice that would apply specifically to these youngsters so they can grow large and strong? I especially hope I can get their stems thicker and less spindly.

Thank you all for your great advice!