Steve - I am sorry, I didn't want to imply that you do not know what minis are.I am sure you know. I copied this info just for reference. What I was saying - is the way the industry grows the plants for WM - is to grow a young plant in a very controlled environment very fast, force them all to first bloom at the same moment and sell them now. They are immature plants, plus they are jeopardised by this forcing - I presume by temperature and hi phosphorus fertilizer - that's why they have trouble adjusting afterwards. Whatever is sold in 4 inch pots - they are all standards, I am quite sure. At the same time they sell small pots (2 1/4") with minis and semis - I bought Rob's Boondoggle in Lowe's once - but again - you never know without a label - but the bloom on this variety is quite typical. Another thing I would look for - is the size of the leaf. Even if it is a young plant - the leaves on standards are ... standard size. Since WM is not known to be a super nursery - I think they can actually stick any plant into any pot and believe that it is all cabbage and roses. So - let's not argue about what they sell - they themselves do not know... Again - my apologies irina

They look lovely! However, be careful of the ones you've planted in the larger Oyama Planters. They are way overpotted (especially the one on the right) and could easily drown because the small root system cannot absorb the water fast enough. AVs should never be potted more than one size up at a time. Once my semi-minis hit a 3" pot, I just whack off half the rootball and place back in same planter with fresh soil. (You should have seen the look on Mom's face when I did that to her Milky Way Trail! LOL) You can fix the overpotted AVS one of two ways: Pot back down into the pots they came in (it was the soil you needed to replace ~ the pots were fine); or, if you have them, place in three-inch or smaller pots. Remember: Underpotting is seldom fatal; overpotting usually is. But, again, lovely, lovely! Linda

If you have had them for a year without repotting them then it's past time. I think I have read to repot them every 4 to 6 months. I have repotted violets that were blooming without too much trouble but I should tell you that I don't have very many tiny mini's so I don't really have a lot of experience with them. Good luck and let us know how it turns out. Bonny

Amanda - it is a good idea to restart your plant from time to time - it is either to start it from the leaf or even better - from the sucker. We all want to be young - but it is impossible - and we try to do our best. So - it is easy to put a sucker down and get a baby plant - and when it blooms - you can see that it is true - and chuck a mama plant. You got a young vigourous plant that will perform at its best for the next couple of years. You want to preserve the mama. Let's talk about the face lift. If you keep the plant for 5 years without repotting: it develops suckers, the mama plant looks like a palm tree with a long ugly bare neck. If you repot it every 6 to 12 months - you remove old tired bottom leaves, scrape the neck with your fingernail, cut an inch from the bottom of the rootball, scrape yucky soil from the top of it - and repot into the fresh soil and clean pot covering the neck. Put it in a bag - and voila - couple weeks later your old plant perked up after the facelift and tummy tuck. You can look at all the instructions with pics at rachelsreflections.com, But - how good it was to be young... Irina