Im going to try to attach a photo--we'll see!

There are so many that you will never get an absolute id. However, if you post pictures there are some here that can make a pretty good guess. Plus, post closeups.

Ok, actually got a pic to download!

I was chatting with another AV guy and he was talking about sending me a few leaves from some of his plants. He was referring to them by name as though it was a known thing. I was unable to reciprocate.

In the interim, my girlfriend and I have taken the liberty of assigning names to them, primarily for the purposes of keeping track during propagation.

Thanks for the kind words about my plants. We enjoy taking care of them and only recently decided to reach out to other AV folks to see about exchanging leaves. It was at that point that we discovered that w/o an official name, nobody was interested. Sooo, now we are in the process of obtaining a few desirable "named" plants so that ultimately, we can trade amongst our AV friends. Crazy!

I hope I don't annoy anybody with my noobie plants here but I hoped somebody may be able to head me in the right direction as far as what the "official" name of some of these. They were all purchased from box stores or propagated from leaves of plants purchased at a box store. I can assume that most of these are Optimera plants. One came from a friend labeled "cool mint". Anyway, here goes. Thanks again for your help.

The "Cool Mint" looks right (I've grown it for awhile), ... and the top photo looks like Optimara MyJoy . See link below ...

http://www.optimara.com/african_violet_varieties.html

Wow, your MyJoy is pretty. I bought one couple of weeks ago. The purple part is much smaller :(.

I really like the one that aegis believes in MyJoy. In fact, your closeup is more appealing to me than the photo on the Optimara page. Why would photos offend us (lol)..we like pretty pics.

The first thing to check is whether the bloom is a star or a pansy. The plant in your first photo is a star bloom. My Joy is a pansy. I think the plant in your first photo is My Love if my computer coloring is true. My Love is kinda red violet & My Dream more blueish. I would guess Optimara Millenia for the second. Pinks are almost impossible to id and the purple double doesn't look like an Optimara to me. About all I can say about the white with blue is that it has a star bloom. It could be an Optimara with off coloring or some other plant completely.

If your are unsure or unaware, a pansy bloom has four yellow pollen sacs. A star bloom normally will have six or more. Also the petals on a star bloom are of the same size & spread out like a star pattern. On a pansy, the top two petals are close together. All of this is usually easy to determine on single flowers. . . more difficult on double flowers.

Terri

Ha! How much I don't know about these plants makes me laugh at times. Not really sure how I have managed to get this far. At any rate, great info! No, I was not aware of the pollen sac info. I hadn't noticed but now that you mentioned it I went and counted them on all my plants. Cool! That will definitely help in the future as far as identifying various flowers.

Thanks to all for the kind words and helpful info.

Just be aware that any you identify by looks only will have to be considered a NOID, no matter how sure you are about what you think the name is, and should not be traded with someone using that name unless you know that they understand that it is a NOID.

Yep. That's to bad too but I know it is the proper thing to do. Not much pressure to trade Optimaras anyway. Thats why I don't buy them anymore because they rarely come w any sort of identification. NOID's are beautiful!

Oh, I agree, I seldom bother keeping track of variety names. But then, I'm not looking to trade or to breed, so they're just to please me. Possibly just to "have" that pretty one...yes, I know shallow of me. Even when I do keep the markers, eventually if not renewed they fade out.

I keep track. I didn't use to but that was before I found out that there were other people out there like me (AV junkie) who would be willing to trade leaves or starter plants "for other named plants". NOT willing to trade for Optimaras or NOIDs. Trading is a very inexpensive way for me to treat my habit.

Love my noids but they won't scratch the itch!

Unfortunately, my love is much broader. I have quite a variety of indoor plants, about half of which are varied gesneriads and orchids, with the random fern or begonia thrown in. There there's the outdoor stuff of which I have FAR more....

So...time and desire being limited, record keeping isn't my forte.

Yikes, I am still at the juvenile stage! Hopefully I will be able to stick w my AV plants! No more space here for any further expansion!

Just as an aside note. Not that it makes anything thats been said here wrong or incorrect, but there are a few grey areas. It is reasonable to assume a given plant came from Optimara if it was purchased at a box store and the plastic pot it came in has the official Optimara sticker on it. It should also be considered reasonable that if very detailed pictures of said (known Optimara plant) was sent Optimara officials and they identified your specific plant 100% as being their "X" plant, it should be safe to assume thats what it is. At least as safe as some sort of identification that somebody wrote on a stick and stuck in the dirt of the pot.

Here is an interesting discussion with an Optimara representative on the subject of labeling ... and why Optimara chooses not to label plants distributed to the general public ....

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1664028/naming-labeling

Wow, thanks aegis. Very interesting reading. At least I am not alone in my opinion of Optima's callous response to legitimate concerns. I thought there were several great suggestions in that link. In this day and age with all the technology that exists, it is amazing that they can claim with a straight face that they cannot manage to keep track of their inventory. (Good thing for them they don't sell diamonds.)

My guess is that prior to the recent spike in the popularity of AV's, they were able to get away with it. Now, with a much higher percentage of informed persons getting involved with AV's, those folks want to know the names of their plants so they can compare and trade. I see Optimara losing a big percentage of those folks. Too bad since the Optimara's are awesome plants for easy and forgiving enjoyment.

Do NOT get me started on Optimara (or any company) that refuses to label their product. The infant violet companies were BUILT on naming/labeling violets!

I can just see Levi Strauss trying to NOT label his clothing. HA! Rosie

Oops,,,PS. Your violet pix are beautiful! Good job!!!! Rosie

Hey, thanks Rosie. Cell phones are great cameras! I intend to take some more pics in the next few days. I have about 5 or 6 named plants that are just about to go into bloom cycle. A couple of them I have never seen flowers from. I'm getting kind of excited, although it's embarrassing to admit.

Awww c'mon Jeff, never worry about admitting excitement! We all are like that! Remember to let us see the new ones also!! Rosie

Everyone eagerly awaits the first flower! Just imagine if you had grown from seed (the whole voyage)...

I think we forget that Optimara's prime target is the general public not the specialized grower. The public doesn't really care about names. Someone buys a plant as a gift or just something to look pretty for awhile. When it is finished blooming, most likely it hits the trash can.

The violet collector can follow that lead to check their website for identity. Then we see all the lovely varieties and while we're there, perhaps we will check in at Selective Gardener and order a few. Clever, really.

Yes, it worked on me then. Not now. I guess theres just not enough profit margin in the AV biz to support investing in a functional administrative sales department.

Jeff,,,,they choose to have a sales department that doesn't give a tinker's darn about what will make their CUSTOMERS happy. Have you seen their operation????? Take a look and get back with me. This is no longer a mom & pop company operating a few greenhouses in their back yard.

Terri I will respectfully disagree. You cannot go to their website and "check" for any degree of certainty. Look at the other recent threads, and you will find us, the african violet serious customers, advising newbies that even if the pot has an Optimara label, you should always label it a "NOID-might be Opt. this". As has been stated, some people don't even want to trade for or put Opt. leaves in Round Robins. Why is that???? Because with no id to begin with they don't want to take a chance of passing along a misidentified plant leaf! And look at some of their color pix. Can you reeeeaaaallllyyyy tell the difference between a few of them???? I don't think so. I know I have my doubts about some of the colors and MY perception of what they are.

Do I buy Optimara's? Yes I have, because they have a few I am in love with. Fortunately the ones I love CAN be ID'd because they are that one of a kind. Opt. MyDelight, Opt. Trinidad ll, Opt. MySensation and a few more. But the mainstream Opt's???? Good luck.

Ok, I go into Lowe's. I look at all the plants (I am not just a violet person! haha). Other house plants are labeled. Outdoor plants are labeled. Rose tags say Rose Oklahoma, Rose President Lincoln, etc. Liriope is labeled as such. Hosta has a name to it beyond "Hosta"!!!! Do you think the average gardener cares what named Marigold, Hosta, Salvia, Helloborus they are purchasing??? NO! More of them don't care than do care. And these are things that will come up every year as long as they are taken care of! But the point is,,,they have real name tags that tell you all about the name!!!!! Honestly they just want to get it planted for color, landscaping etc. They are not passing them on by cuttings to the extent we are doing in basements, windowsills and any other spot we can find.

But guess what.... Optimara says African Violet. That's it. Something that they know people set up lights for, propagate, learn about with various techniques,,,,,they know we cherish and keep and trade them with our friends,,,,. And they can't give us a TAG!!!!! A lousy name TAG that can be mass produced cheaper than we can buy 100 for online!!!!! ($1.78 free ship just in case you want to know!) Who do they think they are? They are snubbing the very people that make them who and what the heck they are!!!!! They labeled them back in the day!!! I still have some of the old tags! They got too big for their britches and thumbed their nose at the very people that got them there. I don't want to hear their excuses for no label. Worker's can't read and mix them up. BULL SQUIRT!!!! Then hire better workers!!!!! NO EXCUSES!!!!

Ok off my soapbox now, not yelling at you Terri, or anyone else. I have said this very same stuff before about Optimara when this subject has come up.

This is not a personal attack toward anyone except Holtkamp/Optimara. And any other company who does this. Shame on them. I am stopping now and I will post no more in this thread with my opinion about this subject. Whew. I am done. Rosie

Holtkamp's bread and butter is the general public, who obviously don't care if they have an Arizona or a Texas, as long as they like the color.

Collectors can get named Optimaras through Selective Gardener. I've got a couple plants coming tomorrow.

Some are holding Optimaras to a standard imposed on no other AV vendor.

We aren't demanding that any other vendors sell their named plants at public venues.

And some are forgetting that Optimaras is the vendor that is most responsible for bringing us, and most other AV enthusiasts, into the African Violet fold.

I get your point and don't want to appear cavalier here but collectors could always get named plants. From Optimara and elsewhere with a little time and a not so little amount of money.

I think it's easy to get frustrated when your on a fixed income in an area where Optimara is your only choice. I have been on both sides of the fence. I understand the frustration and the options, didn't like either.

I don't approve of mean spirited criticism and hopefully did not cross that line or encourage any others to do so here. It's a sticky wicket and not likely to be solved anytime soon.

A good online ebay vendor to check out is Jack's Violets.

He always has non-auctioned violets at a discount of 10-35% and he has some nice varieties.

His offerings are starter plants, but they grow readily and I have a track record of success with his plants.

Thanks, I don't think I had run across Jacks. I am plant poor at the moment. I have no more room under light. As soon as some of these leaf trays get gone, I can add a few more to my collection.

Thank you Aegis, he is one I will make sure is on my list. I do prefer non auctions though. I just want to make and order and viola it arrives!!! Rosie