African violet light blue

The first African violet I got was an unnamed variety that was called "light blue".  The plant was small and appeared to be light starved when I got it, and at the time I had never grown one.  It was in a self watering pot with a wick, which made it easy for a beginner to grow.  

African violet light blue

The flowers are double and large, on average they are roughly 5 to 6 cm across.  They are somewhat ruffled (I don't know the correct term for this). 

The colour is said to be light blue, which they kind of are.  I am told there are not many true blue flowers, most are sort of purple, and this flower probably fits into that category.  The flowers also sometimes get little splashes of pink on them, which I like.  

You will see the colour varies a bit in my photos, this is mostly due to the camera picking up the colour slightly differently.  In real life the colour is pretty consistent.  I like the colour of this variety, I think it is pretty.

This variety of African violet is a larger grower, reaching about 7 inches across.  While I don't go to African violet shows and am not really across the terminology, I think it would be considered to be 'standard'.  

The leaves can be large, the leaf stems (petioles) can be relatively long even under good light.  

Photos of two of my plants are below next to a tape measure.  While they can be a little more compact than this under higher light, this gives you an idea of their size.  Those plants are not yet flowering, but they have buds and should bloom not too long from here.

I am not a huge fan of the larger African violet varieties.  Larger African violet plants certainly look incredible, the thing I don't love is how much space they need, and how little space I have.  

I don't have a lot of room to grow these.  The space I need to grow two standard sized African violets I could grow three or four smaller varieties.  

That being said, a large African violet in full bloom is an incredible sight.  For this reason I will probably always have a few larger varieties.  

African violet comparison - large vs small

Same plants, different light, the photos don't exactly capture the colour

For me this plant is a little slow growing.  It isn't painfully slow like some other varieties, but it is not one of the faster growing varieties.  I am told by people who know a lot more than I do about African violet growing that larger flowers and double flowers use a lot of energy, and can result in slower growing plants.  

As well as being slower growing, I also find this plant slower to propagate.  Some other varieties send up half a dozen leaf babies each time I plant a leaf cutting, this variety seems to put up 3 leaf babies for me on average, sometimes I only get one plant.  The up side of this is the leaf babies from this variety are always very strong. 

Once a cutting does strike, they are incredibly simple to grow, they just take a little extra time to reach a flowering size plant.  Other people may have better luck as I don't give them ideal conditions.  

For me this variety has never produced seed.  I have attempted to self pollinate, and I have tried to cross pollinate, but each time the flower grows old and aborts.  I had one seed pod produced once, I was planning on letting it ripen but I absent mindedly cut it off before the seeds were fully formed.  I regret that, but I may get another seed pod some day, and hopefully I remember to protect that.

I have been able to use this as the pollen parent and cross pollinate other varieties.  I think this variety is lovely, and has some interesting traits, so should be able to use it to create something special in the future.

I don't have a huge number of house plants as I don't have a lot of space.  I sometimes grow some African violets outside under cover, but have to bring them indoors over winter as it gets too frosty here.  This light blue variety seems pretty hardy, it has survived some pretty harsh conditions when I forgot to bring it inside on frosty nights and during heatwaves.  While it will survive harsh conditions, they perform far better if looked after properly.  

Sometimes I sell African violet plants locally, at this stage I don't post them but this may change in the future.  I do sell African violet leaf cuttings through my for sale page, I am happy to post these.  At this stage I don't have many varieties available, but hope to increase my range as I get a few more nice varieties.  I would also consider a leaf swap if someone has a another nice variety.