Breaking into African Violet Hybridization

• theplantsensitive

After months of failed attempts, I have just discovered the existence of my first and second successful African violet crosses! As I was performing my routine plant checks, I found two developing seed pods on an AV that I pollinated about a month ago. This news is extra special because the seed parent is one of my favorite plants in my collection. I hope that I will be able to foster the pods and resulting seedlings well.

Meet the parents:

POLLEN PARENT

The pollen parent of my first AV seed pod, "Rhapsodie Michelle."
The pollen parent of my first AV seed pod, “Rhapsodie Michelle.”
The pollen parent of my first AV seed pod, "Rhapsodie Michelle."
The pollen parent of my first AV seed pod, “Rhapsodie Michelle.”

Rhapsodie Michelle (6618) 1987 (Holtkamp) Single purple two-tone. Dark olive green, plain. Standard.

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SEED PARENT

The seed parent of my first AV cross, "Pastel Princess."
The seed parent of my first AV cross, “Pastel Princess.”
The seed parent of my first AV cross, "Pastel Princess."
The seed parent of my first AV cross, “Pastel Princess.”

Pastel Princess (10833) 2016 (D. Lamphere/Lyndon Lyon Greenhouses) Single light blue sticktite frilled pansy. Medium green, scalloped, girl foliage. Standard.

Meet the seed pods!:

'Rhapsodie Michelle' x 'Pastel Princess'
‘Rhapsodie Michelle’ x ‘Pastel Princess’
'Rhapsodie Michelle' x 'Pastel Princess'
‘Rhapsodie Michelle’ x ‘Pastel Princess’

 

My goal for this cross is to maintain PP’s girl foliage and flower color, while introducing the sturdiness of RM’s bloom stalks. I’m also intrigued by the streakiness of the colors in RM’s flowers – it would be very interesting to see some of that with PP’s color. Above all, I am simply ecstatic that I’ve finally got some pods developing! Now that it’s happened once, the pairings are limitless!

I will update when there’s more to say about this cross. Until then, happy planting!

-Amy

 

4 thoughts on “Breaking into African Violet Hybridization”

  1. Pingback: Pod Progress – Plant Sense

  2. Amy, did you end up with mature seed pods? And if so, did you germinate any of the seeds to see what the offspring look like? I am new to African Violet breeding but i have been working on a few self pollinations and a few crosses. I would love to hear an update on this (even though it is from 2018)

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    1. I did, and I germinated them (see this Instagram post https://www.instagram.com/p/CBn6a7fDeto/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==), but then I moved, and many of my violets didn’t survive, including the babies. I’ve since fallen out of love with the AV hobby, but I do have more seeds stashed away in an envelope somewhere, in case I ever go back to it. I’m sorry this isn’t the update you were hoping for (it’s not for me, either)!

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      1. After rereading my Instagram posts, I realized that the seedlings in the photo I linked were from a trial-run I did of a cross I had lost the notes for, so they were just practice seeds. That means I definitely have seeds from the cross in this blog post stored away somewhere. Maybe one day we’ll get to see these babies!

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