Lakeshore African Violet Society of Toronto
Violet friends in Toronto's west end
Recent Newsletters
Here are the Lakeshore African Violet Society Newsletters for the 2012-2013 season with the exception of those for April, May and June which have yet to be issued. Click on Current to see the present issue. We will develop a larger archive of past issues soon.
Includes an invitation to all members to come and revisit our annual show through a show on the silver screen of all the award-winning plants and a few informal shots of members enjoying the big spring show as well. The issue also contains an article on our annual soil-making get-together when we gather to prepare a year's supply of Fisher formula African violet soil which most of our members use. Our May mini show was a very good one and there are some photos of the winners in the September issue. Finally, one of our members had lightstands to sell as she was cutting back her growing activities and she submitted her ad and photos to the Newsletter to make other members aware of available lightstands.
One meeting per year is devoted entirely to hands-on demonstrations of various African violet growing methods and skills. While aimed largely at beginning members and anyone having problems, this is a great annual event that even the most experienced can enjoy and participate in. The issue also has some nice photos of plants exhibited in our September meeting's mini show.
Includes advance information on November's presentation "How I Grew the Best in Show". This meeting topic is an annual ritual. The person who grew the best plant in our public spring show gets a chance to share growing secrets with an enthusiastic audience. This issue also includes images from our October mini show which was an especially good mini show and an illustrated article on the New York State AVS Convention by some of our members who attended and won awards too.
Is primarily an invitation to members to attend our annual Christmas dinner, one of our two special dinners each year. Also includes a mention of new web pages covering the 2012 Joint Convention of the African Violet Society of America, Inc. (AVSA) and the African Violet Society of Canada (AVSC) in Detroit, Michigan. These web pages are in the AVSC web site and were created jointly by our Lakeshore AVS President and the Editor of Chatter, the quarterly magazine of AVSC.
Artistic design using African violets is a popular component of African violet shows. Two members were scheduled to give a talk on many aspects of the subject with some emphasis on underwater arrangements. The issue also includes an advance peek at the header of this web site which was not yet a reality.
Includes advance information on February's presentation on Sinningia, a popular and pretty relative of the African violet. Also includes an article on leaf propagation of African violets. Note that the February meeting was cancelled due to extreme weather and the presentation on Sinningia is now scheduled for the April meeting.
Includes advance information on the March presentation on characteristics of African violet plants such as leaf types, blossom types, etc. Includes an article on safe packing of African violet plants for mailing by a resident expert who has been active in mail order sales. Also includes a reply to a question on the possible usefulness of ultraviolet light in African violet culture.
Includes advance information on the April presenttaion which was scheduled to be on Sinningias, relatives of African violets within the gesneriad family. (This presentation became unavailable at the last minute and we hope tomreschedule it in the future.) It also included advance information on a presentation called "You Be the Judge". During this program three experienced African violet judges had members go through the role of a judge in an African violet show with a selection of plants that included every type that the judges would be asked to judge. The discussion that preceeds and follows is helpful to the members attempting to judge for the first time. The issue also contained a short article for judges chairs at shows on how to instruct the judges' clerks and another article on last minute grooming of show plants before entering the show. There was a report on a work shop organized by members on creating dish gardens.
The issue described the program of the May meeting which included a flashbook look at our annual show held on April 27, 2013. It also included a short introduction to a presentation on African violet genetics and the considerations for hybridizing them.
This issue is brief and mostly an invitation to our members to attend their Annual Awards Dinner. It does have some nice photos of a few of the plants at our spring show. Photos of those plants and many more will be shown greatly enlarged at our September meeting. Watch for our September Newsletter and meeting announcements. The public is welcome to attend.
This issue invites our members to attend our September 2013 meeting for a PowerPoint exhibition of the photographs of all the prize-winning plants at our society's April 2012 show. As a bonus there were also photos from the African Violet Society of America's 2013 convention show in Austin, TX and The Gesneriad Society's annual convention show held in Toronto in July 2013. The issue also contains an excellent article by one of our members on the African Violet and Gesneriad Show held annually at the Canadian National Exhibition every August.
In our October issue we invited our Lakeshore African Violet Society members to attend an event that has become an annual treat. Some of us call it "Back to Basics", others call it "Roundtable(s", still others call it "Beginner's Luck". Whatever they call it, our October meeting is always the same format. We divide those members and aguests attending into three groups. There are three tables at which more experienced members are prepared to make a presentation on one or two aspects of African violet growing. Each of the three groups gets a chance to visit each table for 15-20 minutes to listen to a presentation by the more experienced member(s) there and to ask questions. In some cases they even get a little gift at the table. It is always enjoyed by the long-time members and it is a good evening from someone new to join the club for their first meeting experience or just a visit. If you think it sounds appealing, watch for the next similar event in October next year.