African Violet Breeding Plan

Hey all: I thought it would be a good idea to lay out my goals with breeding African Violets (Saintpaulia spp.)

1: Broadening the color palette

There is still plenty of room for improvement in the yellow range  Increasing the yellow pigmentation, which probably has two concurrent possible routes in African violets, has been IMO hampered by a lack of understanding of the relevant biochemistry. Stronger expression of yellows will also open the door to peach “artsy” shades in AV. Another target is developing proper russet and gray colors, as are seen in roses. As far as I know, the only really gray Saintpaulia is the lovely OGO – Dymna Khmarynka (Smoky Cloud). A wider range of puff-fantasy in these warmer shades (yellow, peach, russet) would make a splash.

(and, in theory, it should be possible to make a pelargonidin orange African violet, right?)

2: Better wasps

There is a subset of the wasp African violets where all petals are fashioned into tubes, sort of like the spooned chrysanthemums. Getting this petal structure on larger, neater blooms would be very attractive.

3: Species introgression

There could still be plenty of interesting traits lurking in the species, as well as improved vigour. Especially novel foliage: S. velutina with its rugose and bronzed leaves, and the unique texture and petioles of S. teitensis, both have different leaf-forms that would greatly increase the interest of AV out-of-bloom.

4: New plant forms

Sort of subsidiary to the other goals, in my mind the ideal African Violet has a mass of healthy, textured foliage with a good number of not-necessarily-huge flowers held *well* above the foliage, like that of Primulina spp. While the ‘Russian’ African violets have an impressive diversity of floral traits, they seem to have rangey rosettes, and most damningly, the short pedicel and flounced petals they tend to have just looks unbearably “twee”. That, perhaps, is the overarching goal — to free them from the shackles of kitsch.