Remember when... , O. T.

Joe's Pizza & Pasta Maplewood NJ

Remember when you could get Pizza by the slice?

            The lunch special at Joe’s Pizza & Pasta in Maplewood NJ has two slices and a drink for five bucks.

            When traveling on deliveries, I’m trying to be more adventurous by trying local, non-chain eating places.  With a national chain you know what you’re going to get --- assuming you like something on the consistent menu.

            With local diners you are not sure, it’s the fear of the unknown.  This is foolish to worry because independent restaurants do not exist unless they are good.  ---- Small Town U S A.

            The lunch crowd was lining up at Joe’s.  I got 2 slices with Pepperoni.  Remember the kind with the Pepperoni grease running down your hand --- delicious!

There's a new Frosted Jade in town...

Primulina yungfuensis - Original Frosted Jade

There is much interest in the species Primulina yungfuensis, first shown and distributed by Jim Roberts.  It has distinctive variegated foliage and I’ve proposed a marketing common name of ‘Frosted Jade’.

            Once I got stock established, I have propagated hundreds.  Its only weakness is brittleness --- its leaves want to snap off.  I think that it could be a stand-alone plant, promoted as Frosted Jade.

            Awhile back, I noticed a different leaf pattern----a mutation in the population of yungfuensis.  It has much more silver and is distinctively different from the original clone.

            I’ve propagated these leaves to prove that it is stable.  Once I have a group to test, I can decide about naming and possible release.

            A new Frosted Jade…

Primulina yungfuensis- New clone from vegetative mutation

Who is the Asian Violet Leader?

Asian Violet - Primulina 'Diane Marie'

            If you do a Google search for ‘Asian Violets’, you will find my Blog stories at the top of the list.

            Isn’t that wonderful!  I’m the leader of the ‘Asian Violet’ movement, bringing Primulina into the light to make the World a better place.

            As with most ‘Fifteen minutes of fame’, there is more to consider.

            If I’m the leader, where are the followers and why aren’t there hundreds of references to Asian Violets?

            If you follow Steve Blank’s framework of how to segment a market, he would call Asian Violets a New Market.

            The great thing about a New Market is that there is NO competition.  The bad part is that there may be NO customers?

Name a daylily...

Primulina 'Loki' grown by Paul Susi

If I ask causal gardeners to give me a name of a daylily, they likely will say:  “Stella de Oro”.  They won’t know that the genus is called Hemerocallis, but somehow, they’ve heard of ‘Stella de Oro’.

How did this happen?

Relentless promotion by somebody.

The breakthrough in daylilies was new hybrids that flowered more than a “day”.  This was followed by flooding the market with plants, so the story perpetuates itself. 

What would it take to make the answer: ‘Loki’, for the question:  “What Asian Violet are you familiar with?”

It’s been 42 years since the hybridizer, Walter Jablonski, released ‘Stella de Oro’.  When will everybody know ‘Loki’ as the breakthrough that started Asian Violets as a common houseplant?

Can or will this happen?  Of course, it can.  There has been enough practical testing of Primulina ‘Loki’ to prove that it is a durable houseplant with interesting variegated foliage.  It is attractive with or without blue flowers.  Peter Shalit, the hybridizer, released it as a good plant.  I believe that it is the best one to lead.

Will it?  Today, there is virtually no commercial supply.  Today, there are few commercial growers who know about this plant.  Only dedicated hobbyists have Primulina or could name a few varieties.

‘Stella de Oro’ perpetuated its popularity because it was a breakthrough---a continuously flowering hybrid.  It sells because it’s advertised as the best.  Growers produce it because it sells.

The Asian Violet, ‘Loki’, could change the future.  Like an African Violet, but better.