African Violets

Some plants can be multiplied merely by poking one of their leaves into some soil. To make new plants, these so-called leaf cuttings must grow both roots and shoots. A jade leaf readily grows roots if its bottom end is put in soil that is occasionally moistened. Sometimes such cuttings just sit, making new roots but no shoots. Taking along a bit of old stem along with the leaf cutting ensures new shoots appear. African violets and rex begonias both multiply readily from leaf cuttings.

Growing things and a glimpse of the past will be available at the Culver City Plant Show and Sale this weekend. This is the 42nd year that the Culver City Garden Club, 56 members strong, has displayed and sold its plants at the yearly event. Some club members have been involved with the group since it formed. And the prices too are a thing of the past--some plants selling for as little as a quarter.

Helen Leone Mietzner, a 34-year resident of Ventura whose African violets won numerous awards, died Sunday following a brief illness. She was 90. Mietzner was born April 25, 1907, in St. Louis. She grew up in a rural part of southern Illinois, where she had what she often described as a carefree childhood. Family members recall her tales of watching the lamplighter make his rounds every evening. When she was 19, she married Edmond Mietzner, and the couple had two children.

BOOKS The craving for simplicity hits anyone with a demanding lifestyle. Dan Mack understands that, and his "Log Cabin Living" ($40, Gibbs Smith Publishing, 1999) is as much a call to relax and be more in tune with all things natural as an hommage to rustic dwellings. Mack's nicely designed book moves with ease from log cabins across the country to the homespun furniture found inside them.

People looking for others who share their interests ranging from moppet dolls to African violets, from the John Birch Society to the Ventura County Greens, can find them in a new guide at the Thousand Oaks Library. The latest edition of "Conejo Valley Clubs and Organizations," published by the Thousand Oaks Library, is available and on display. "It is a surprise to see some of the groups that we have," said Norma Callero, the library's volunteer coordinator.

Garden Jobs Gardeners in warmer areas from Pasadena to Santa Ana can plant early varieties of tomatoes toward the end of the month. 'Early Girl,' the best known, will produce into August. Coastal gardeners can also try this but only if they have a warm, south-facing spot out of ocean breezes.

Making new plants from old, or sex in the greenhouse--call it what you will, propagating your own plants is easy, fun and very rewarding. If you think it's a kick to coax a store-bought African violet back into bloom, imagine the joy of watching a plant you created from "scratch" burst forth with lush, gorgeous flowers.