Nancy Robitaille....
The Face Behind Her Name!
Up 'til now, having a penpal was the ultimate in forming a friendship with a distance person: someone you could write to, yet not really know: how they looked, what they did in everyday living, etc. Slowly, a picture was painted with words, but there remained the barrier of distance. In the unique relationships made possible by the internet, we can come to know other violet lovers by name, and by the violets they grow.... but the www makes even more clear the one drawback of both penpals and email buddies: the lack of knowing the friend's personality, the sound of that person's voice, the rise of her voice, or the lilt of her laughter.
Nancy Robitaille is a name we see in bylines of articles in the AVM, and on many interesting posts here. We have the special treat this month of learning a bit about her life, in her own intriquing words. And we also have the old-fashioned treat of forming the mind picture of her face and her plant room, as we wait until she begins to send us some photos with her new camera.
The same eagerness with which she reads about other growers is shown in her replies to the very simple interview questions. Nancy's engaging personality radiated from every word, and this editor had a difficult task deciding which answers to include in the limited space of this page!
Nancy Vada Wilbanks Robitaille, 65, was born in Galveston, Texas, attended U of Texas at El Paso, and became a professional musician. "I have been retired from Montreal Symphony Orchestra since many years. In fact when the babies started coming, I stopped playing my music and started washing diapers. I had 6 children in 5 years, including a set of twins." Her family presents an interesting picture also: "The children have all grown up. One lives above me in our duplex. She is a photographer. Another daughter is an accountant and manager of her boyfriend’s business, And the third daughter is a doctor and has just bought a new podiatric clinic in Savannah, Georgia. One son is a computer genius and works with that; another has his own import/export business in electronics, and the last is a construction worker/waiter." Nancy has three grandchildren: two boys and a girl.
Nancy's mother was an influencing force in her life: "My mother brought me three little PIXIE BLUE s as my first plants which I promptly killed. She wanted to have a companion when she went to AVSA Conventions so I went with her to many conventions. As time passed, I became a judge and we were able to judge together both in Canada and in US. My mother purchased my first light stand to encourage me to raise violets." (Read Mom's Accidental Meeting With Violets by Nancy.)
"For a period I stopped raising violets because of illness but have rekindled interest in them and since December 2002, have accumulated about 200 varieties. I purchased leaves from Bloomlovers (50) in December then bought more leaves from a club member. Add that to the trades made from friends in different places and the collection has again resumed its priority in my life." She has also bought a second stand and "hopes to get three more from an older club member who is ‘cutting down’ on her violets."
She is a member of AVSA, AVSC (Canada), Bonsai Club, AVS of Greater Montreal, Societe de Saintpaulia de Montreal. Awards include: Jr. Queen of Show ‘Pixie Blue’ 1983 National Show, various Best in color classes, Design Classes.
"I use the usual 1-1-1- basic receipe for soil, peat moss, perlite, vermiculite plus charcoal. For many years I used Ernest Fisher’s receipe (which included loam). This soil produced lovely plants with nice heads of bloom. When Mr. Fisher died eventually the soil he was selling depleated and I began making my own soil mixing the three ingredients. I do find that using this receipe for soil makes for more watering."
"I have my future show plants on individual wicks. Other plants and leaves share community watering in each tray. This watering method could promote and/or spread certain diseases so I am not happy with this and will probably put the rest of the plants on wicks. Wicks also helps for those vacations where someone must come in to water. My containers may go for two weeks or more without replenishing."
"Since the plant room is the largest bedroom in my house (I am a widow and can do whatever I wish including sleeping in the second largest bedroom) I make frequent visits. My potting table is always in a mess. I don’t know how people manage to have all areas of the plant room so spotless. Spilt soil results in the need to buy a hand held vaccum. I have had my lights on for 10 hours a day since the last show. These hours will increase as show time rolls around again. When my next three stands are installed I am considering turning on the lights at night so the room won’t get too warm. (Neighbors may think I’m growing things the police may be interested in but at least the large picture window (full of streps and AV leaves) is always at half mast and any interested party can see what I am growing.)."
"For around $20 I purchased a little gadget which reads temperature and humidity. With this I’ve made some experiments including closing the door to the plant room which put the humitidy up to 58 degrees. I did research to find out what was the ‘best’ reading for humidity and discovered that humidity should be up to 60 degrees, so the gadget is worth the money. At least now I know what the temp is and the humidity. I have a fan in the room but intend to put an overhead fan with light to have continous air circulation. This year was the first time I’d ever experiencec mildew. This called for another research and discovery of ‘home-made remedies.’ I tried sprinkling cinnamon on the leaves of plants with mildew. This works but it also leaves a very unsightly appearance—one that is very difficult to get rid of. Lysol Spray was the answer although the spray is so cold when it touches the plant that I wonder if that couldn’t harm them in some way."
Of course one question we must ask is 'What are your favorite violets and who are your favorite hybridizers? "I prefer first of all a violet whose foliage behaves, will form its rosette and sit and wait for blooms. If you have a good basic foliage which gives no trouble you can work on making the blooms come in on time for show. I love variegated plants, most of which have very good flat foliage. My favorite color? I suspect most anything. I don’t have reds now but with the new great shades that are being developed I expect to have them. Matter of fact I don’t like red in my garden either. Only a few poppies were allowed to exist there. To me Red doesn’t go with anything in nature. My garden is Pink, blue, pale yellow and accents of white. To see those red-orange poppies come up was a surprise and a shock to the senses. I had planted white poppies." (Nancy's exhibit of Melinda (Tremblay), named for her daughter.)
"As stated previously, I do not care for wavy foliage because I can not control it. I have tried placing leaf rings on top of the foliage so it would lie flat but the leaves eventually pushed the foliage ring to the side and did just what it wanted to do—curl up and round."
"I have many favorite hybridizers. Denis Croteau is on the list. Michel Tremblay produced some real winners. Greta Durand (from my club) hybridized a few very good plants. I used to like Barbara Sisk plants but I don’t think she is hybridizing much anymore. I like the Apache and Wrangler series but don’t grow many of them. The hybridizer from South Africa who produced the Silverglades series has some very different looking violets. I am looking for SILVERGLADES APPLES, a green bloom."
"In the old days I like Granger very much. I haven’t grown much from Lyon-Sorano-Sorano but some of their recent blossoms are really outstanding. For the minis, there’s Pat Tracy, who doesn’t hybridize anymore; Hortense Pittman who has some real ‘honeys’. And of course, Rob’s (Ralph Robinson)."
What does Nancy enjoy most about African violets; what motivates her to be a grower? "My daughter says I am very competitive. Maybe that is why I take my violets to three society shows in Montreal each year. Yet the prize of a blue ribbon is not the main purpose since I often return the ribbons to recycle for another year. I think it’s the opportunity to show off the plant work you have done all year that makes me competitive."
"If I were as good a grower as some in my club, I would have 24 inch plants with 30 or more blooms all in the center with not a leaf out of place. Unfortunately, I am not consummed with the idea of getting that Best in Show ribbon so do not even try for that much perfection. I am much more laid-back (not to say lazy) about my plants. If I can get a blue ribbon for a medium size plant, I could be happy—no, no, to be honest, my goal this next year is to win Best in color for White, Blue, Pink, (maybe) Red. Now is that asking too much? Am I really competitive?"
Will she admit to making mistakes? "My biggest mistake in growing violets is treating them all the same. You don’t treat all your children the same, nor can you treat all your violets the same. Some plants need more or less light. Some balk the first day the reservoir is empty. Others could thrive for weeks with no water in the reservoir. I won’t buy very wavy leaves or plants because I know they are doomed to failure with me. I have great difficulty in growing apple-green foliage—like IRISH FLIRT among many others. I grow it as far away from the light at the ends of the light stand as possible but still have not produced a good enough plant to go to show. I wonder what natural light would produce." (Pixie Blue, grown and exhibited by Nancy as Junior Queen winner)
With no plans to 'sit still', and while keeping count on those 200 African violets, Nancy has become interested in collecting streptocarpus. "With a gorgeous Massen’s White entered in show, I said to myself, ‘ Hey, I can grow those things. And they are very pretty.’ So there was a race to collect streps as well as violets. I am hybridizing streptocarpus now and hope to come up with something really new and different—like a yellow flower with white lines—or maybe a green flower! I once had my own sinningia seedling—a pure bright red—which I gave two names; Two-Lips and Santa Claus."
Is there time left in her day for anything besides her children and her violets? "I raise a Mira puppy so must rise at 6 am to put her out. Mira Foundation gives guide dogs to blind or handicapped children. They ‘farm-out’ the puppies until 18 months then take them back to train as guide dogs. Should a puppy not be good enough to be trained as a guide dog, she/he may become a breeder. Should he/she have arthritic hips or other problems, he/she would be sold as a pet for $800."
"After the pup goes out, I go back to bed and get up at a more reasonable hour. A bit of housework follows breakfast and the opening of the computer. In spring I usually go outside to work in the garden before the sun gets too hot. (Oh, yes, we do have sun in Canada. It can get as high as 90 or more degrees.) In winter, I watch TV or visit my plant room. Generally I spend around an hour a day in the plant room rearanging the order. Recently I put all the plants in Alphabetical order! Now when someone comes here to trade with me I can find whatever they might be looking for."
"I enjoy the silence between 11pm and 3am and get an amazing amount of reading done in these hours. Computer games or responding to email also take up a few hours of my day."
Nancy's description of herself? "To describe oneself is not easy. I am overweight by about 20-30 pounds. Always dieting, but alas! No results. I am not very active outside except for gardening, mowing the lawn, playing with the pup or walking with her, etc. I am not a clean and neat freak. Dishes in the sink don’t bother me unless I’m expecting someone. I enjoy deep discussions with family members. We frequently discuss things but have never resolved items such as religion, politics, discussions of the recent war, etc. I would help family members financially until my bank account dropped to nothing, emotionally, the same."
"I had a good marriage. My husband died in 1984 and I’m not husband-hunting. I like my aloneness in which I can do whatever without consulting anyone."
"I’m nearly 65 and don’t have grey hair yet. How weird! My sisters and all my friends have grey or white hair. No, I’m not especially proud of my muddy blond hair, just sort of anxious to know when it will turn color. They say raising a large family keeps you young. Maybe that’s one reason, although I can think of instances when the family could easily have changed my hair to grey." (Above, Nancy, right, as Mei Lee Chong during her opera/operetta group's Dress Rehearsal of "Land of Smiles"/Lehar --Autumn 1990)
"I am a voracious reader and have learned a great deal about violets through the years which I believe has made me a good judge. A good judge should always try to find the good points about every plant first; then judge it with the rules set out by AVSA. It’s a two-way street; a judge should grow many varieties and other gesneriads AND he/she learns by seeing and judging other’s plants and designs." (Best of Class, Collected Tri-color Ribbon at banquet, 1989)
"One might think everything has been done in the field of violets. With micro-miniatures, YELLOW (or almost) blooms, Green edges. What’s left? Well if the hybridizers continue the way they have been going, many things are left to develop. There is a yellow violet which shows some orange color. I know someone will get into that one and bring out the orange. Wouldn’t that be teriffic! And what about scent? Several other gesneriad have scent. I don’t know the biological reasons why scent can be taken from streptocarpus and put into African violets. I assume certain gesneriads and violets are closer in genetics than humans and apes! Ten years from now there will be amazing changes in our plants. Just can’t wait!"
See Nancy's work on Our Creative Members Page
