Kids from St. Paul’s will be taking part in volleyball marathon

Our Prayer Group meets this evening (Wednesday) at 7:30 p.m.

This weekend, the St. Paul’s Community Youth Group will be travelling to Kitchener to participate in a volleyball marathon. We will be leaving the church parking lot Saturday at 6:45 a.m. Parents must sign an Activity Waiver. Please contact the church at (905) 859-0843 if your children in Grades 7 to 12 are interested.

Join us this Sunday (March 14) at 10 a.m. as Jeff continues the new series he began last Sunday, entitled Christianity 101: The Apostles’ Creed. This week’s message is God, In Our Image. Child care (for children five years of age and younger) is provided during the gathering and our KidzKonnection program takes place at the same time.

For more information about any of our activities or events, please contact the church or visit our newly redesigned Web site at www.stpaulsnobleton.ca

Nobleton Lions

poker tournament

Coming up this Friday (March 12) in Nobleton is the second Texas Hold-em Tournament, hosted by the Lions Club.

Registration is between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. upstairs at the Nobleton arena, followed by a 6:30 p.m. start. Buy in is $40, with all registration fees going to the prize pool. Sandwiches and a refreshment bar will be available. Rebuys are available until the first break, and add ons are available during the first break. Bring your friends out for a great night of fun close to home.

Your support is greatly appreciated by the Lions, and those who we support, in keeping with our motto, “We Serve.”

Nobleton

seniors’ activities

The winners of the March 2 euchre were Paula Lagtanville, Colleen Coulter, Annie Hill and Keith Bagley. The bid euchre winners were Herb Workman, Paula Latanville, Joe Tasca and Mary Wyatt.

The next evening euchre will be March 30 (note the change of date due to the Skating Club Carnival).

Horticulture

“Sweet violets, sweeter than all the roses . . .”

Have you seen the colourful new African violet stamps just issued by Canada Post? I’ve already used some on letters to relatives overseas who collect stamps. Unfortunately, people overseas seldom get to see our attractive lower denomination stamps and these are quite beautiful.

African violets are probably the most popular houseplant in our area. They are small, easy to care for and come in colours ranging from white, through various shades of purple and lavender blue to light pink, rose, magenta and deep pink.

I never had much luck growing these plants and really never bothered with them until I moved to the Tottenham area. About four years ago, when I was picking up roses at a nearby wholesale florist, there was a white one sitting on the counter with a “free to a good home” sign beside it. So I thought I’d give it another try. What could I lose?

I checked in the couple of houseplant gardening books I have, and both said African violets were easy to look after. Using their “info” as a guide, I placed my plant near an east window where it would get morning light and be protected from the hotter afternoon sun, as I learned African violets like bright light but not direct sun. The books said that if the leaf stems (petioles) are stretching and getting longer, or there is a lack of bloom, the plants are not getting enough light. But on the other hand, if the plants show compact hard growth or the leaves have a bleached look, they are getting too much light.

My “violet” seemed to be happy with the initial care I gave it and kept right on blooming and blooming. I learned that African violets don’t really have a particular blooming period and will bloom off and on all year long.

“Covered all over from head to toe, Covered all over with sweet violets.”

Well I was so pleased with my flourishing “violet” that I added a second plant, then a third and soon I had to install a shelf to hold my growing collection. Now I have 10. Should I try for an even dozen?

Some indoor gardeners, especially those living in apartments or those who are no longer able to care for an outdoor garden, find growing some of the many hybrid varieties of African violets, that now include semi and fully doubles, bicolours, singles with fluted petals and of course miniatures, a rewarding activity. An acquaintance of mine was asked by her neighbour if she would mind watering his African violets while he was away on holidays. She agreed, but when she went over to the neighbour’s apartment to meet her charges, she was shocked to find there were several tiered stands holding nearly a hundred plants. Talk about being “Covered all over with sweet violets.” I didn't envy her the watering job.

When watering these plants, water them well, but let them dry out slightly in between waterings. As the thick hairy leaves, which protect the plants from dry indoor air, don’t like to have water on them, I find the easiest way to water my “violets” is to put them all in a plastic tub that contains about two inches of lukewarm water and leave them to sit overnight. Next morning, I test the surface soil with my finger to see its moist, and if so, the “violets” can be put back. Every three or four a waterings, I add an African violet fertilizer, according to directions, to the tub water.

African violets are not related to at all to the violet (viola) family, but were so named because they resembled somewhat, the wild spring violets so familiar to us. But these natives of southern Kenya and neighbouring Tanzania, in tropical East Africa, are members of the gesneriad (named for 19th century Swiss naturalist Konrad von Gesner) family, which includes gloxinias. The botanical or Latin name for the African violet, saintpaulia, comes from Baron Walter von Saint Paul-Illaire (1860 — 1910) a district commissioner in the then German colony of Tanganyika, who found the wild “violet” and sent seeds of it back to his father, an amateur botanist in Germany. He could never have imagined that his discovery would have resulted in . . . “Sweet violets sweeter than all the roses” (thanks to Joseph Emmet and Dinah Shore).