I am nowhere near an expert and it's been a long time since I grew African Violets and other Gesneriads ... and sometimes I really miss them!
I'm such a horrible plant caretaker anymore that I don't know if I'd keep them alive for long. When I grew AV's and other Gesneriads I ordered a few times from Bluebird Greenhouse in N.C. but upon googling just now it says their website is closed. I'm not sure if they are out of business or just closed for the season ... used to be their website was up and running year-round so perhaps they've gone out of business.
This is not the time of year for shipping plants, especially tender tropicals so I'd be leery of ordering during the winter months unless the vendor guaranteed overnight shipping with heat packs. I think the best vendors would refuse to ship at this time of year.
Dave's Violets always had a great reputation, they used to ship from April - October:
http://davesviolets.com/ and always offered a wonderful selection of plants and leaves.
Another place I used to buy from is The Violet Barn:
http://www.violetbarn.com/ They shipped healthy plants but they were usually quite small and had to be babied along.
One year I ordered a couple of plants directly from Optimara and they were decent size and very healthy:
http://www.optimara.com/mailor...
Although I have no experience with this vendor, I remember folks from another Gesneriad forum always raving about Gary's Out of Africa:
http://garys-out-of-africa.com... I believe they ship from April to November.
