My father has departed. These two weeks were ridiculously difficult for a variety of reasons and the difficulties continued tot he very end. Just to give you an idea, both ours and Kid 1’s cars got flat tires, so Dad had to uber to the airport, his plane was delayed by 12 hours and he is now flying to Istanbul, which is only 2 hrs from his city, but is a longer and more dangerous flight due to the mountains.
On the professional front, the audio reader is not returning our emails, so we have to move on. What is it with this book?
We are still car-less, because we have an unusual tire size and the magical delivery truck hasn’t brought the right tires yet. I could entertain you with all the weird minor emergencies that happened, but it would be too much, so let’s just say that I feel like I’ve been beaten with a sack of potatoes.
I am taking a day off. I have to.
Here are some pretty flowers instead.
For some inexplicable reason, I am able to grow African violets now. I don’t know if it’s the right window or the special pots I bought, but I ordered these guys on Amazon, I think, about a year ago and all except one are flowering. They don’t just grow, they bloom in clusters and have filled the pots completely.
Having never been able to get African violets to thrive before, I have two questions: do they come in colors other than variations of purple and should I divide them, because they seem to be too big for their pots?
Follow up question, theoretically speaking, are there are other flowers similar to African violets that I could put on my windowsill?
At least he didn’t “fix” your garage door this time? your dad sounds like an fun person to introduce to new things, everytime he visits you i look forward to hearing about it. Hope he’s safe crossing those mountains.
Don’t know squat about African violets, but most plants like room to spread right?
African violets bloom when they are pot bound. They also come in white and variegated white and purple and white and pink.
+1
I know nothing about the flowers, but they are pretty! Also, ouch on the bed things happening. Hope tired come soon and your father gets home safe. And that you are able to fully recharge!
Yes they do. Also comes as doubles and are just lovely but can be fussy. Don’t change a thing. IMHO always thought by how they grow they like to be scrunched up and snuggly.
When I read “Dad is departed”, I thought he had died. Sorry. Glad to hear it’s a plane flight instead. 🙂
That’s what I thought as well. Glad to know I was wrong.
Same I was so heart broken for you.
That’s what I thought too!! Glad it wasn’t so.
Same! I had to do a double take like whattt?????!!! But I was very happy to realize that no, he just left to go home. Whew! And the flowers are beautiful! Enjoy your day off!
They do come in white and pink as well, but don’t split them they actually prefer a cramped pot, it’s when they bloom best.
And they also bloom better if you sometimes dry them ^^
(Actually most of plants will bloom more abudantly when slightly stressed – it just takes either instinct or lots of practice to apply right amount of stress to make them bloom but not to kill them. African violetes are survivors so no need to worry to much)
So true, and if you split African violets they will just fill the the new pot completely before they start to bloom again.
I have one that has light green leaves with white flowers. The flowers have little bits of purple at their centers.
In my past experiences African violets are notoriously finicky. Transplanting them usually disturbs them greatly and will result in them not blooming for awhile after. If you are gentle with the roots they eventually recover. Once I do the initial transplant I try very hard to prevent doing so again.
Mine always did well in my kitchen windowsill. I believe there are other colors but mine were always the deep purple shown in your photos! Hope that helps!
Sorry for the parade of stress. As for the violets, they come in pretty much all the colors of the rainbow. 🙂 Along with variegation, spots, etc. We’ve really sucked at growing things indoors here until we found just the right window. Grow lights just don’t seem to cut it for really happy plants.
Is DropBox set up the way you want it? If so, please may we have a snippet? According to that post, you intended to post a snippet that day. I am having withdrawal symptoms!
Linda,
As a fellow fan, I understand your eagerness for a snippet ?. As a fellow fan I also recognize when Ilona has just come through a stressful two weeks since that’s what the post was about ?. I’m not trying to bash you, but please let us agree to give them some time to recuperate. Thank you.
Hi there, the post on 6/28/19 has a really cool fight scene! ⚔️⚔️
Hope this helps!
They come in white too, and stripes…white with purple. Being violets, they don’t really come in not-violet colours . They like tea and they don’t like getting their leaves wet. That’s all I remember. My mom grew them
My father used to divide his luscious African violets, and they seemed all the happier for it. I am no expert, but may I direct you to this internet article on the subject? (see below) Enjoy your rare day off, and best of luck withe the gardening project!
http://www.realcountryliving.com/gardening/container-gardening/dividing-african-violets/
my mother, the orchid whisperer, has her orchids in the same window as the African violets and they all seem to be happy…
I was going to mention this. If you’re doing well with african violets, you’ll probably do well with orchids. We also have some Christmas cactus (I don’t know how big your space is).
Your violets are looking amazing! If they are outgrowing the pot you should either get a bigger one for it or yes divide it up into smaller sections in multiple pots. It’s funny cause they are such picky plants and the ONLY ones that I can manage to keep alive….I kill the so called easy ones .
African violets come in white, also, and white with purple edges. But mostly every shade of purple, from royal to magenta. Geraniums are a windowsill favorite, for good reasons, but they are kind of big for my windowsills. I’ve had some success with chenille plant, but the cats won’t leave it alone. My personal favorite is Kalanchoe, which comes in many colors and blooms for a long long time. I’ve never had any luck getting them to re-bloom though.
I do agree that windowsills with flowers on them are awesome.
Sometimes you just need a day off. Nothing wrong with that all 🙂 I hope that the tire situation works out. That’s one reason I’ve made sure to have an honest-to-god-Real Spare Tire in the trunk with a 2 ton floor jack underneath.
Don’t know diddly about African Violets. They’re very pretty. Even the sickly one.
The window is probably the reason they’re doing so well. I had some orchids in different pots and most of them just eventually died. Then I got a small chest for my front entry way and I put one of the small pots with a smaller (not dead yet) orchid there for decoration. There are windows there that get afternoon sun and that orchid has rebloomed multiple times while the others just kind of sit there. So I determined that you just have to find the right window and your plants will thrive.
African violets hate having wet leaves but like their roots to be well drained and wet, i.e. flower pot inside a bowl with a little water in the bottom, don’t let them dry out. They like to be squashed in, but you can split them. You can propagate them by carefully taking off a leaf and putting its stalk in water, then plant it when it has some roots. My late Mama grew them very successfully and some of hers lasted for years. They don’t mind a bit of benevolent neglect, but will die if they dry out.
Hope your dad’s flight goes well, your tire comes in, and you get some rest ?
As some other people have said, violets only flower when they’re a little squished in their pots. That said, if you would like a bigger plant and don’t mind being without flowers for a bit, you can re-pot in a bigger pot. I don’t believe you can split them but I could be wrong.
I used to have African Violets, too, before the cats destroyed them (along with my other plants) 😉
African violets like to be root bound. If you need to divide them do so into small pots they can quickly fill. If you want to put them in bigger pots go no more than 1 inch bigger. They make special African violet food you can use. AV like to be dead headed as necessary. Don’t get the leaves wet, water from the bottom.
I wish I had family who visited. I’d put up with a few quirks and emergencies. Of course it’s easy to say when I’m safe and know it isn’t going to happen.
I have a black thumb, plants that are supposedly fool proof and unkillable have died under my loving tender care. Worst is, I actually like plants. So now I have to like them enough to leave them alone so they won’t die. Tragic really.
We do get white and red African violets here in ZA, don’t know if they are available in the US though… My mom and sister grow the white one in hordes.
Enjoy the day off, and good luck with the car troubles. We can sympathise there; 4 cars breaking down in 2 days… On holiday.
Oy.
I can relate to the flat tire. I’ve had 2 in the last 6 months, and it’s the same location on the car (back right). I have a Subaru, though, and they have full-sized spares, which I freaking love. The second flat came just a couple of months after I bought new tires, but I have 2 years’ roadside on the tires, so this second one got replaced for just the cost of labor. Stupid freaking screws. They’re out to get me.
I don’t know anything about African violets either, other than they can be difficult to grow. Glad yours are doing well.
My current crop of African Violets are doing OK. Lost one to over watering . . . grrrrr. Right light seems to be a critical factor. Lots of indirect light but only small amounts of direct sunlight. Yours are beauties!! 😀
If you need, I can demonstrate how to kill African Violets. I am the African Violet assassin.
No violet is to healthy or beautiful to survive me!
+1 Except, I’m not cool enough to have a code name. They just hide their children when they see me coming. ?
(Btw, this made me think of women from the Ghostwalker series.)
My orchids are happy in the same spot as the violet. They both like plenty of indirect light
African violets need the right light, my townhouse faces north/south and I cannot grow African violets here. My old place they thrived in a window facing East. My mom and great aunt used to get new plants by suspending a leaf stem end down over a juice glass. Once it had rootlets they’d transplant it. Every time one got a new colour or leaf they’d “share” with the other by rooting a cutting. We had white, pinks shading into purple, and a white one with purple edges.
Yes, I thought there was a way to do this. I think I’ve seen my sister sit a leaf on the edge of a saucer, so that the stem would be in the water. Just keep refilling that saucer as needed until it has healthy roots.
It seems to me from watching my sisters that once you find a place where African Violets thrive, you almost can’t kill them off! I’ve never tried.
There are other colours such as pale pink but not so many colours as roses, I think you have the best colours already.
They like to be pot bound. The pot diameter should be 1/3rd of the diameter of the leaves from the furthest 2 leaves. Don’t pot on more than once or twice a year and if you go up in pot size don’t make it roomy. If you pick off the dying blooms it encourages the plants to keep flowering.
You can use plant feed to perk up your violets, a specialist one isn’t required.
Water with room temperature water that is a couple of days old, from the base not the top so you don’t get spots on the leaves. Let the soil dry out completely before watering again. Don’t let them standing the water too long as a complete soak can rot the roots.
A window spot is ideal for lighting but if the sun hits the window directly move the plants a meter from the window ledge.
P.S. My African Violets, rescues from the bargain area for last year’s plants in a local garden centre are called Droopy and Why The F””” Wont You Grow Flowers!
Enjoy the day off. My daughter has been growing succulents and houseplants the last couple of years. They seem pretty hardy plus she has been taking them back and forth to school. So that would be my recommendation for plants.
What a nasty couple of weeks. Enjoy the day off. African violets come in shades of pink and white, too. No idea about the rest. If it doesn’t meow, bark or otherwise have fur/whiskers (hubby excluded) I kill it. So much for English green thumbs ?
Sounds like it’s a good thing HEB delivers! Hope things start running more smoothly.
Try primroses too. I find they are relatively easy and while they prefer slightly wetter soil than African violets, I’ve never been able to kill them (i.e., they must be hardy!)
The flowers are gorgeous. Does it matter why?
Relax. Take a few deep breaths. Live.
My violet is in one of the pots with the unglazed bottom that suspends into the water holding pot. I hope that makes sense. I fertilize it whenever it quits blooming. I’ve had it several years and the stem is several inches tall with a vibrant top of leaves and blossoms. It sits on top of the secretary on the east side of the condo and sometimes wears a halo of cat hair. Violets I can grow as long as I remember to water them.
Enjoy your day off as you recuperate from your trials and tribulations. It is officially July and close to Maud. Happy Dance!
I love the african violets. They’re gorgeous, and you’re obviously doing something they love. My mother used to have a bunch of them. The only issue ever came was in the summer. I would water them, accidentally spill water on the leaves, and fry them in that spot (I had to be especially careful watering them because they don’t like water on the leaves). But they were beautiful. I know many people will collect the different varieties of the plants because of the different flowers and leaf styles. But I don’t think they really come in different colors exactly. I’ve never seen a yellow or orange one. They flower anywhere from blue to pink and can have different types of white spots or all white. They also have different petal types from simple to frilly to double flowers. Lots to collect.
But another flower I love for the window sill are primroses. They’re pretty hardy and they come in all kinds of colors. At one point, I attempted my own Mendel experiment with primroses, since they’re so easy to pollinate. However, I wasn’t very good about collecting the seeds. But they still make beautiful plants.
I think the windowsill really matters for African violets. I had some that thrived due to my successful and pretty accidental strategy of benign neglect. I would water from the bottom, forget about them and then water them again when they were dried out. And I swear they really loved the indirect light.
If you have a window without direct sun, you might consider Phalaenopsis (aka moth) orchids. They are available all over the place (the healthiest most resilient ones I’ve gotten have been at Costco and Trader Joe’s but ymmv). Like most flowering plants, they’ve been forced so it may take a year to get rebloom started, and then once they get going they are insane. They are the easiest things I have ever grown – easier than succulents, African violets, begonias, ivy – they just thrive on ignored. Mine get watered maybe 1x/month, the pots are just in marble pools (bonus: marble pool is pretty!) Basically they’re air plants, so – they don’t like minerals in their water, they don’t like to be in standing water and they like a lot of humidity.
You could also try goldfish plant (super cute, my former office mate had it planted in window boxes with her African violets) and cape primrose. Gloxinia is closely related to African violets but it dies all the way back and that makes me crazy. If you can tolerate it, they’re pretty and colorful and easy. And they die back.
Anyone who can grow African violets is a genius. Mine died in droves. My Christmas cactus is thriving, however.
Which pots did you buy on amazon? I can’t find any locally. Enjoy your day off!
My grandmother always had african violets in her kitchen. I’ve never been able to grow them, but last year at a church bazaar, there was an old lady selling little cardboard cups with “starters” in them for $1… so I bought three… and spent 45 minutes getting a lesson on raising african violets.
They like to be in crowded pots (they’ll grow, but won’t flower in pots with lots of room) and they like weak sunlight so put them in north facing windows. Don’t split them, just set the leaves, dipped in root enhancer, into dirt in a small pot and let them root. They like it a little cool but not cold and not hot. They like it a little humid and don’t over water them. (To boil it down)
Mine is growing very well, tho it hasn’t flowered yet because I put it in a pot instead of the little cup it came in…
And they come in shades of purple, pink and white. Good luck 🙂
African violets like indirect light not direct light so you must be blessed with the right window situation. They also bloom best when they are crowded in their posts. My Grandmother grew them for years and now I do. All of hers were always in small pots and flowered like crazy. Mine flower quite a bit. They are mostly in purple and pinks but lots of different shades. Don’t water from the top if you can help it – water from below if possible but don’t leave them sitting in water. Water once a week unless you are really dry in the house.
Wow. Sounds like it’s been a hell of a week. On the bright side, the flowers are beautiful. I know virtually nothing about flowers. I stick to succulents from the grocery store, so all I have to do is water them. That being said, I’m guessing dividing them is probably a good idea, so they have more room to grow.
Not to be opportunistic, but are you going through ACX for the audio narrator? I’m an actress, and, if you’re back to looking for narrators, I’d really love to audition.
Enjoy the day off! Sounds like you need it!
Gorgeous African Violets!! (Gardening genes on both sides of my family, but they skipped me – I’m the “thumb of death” as far as plants are concerned….) So I admire other peoples gardens; I’m the floral “audience”. ???️?
Your dad must have nerves of steel – my mom couldn’t get my dad on a plane, except for the retirement trip to London. (They drove cross-country a lot, and once took the Amtrak to Arizona.)
I am curious…what did your dad think of those awesome front doors?! Enjoy the me time.
+1 I dream about those doors.
I am so sorry to hear that your Dad’s visit coincided with many stressful things. Hopefully things will quickly get easier for you all.
I got very excited to see you had a plant question! In terms of repotting African violets, I concur with much of the advice above: they are easy to grow if they like their location, but they do like being potbound, and, whilst repotting can stress a non-flowering African violet to flowering, those plants that are currently flowering are highly likely to sulk if repotted. So, unless the leaves of your plant start wilting, start looking very leggy or otherwise start looking unhappy, I would leave well alone in terms of repotting.
Some links on African violets (I have no affiliation with any of these):
– a good example of the range of African violet leaf, flower types and colours can be seen at this Welsh plant nursery (which, I believe, holds a national collection of
African violet) – https://www.dibleys-shop.com/collections/saintpaulia-plugs, and;
– there are some nice American resources on African violets, such as https://www.violetbarn.com/what-we-grow/african-violets/ and https://avsa.org.
Apologies for my plant geekery….
Gloxinia.
They are in the same family as African Violets, have the same velvety leaves but the flowers are larger and more bell/trumpet shaped. I have a double flowered one on my kitchen window ledge and it purple and white and has been flowering for weeks.
My violets like to be ignored. I water them from the bottom, put them in a bright window without direct sun and ignore them until they dry out again. They come in white, purple, purple-y red, white with purple ends, single and double flowers. They can be split but then take awhile to start flowering again. I have had them for years.
If you don’t mind a plant that trails a bit there is a lovely green and white variegated coleus often called “coleus oregano ” because if you rub the fuzzy leaves it smells like oregano. I have one and it is not temperamental at all being alongside my African violets.
I was going to suggest Cape Primrose (Streptocarpus) and Phaleonopses Orchids too. I found the orchids like a little more sun than the Cape Primrose. Watering from the bottom had really helped my Cape Violets flower whereas orchids don’t like to sit in water, just water once a week and allow it drain.
I love African Violets but, now that I live in Phoenix, I am not having really good luck growing them. It seems that I am not the only one having problems because they are really hard to find in local markets. So enjoy your real flowers. I will enjoy your pictures.
Now, to the part of the blog that interested me, most. The audio book of “Sweep of the Blade” still isn’t listed for pre-sale. I guess that, if you are having problems with a narrator, the reason is explained. I pre-ordered print version, but still anticipate the audio version. Please don’t give up on that. I just, yesterday, finished re-reading (audio) the whole series, so far, in anticipation of the release of the new one. I still plan on buying audio if you can get it made.
In Australia we have African Violets in purples, pinks & whites. Also miniatures. I have never seen a live red one but they must be grown elsewhere in the world as I have seen pictures of them.
Yes you can divide them but into pots smaller than the one you took them out from.
They don’t like strong/hot sunlight so in Summer move them back a bit from the window.
You can grow new plants from a leaf in water or by putting it into a pot with african violet potting mix.
There are African Violet groups in Aust and I assume there would be in USA too. It’s always fun to go to the yearly shows & sales to see and buy.
This has nothing to do with the subject but I really wanted to post this. I have been without internet access for the last four years. (If you discount occasional forays to public library.) So what do I do as so as I finally get internet? I go through the entire back log of this blog. Every single post!
Yes I am a bit strange;) but I have learned so much. And here are the top five things I have learned for this blog.
5. No matter what you do, there always be complainers.
4. Type softly or your hands will stick it to you.
3. Feed the Horde at your own risk. For your words are like crack and some of the addicts can’t handle the withdrawls.
2. The jokes on you. Best April Fools revenge ever!!!!
And the number one thing I have learned???
1. Ilona Andrews swims in awesome sauce as we all know.(Author Lords indeed!) But Ilona and Gordon are awesome sauce. You are both incredibly engaging and accessible.
I wanna be a BDH member. Please?
The only requirement to be part of the Horde (or BDH) is to read the books. Reading the blog helps to keep track of what’s going on.
I meant that last part tongue and cheeky. I forgot the :). I do in fact have most of their books and have read almost all the stories/novellas too!
Don’t forget to check out the free stuff on the menu above. Curran’s tweets. Just saying 🙂
Everyone deserves a break. As for the flowers keep them in the pot they like to be crowded. You will know when to put them in a bigger pot when they stop blooming for a long period. Then they are pot bound and you need a bigger pot. But right now they look great!
my mother used to grow violets by the bushel. The do like to be pot bound or squished, if you will. They call also be propagated by sticking a leaf in potting soil at least that’s what Ma used to do. Just snap one off and stick it in a little pot then wait.
Lucky. Usually violets are tricky to raise?! But handing one to me is basically giving it a death sentence.
I keep propagating these succulent cactus plants and they are thriving. They need water once a week, and somehow I am able to ration out water in the correct doses in order to keep them happy. Who knew.
I put a leaf in water only and that works for me.
Ok I don’t know much about flowers (so don’t hold It against me) but they look kinda like some lisianthus (eustoma) that I came across in my art travels.
I got a little flowering succulent for a couple bucks at Home Depot that’s happily flowering away on my window sill. But it looks like your African violets have much bigger blooms. My picture was too big to attach=(
I live in a two bedroom apartment and have over 200 flower pots (I am lucky to have a balcony spanning three rooms). No matter what happens in my life, when I spend an hour taking care of my plants, everything goes away and I am happy and relaxed. I also knit and have a cat. Everyone says I am the happiest person they know :))
There are over 500 colors and variants of Violets – white, pink, purple and blue in many combinations. I attached my favorite version.
I am a big fan of Dipladenia ( in theory, they are outside flowers, but they are doing great in pots in my balcony). I can also recommend Croton for their colorful leaves that come in many many versions.
Thanks for the info. I tried in NC but had no luck. I’m in VA now so will try again. It’s been my experience that flowers grow wherever they are happy.
Wow!
Crossandra (Orange) and Clivia (many colors but most common is orange)
Crossandra will bloom more or less continuously but you need to spend 5 min or so every 6 months pruning it down. Clivia is more seasonal but still long blooming.
Here is a site to see the colors of African Violet,
https://www.google.com/search?q=African+violets&tbm=isch&source=univ&client=firefox-b-d&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjfka-p7JTjAhUGPnAKHctTDogQiR56BAgEEBA&biw=1366&bih=632
I really like the solid colored ones with edged in a different color! So pretty and unique!
Seen on your link, Kathleen: How to propagate African violets. https://gardenerspath.com/how-to/propagation/cloning-african-violets/
Also lipstick plant. My mom has a gorgeous one
Some people like shrimp plants inside but I feel they are too much trouble inside due to shedding leaves so I use them as outside plants.
Also kalanchoe. I had one in my dorm room many years ago and it survived and bloomed despite massive neglect. Kalanchoe comes in pink, orange, and yellow. Maybe also red but it is harder to find. Double blossoms are prettiest but single blossoms are lovely too and easier to find
Kalanchoe are lovely plants but are toxic to both cats and dogs; I stopped planting them for that reason.
Me too. As well as poinsettias. I had to give up on pansies as my cats kept eating petals when they bloomed. Fortunately pansy petals are okay to eat.
My mother grew African violets in abundance; nothing else would grow for her. The previous suggestions are good. Indirect light is most important, well-drained soil, light fertilizer, good drainage, and non-chlorinated warm water are also important. Divide plants when they outgrow their containers and start putting out suckers
(https://crazyorganicmama.com/splitting-and-propagating-african-violets/ )
My favorite violets are the multicolored flower kind (see Etsy’s SpecialGreen store) and I love other flowering plants (from them and others), particularly the Christmas cacti and small orchids.
You definitely deserve a day off! I’m sending out oodles of positive energy your way. As for the Africa Violets, whatever your doing they look amazing. My advice is too repotted and never divided. If they are thriving you can repot twice a year.
Not only are they more apt to bloom while root-bound, there are also variegated leaf ones available out there. Have heard that you all there in Texas have access to various sources of Lava Sand, that The Dirt Doctor, Howard Garrett, promotes in his radio show(s) & column, that all plants perform exceptionally well when it’s used. May I inquire as to what ‘pots’ you got from Amazon, that promote such wonders with African Violets, or were you saying that the AVs were from A-Z?
For other plants you could always try chrysanthemums (aka mums) in the fall. If you do try them, do not buy a plant where the majority of the flowers are blooming. The plant won’t survive the potting. My parents had a yellow mum plant on the kitchen table and lasted for 2 years until my cats decided to dig it out of the pot.
For me, the ultimate flowering houseplant is the begonia. I have them outside in pots this year. The light in my house isn’t good for them, but when I was a child my grandmother had them everywhere. I also love the Christmas/Thanksgiving/Easter cacti. Mine bloom all year and never in the season they are named for.
African Violets do well in humid environments so if you changed their location recently that might be why they are thriving now. I grow mine in my bathroom.
Hope your dad makes it home safely and didn’t drive you too crazy. My grandmother used to grow African violets in her kitchen window. They thrived there. I can only grow orchids for some reason. I think what you can grow in a window depends on where it faces. but I am no expert.
water indirectly. Ice cubes work well with orchids and african violets
OMFG “My father has departed” twisted my gut. Whew. Okay, Istambul’s a better transition. Oy.
Good. Take more than that. Yeah, move a little, move a little. Yah. Okay. No, more. Another day. Almost… ooch over a little more… yes, there we go!
Breathe (as if you haven’t for the last yumpdadump years). Cheers!
My great grandma, Baba, had a HUGE African Violet plant in her living room. It was in a pot the size you would normally keep a house tree in. It always had amazing blooms and no one could ever figure out her secret. My mom started growing them, but while she could get some really nice ones, nothing on the scale like Baba’s. She would always ask how she did it, but Baba would just smile, sip her scotch on the rocks and, when there was only the melted ice left in her glass, tip it into her plant. Took my mom forever to figure out Baba was watering her plant with scotch! lol On a serious note, the leaves are not good for cats and can make them sick. Cats like to rub their chins (and sometimes teeth) against them cause they like the texture, so you have to watch them. You can “breed” African Violets by taking a leaf from a one plant and rooting it (either in soil or water) with a different color. So if you take a pink flower and root it with a white one, you can get all kinds of neat pink and white combos.
I feel compelled to volunteer that I bought artificial flowers on Amazon to adorn flowerpots and window boxes after the live flowers burnt up in a week despite frequent watering.
But the violets are pretty.
Don’t worry WS plants shake in fear when they see me. I have ‘black thumbs’ not green ones! I either give them to much attention or neglect them to death!
Same here! I used to be able to grow things, my dad still has two gigantic Synadenium grantii (common name translates from swedish as “milk bush”) that I grew from tiny tiny cuttlings I got from my biology teacher, but when I got my cats I had to give them up since the sap is corrosive.
By the way, that is so hard! Finding plants that are non-toxic, because my youngest cat WILL try to chew ion them!
I feel like I have black thumbs now, and I don’t know what I do wrong! Like I said, I used to be the one that grew things as a child, and my grandmother was a great gardener who taught me a lot, so I think I have ok theoretical knowledge. But the only thing thriving at my house these days are Fuchsia on the balcony (lovely as they are)!!!
I would like to blame it on Pippin (the younger, cute as a button and cuddly and affctionate like a cuddly-toy, but maybe not-so-bright, cat…), but even when it was just me and Merry (the older cat who is a model of perfection of cat-hood and good behaviour and surely the smartest cat in the world, yes I’m biased ?) our newly aquired houseplants didn’t survive, even though I had finally gotten a nice, bright flat (which is why I felt I finally had the space for a plants, and a cat. The cat was the best desicion in my life, and I suppose I can live without houseplants…)
Anyway, solidarity with my fellow black-thumbed not-so-succesfull-gardeners… ?
Ps. Congrats to you americans ?? for beating England ?? and going to the finals in the football world cup btw! Lets see if you get to play us (Sweden ??) or the Neatherlands ??… I will of course believe in our girls to the bitter end, regardless if we play the Us or England, but the Us are on a roll right now, and you did beat us last time… But on the other hand we did vanquised the 24 year old German ?? ghost last week, so anything is possible! Yay, go team! ❤??
Lemongrass might not be the most standard houseplant (I’m used to growing a lot of herbs inside) but it’s not one of the harder ones, and it’s cat safe, and handy to have around? (The concentrated oil is another matter.) It’s texture makes it a fun plaything to – I have a great pic of my younger kitten* attacking a plant like a little demon.
* Ahaha, yes, there are now two kittens. My darling Keanu would be desolate if he was left alone while I was at the lab, and a friend was fostering another cat, so Cricket Vespers joined the household. I might never sleep more than two hours at a stretch again, but they’re having a great old time.
Thanks for the tip about lemongrass ?
I think I will try growing it on my balcony for the cats ☺
(And my gigantic “little” Pippin was also an adition to the family b/c I didn’t want Merry to be alone when I’m at work… And no, you will never sleep again, b/c if one cat stoops to sleeping while you need to, the other one will try to wake both of you up so he can have somenone to play with ?)
Keanu – who was separated from him family too young (we don’t know what happened before a neighbor’s elderly dog found him and took to carrying him around in his mouth…) might turn into a ravenous zoommonster when he’s up and about, but he likes nothing better than to cuddle up with me and nap. I wasn’t going to let cats into my bedroom, but… he’s such a baby…
Cricket on the other hand, while also enjoying her share of cuddles (especially with Keanu, the two were immediately inseparable) is a bit older, and revels in being an ambush predator. At night, she curls up, goes to sleep… and then at some point wakes up and looks for something to attack. Or bite. Like my feet, nose, or chin. (We’re working on the biting. She’s already gotten a lot better about claw control, but I haven’t gotten her to relent on the occasional good chomp. Especially when we’re being boring.)
I also love Christmas cactus which comes in many colors and blooms in the fall months. It’s actually a succulent and not a true cactus. It’s pretty hard. I have red, pink, orange, yellow and white in my sunny office window.
I hope you get lots of rest!
Hi. I’m not a flower grower usually. But I’ve been hired by a couple unknown writers to do their audio because they knew me as a female vocalist and speaker. I don’t know if you’re looking for a woman with an occasionally raspy low voice but with lots of range (female box in higher range, actions in mid and male voice in lower) but I’d be thrilled to send you a cut of me reading something from one of the hidden legacy books I happen to be regrading right now.
Christmas cactus is really easy to grow and comes in many colors. They like being root bound and haphazardly watered. At least that is what makes mine flower several times a year!
I used to have a car with a weird tire size. I am so sorry. Your violets are lovely. I hope you got a nap.
African Violets come in a multitude of colors, bloom types, and leaf types. There are several reputable growers online. Please post more flower pictures when you can. My cats and I have had a difference of opinion on the violets, so my plants aren’t flowering. Enjoy your blooms!
My mother used to have African violets with the most fabulous foliage you ever saw, and not a bloom anywhere. Then, my little brother tripped and landed on one pot full of African violet plants, and broke off most of the leaves and squashed the rest. That plant had flowers all over it in a couple of months!
He, the brother, took this for A Sign, and abused the other house plants.
I don’t know if it was genius or insanity, but it seemed to work on the African violets. On orchids, not so much.
He expanded to the outside plants. Results: tomatos, good; nasturtiums, good; geraniums, excellent (geraniums are an immortal weed that I trim with the lawnmower); asparagus, terrible; artichokes, lethal.
I’m reasonably sure that all the house plants were root-bound.
Further research should be delegated to the most conveniently located Kid. Teenaged Kids are ideal.
And I plan to try that water-the-plants-with-scotch routine. I like scotch.
I found this site. Russian Violets. The variants at this site are amazing!
http://russianviolets.com/africanViolets.php
I wanted to ask which special pots you were using?
I used to grow violets. a couple of good sites to see photos of plants and buy them is lyndon lyon or Robs violet barn. They come in different types Minature, trailing and standard. I also like the russian varieties. both sites have other plants that need the same care so you can get different plants
Wow. Rob’s Violet Barn is fantastic. I need more windows…
You’ve found the right spot, leave them there. African violets can be very finicky about their site, but are not hard to multiply at all. he do put out babies or suckers that ca be snapped off and potted or potted and then snapped off. Or divide apiece making sure there are some roots on it. You could even grow them from leaves, but that takes a bit more special soil and care. As for colors they com in many shade of blue, purple, pink and white, but to my eye all but the white have a blue or violet tinge.. Can’t say that ever bothered me much. As for plants that like similar conditions the one that coms to mind is the florists cyclamen. Handsome plant, larger than African violet, pretty flowers much the same sort of shades as the African violets, but they require a little different care and haven’t as long a bloom period. Once the cyclamen are done blooming and begin dying back, withhold water and move them someplace dark and cool to let them go dormant with the change of season bring them back out, water etc. Or you can simply enjoy them for their bloom season and quit when they do.. There are also some orchids which might enjoy similar growing conditions, but thy flower once and then are rather homely for the rest of the time. For getting your money’s worth of flowers and bloom time I think African violets are the best. Once you’ve found where they want to be. I’ve recently moved from NH to SC and am having a fine time finding new plants to grow. More like your weather here I think. I’ve been a Master Gardener for over a decade and when people ask how to become a Master Gardener I just tell them that after you’ve killed enough plants you start to learn a few things. Worked for me.
I am so sorry life is rough right now. Mason-Dixon Knitting is holding a sock knit-a-long (KAL) with REALLY pretty yarn and that’s what I’m using each night to relax and go to my happy place.
African violets seem to be the only plant I don’t kill. I have no idea why. I had one in an office that bloomed for 4 years. Unfortunately, I have cats so I can’t have them at home . I’ve seen them in colors ranging from an almost white blue to a deep purple. Good luck!
I wonder if Mercury is in retrograde? I have no idea what that means but a friend used to always say that when weird luck was happening.
Pretty flowers. My momma could grow African Violets. It was a completely shaded window. I could never figure out how?
I’m still doing my daylilies. The obsession grows. I have gathered enough nice cultivators to make my own pods {seeds} this year. Not much gets me up in the mornings early but I get up very early to check to see the seedlings that had bloomed and to dab pollen around. Most won’t set pods in heat of the day.
I bought a tiny Christmas cactus (that’s the Latin name, haha) from Home Depot and it grows well and blooms randomly. Range of colors. Common in the Massachusetts area but it does fine here in a Maryland window.
Nothing about this post. I just want to share something I just find out.
When I read innkeeper the sentence which struck me as the oddest is when Dina sell that honey to the trader and say to Sean “it’s not truffle, There is a price limit.”
And now, after a very long time, I just realize that the “truffle” Dina was talking about is not a chocolate dessert, but a kind of expensive mushroom. Never know there is a mushroom of that name…
Try truffle salt on fries. It’s amazing!!!!
What’s even cooler is that Truffles The Chocolate were originally designed to look like Truffles The Mushroom. And the coolest info is how they go about truffle hunting. Definitely something to look up. 🙂
My great aunt used to have the most spectacular African violets I have ever seen. She finally fessed up her fertilizer was an occasional birth control pill her neighbor down the hall would donate when she forgot to take it.
African Violets have lots of cousins that come in a broad range of colors…. https://ucanr.edu/datastoreFiles/268-183.pdf…and they grow in similar conditions. Maybe I’ll try some cousins since the Violets don’t fare well in my house.
I have a request for the authorlords… Please if you can ,and if it’s not a terrible imposition,would you pretty please consider finishing ” the blue key” story..
It has so much potential ..
My very best and warmest wishes for your well-being..
May the Almighty bless you and yours.
Blue Key is a complete story. It is finished. There is nothing that needs to be said after.
Aw, I looked this up bc of this comment,… what a sweet story. Reminds me of what is going on in my family life now… except for the magic. Though I also love griffins… known for protecting what is most precious ?
Beautiful sweet story!
(I thought I’d read all the short stories on that page, but somehow missed that one!)
Thank you for reposting it!
I agree Streptocarpus would do well for you, they come in more colours than African violets, as well as the blues through deep and light purples to pinks they go into reds and yellows, plus bi-coloured ones with the top two petals one colour, the bottom three petals a different colour, and various patterns eg white background with purple stripes. They flower from April through October. I love them a lot! There are lots of ictures of different ones here https://www.dibleys-shop.com/collections/streptocarpus-plug-plants.
I hope you’ve had a relaxing day pottering with your violets and animals.
Not to sure about Violets , but the Mint plant I bought from Vons to make minty drinks for my beloved is growing like mad all of a sudden too and it’s flowering. It’s now as tall as my kitchen window and it’s roots are practically growing right out of the water it’s sitting in, the tag on it said not to re plant it but I think I might have to.
I hope you had some fun during his visit despite the crazy stuff and that he arrives home safely. It is awesome that he comes to spend time with all of you.
You plant is lovely. Basically you can grow anything that likes the same environment that your African Violet is thriving under. Ask at your local greenhouse.
I enjoy growing anything that will let me and especially enjoy plants with variegated leaves. I started this African Violets several years ago from a leaf. Digging in the dirt and playing with my plants is my stress therapy. I lose track of time and just feel peaceful.
Here is a bit of trivia; African violet seeds were taken to the Skylab and irradiated in space. This increased the varieties, but mostly leaf texture and leaf colour variations
I can not grow them and keep them alive, but my mother has a table full.
I love this flowering succulent, Kalanchoe. I have an orange one and a pink one. It’s a very sturdy plant! http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=b561#AllImages
If you are having good luck with the African violets, try orchids in the same area. I know, people say orchids are “difficult”. In fact, if you have the right conditions, they mostly like to be left alone. There are a few things you should do for them but not daily tasks. And very similar to the violets they do not enjoy being flooded with water on the daily. They prefer to suck it up from down below. Violets have a tendency to mold if you water them from above, orchids just get mad and pack up. My mom could bring home a stick in a pot labeled “orchid” and put it in the window with the violets…. and one day there would be a beautiful stem of flowers on a healthy plant.
ooooh, I don’t overwater my orchids, but I do it from the top, I never thought of soaking it up from the bottom. They grow plenty of leaves but rarely bloom.
A lot of orchids also have a humidity requirement (You can put water in a tray, and then put the orchid pot above that, and that might be enough – I’ve never grown orchids on purpose, I’ve been given other people’s orchids that were having issues, and picked up a few – a very few – tricks.)
My experience was that if you kept a vague eye on them, they weren’t hard? Most of them eventually got over sulking, recovered, bloomed, divided, and so on. But they also weren’t anything particular tricky, I think.
double begonias are fancy looking, and come in colors. I’ve always found begonias to be fairly easy to grow and they have nice fuzzy leaves.
Most of the gesneriads (african violet family) will grow on a window sill or outside in the shade in summer. Streptocarpus, Streptocarpella (stuningly gorgeous and equally hard to kill), Sinningia, Kohleria, Nematanthus, Aeschynanthus, Columnea etc. There are some very cool hybrids from Russia, take a look on instagram. Also begonias if only for the foliage. Hoyas, Dischidias, miniature orchids and Tillandsias are great as well. Violet Barn, Taylor Greenhouses, Steves Leaves, Dave’s Violets, Ebay, and especially local plant societies/garden clubs are some sources.
I’ve just finished one of the best C-drama I’ve seen and I’ll think you’ll enjoy this one if you haven’t watched it yet. It’s called Princess Agents, it’s Wuxia. The action, story (spies) and acting is superb!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthurium
My grandmother used to have so many pots of African Violets around her house. They were all purple, so don’t know if that’s the only color range, or if that was just the color she liked.
It was so funny because they were the only indoor plant she could keep alive, and they thrived!
Hmm… Do you think you might enjoy carnivorous plants? I’m thinking cape sundews (generally the hardiest of the sundews, IME) and some of the pitcher plants – I used to grow them because some of my indoor plants tended to attract bugs, and they helped a lot with that – but they’re pretty, and I think they’d do well in similar light? (They do like a fair bit of water from below, but aren’t that hard otherwise.)
My grandma always told me to never water African violets from above, because they don’t like it. I always fill the dish they sit in with water, and refill until I can feel a little hint of moisture on the top of the soil. I’ve been doing that about once a week, and I’ve managed to keep the few I received as gifts healthy and happy. I really love the blue tones and the pale pink ones. The petals always seem kind of shimmery, which is a-w-e-s-o-m-e!
Irrelevant to this post and I apologise but I have run out of choices and I don’t know what else to do.. I’ve emailed you as well but received no reply.. I very rarely post on here. I have never ever sent you hate mail and I can’t even fathom why anyone would. I have tried many many times now in all ways to contact someone from your side. I had subscribed to the blog and newsletter and used to receive the emails just fine. And then all of a sudden right after the last Innkeeper instalment they stopped. I resubscribed did all the steps, emailed you to be added manually, emailed again after 3 months of no change, unsubscribed from all emails and resubscribed, did all steps again, and again nothing. Please, please, please help me. You emails were the highlight of my day. I don’t use facebook as much anymore so I miss all your updates..
Zena,
I just checked and you are subscribed to both lists. The last email we’ve sent you was on June 21. Please check your spam folder.
Thank you so much for replying and helping! I have checked the junk folder repeatedly and it’s not in there either. And I have all the email addresses on the contacts list too.. I’m soo confused. If you have it as sent it must be something from my end.. Some days I hate computers. Thank you again and sorry for troubling you.
My condolences. My partner lost his father in April and for us too, problems followed. From flat tires to unemployment. In such times it is good to have support from your family and something positive to concentrate on and look forward to.
On this matter: Flowers are wonderful (ex-florist here) and African Violets are true friends. Three colors indeed range from violet to pink and white in various shades. They only need fresh and slightly larger pots once in a while,
when the old pot is fully used by their roots. You can see that if their leaves are only growing very small and are sitting very tight to each other. From the pictures yours still look fine.
I also like to introduce Cyclamens to you. They need similar care like African Violets and have similar colours, albeit different blooms. The ones you would have to get for inside would be Cyclame persicum.
Sorry if my English is kind of laborious, I’m no native speaker. 🙂
Maybe you accidentally marked them as spam. Depending on your email program this can happen quickly. Try to whitelist them.
Or you use a program that pre-sorts your incoming email. Google does it for advertisement and social media.
The same thing has happened to me. I stopped getting the newsletters about two weeks ago, signed back up for everything and still don’t get the emails. I hope someone can help you since I’m in the same boat.
You were not subscribed until June 28th. 🙂 I am not showing any activity since June 28th – for some reason the last blog post hasn’t gone out. That will be issue for Friday.
Thank you, Ilona! I signed back up on the 28th when I realized I wasn’t getting emails. I’m glad it worked. I hope you have a happy 4th.
The African Violets look lovely.
I know the colours and varied from purples, whites and blues. They are wonderful to grow.
I have a tip for you. My Mother used to grow them. If you take a stem cutting place it in a small glass jar with water. In a few weeks you will see new roots growing and transplanted in to another container. Thought you might like to know. Your flowers are gorgeous. Thank you
I have also seen bronze and apricot or rust, deep maroon and yellow.
I have seen some with white/pale green petals bordered in a darker green. Just lovely. As Elizabeth Beth said , leaf cuttings are easily rooted in water or you can in a small container of potting soil. Just keep the soil moist and you will see tiny leaves growing around the cutting in no time. Yours are lovely especially the pink with the ruffled petals.
Man, you could do a Morton’s salt commercial. When it rains it pours. Love the violets. Did an Science experiment with wild violets I dug up. I think 6th grade. I was glad they were both alive. Gotten better with plants with age. Never will be my mom. Dead stick, place in ground, two weeks, it’s alive!! I could have created dead sticks for her to do her miracles on. ? Hope it gets better. Especially your pup. Cars are things. Replaceable (though at a high cost). Hope dad had an easy flight. May your day off replenish you. Some weeks drain you like a hungry vampire.
Side note: Morton salt commercial with Band ok go is fun to watch if you’ve never seen it. Puts this kind of week into a visual!
Ok…those violets
#1) Part of the reason they are blooming is that they are snug in their pots. They like snug. Having “lots of room to grow” makes for a VERY unhappy violet.
#2) You mentioned ‘special pots’….do those come with reservoirs so the violets stay moist? Good on you! We will not have to have the “how would YOU like to be fed three times a year, whether you need it or not” discussion.
#3) Look down on your violet…how many centers do you see? In a perfect world, the answer would be one, but I can see from your pictures that it just ain’t so.
#4) Find an African Violet club who meet nearby (check out African Violet Society of America [avsa.org]), and cast yourself into their experienced arms. Dividing a multicrowned standard violet is traumatic, and should not be done solo…at least, not the first time!
As another plants that will like your window sill, check out gesneriads, gloxinias, and sinningias….all relatives of the African Violet.
Hi- I also haven’t received the last three blogs. The last one I received was on June 21, I think. I caught up on this web-site, but wonder if there is a problem with your e-mail’s going out. Just letting you know. I always love the blogs. They are informative, they have wonderful snippets and they make me laugh. Thanks for them.
The last blog post I received was also June 21st. I just resubscribed and followed the ‘existing subscriber’ instructions on the Newsletter page to update my preferences. Hopefully that will reactivate my subscription.
I love African Violets? but I also love cake ?
African Violet is literally the only thing I can grow! Just read a review of Sapphire Flames on Charlaine Harris’s Book & Blog. Can’t wait to get my hands on it.
I too love Violets and Cake and my late Father was from Austria..
European old guys are difficult…really difficult…it was close to impossible being a girl to please my Dad in anything…the nicest thing he ever said about my appearance was (you look better than you used to)
My Linzer torte was never perfect, bacon not crisp enough yada yada yada…
Get some rest!
Guys were good ,I think they got high marks for being guys I am sure he preferred my husband to me…jus sayin…..
OMG! Yaaasss! That’s it exactly older European guys! We had one Of those who could be so charming funny knew wines perfectly then he would turn to me make some stunning rotten semi racist sexist sneak attack comment that would take my breath away. He’s goes back to eating his steak and I’d sit there blinking and feeling destroyed.
Wow, I hope you managed to call him on his treatment of his hostess. That’s not charming and I don’t care how old he is or what country he’s from, that’s a grade A a-h.
My mother grows orchids with her african violets. Once a week she adds scant 1/4 t of orchid food to bowl of filtered, room temperature water and puts the pot in the bowl. Adds filtered water to top over roots to cut down on over feeding. Leaves for 15 min. They bloom twice a year for weeks (6-8)
I’ve stopped getting e-mails to hope I’m still subscribed I’ve been checking your blog by typing your names in my search engine xxxxxx
Hi Ilona. I also have stopped receiving the newsletter and blog posts. The last one I received was your post for 21 June ( 22 June New Zealand time). Spam folder is empty.
Putting on my systems librarian hat, I wonder what the commonalities are?
– we all stopped receiving at the same time?
– are we all using gmail?
– are we all in the same part of the world?
– have we all updated our email address within the last year or so?
– has the server defaulted to an older version of the mailing list?
– do you get a notification of how many emails have been sent and, if so, has that number dropped?
Tracking down exactly where the problem lies may take some time.
To shorten troubleshooting:
I don’t subscribe to the emails, but I do follow the blog RSS feed, and that is likely the source of the problems (the email content is based on the feed).
Did your RSS feed from the blog disappear? Mine did but I am still receiving emails (Gmail). I think the RSS disappeared around end of May since I did a search on June 3 looking for reasons why an RSS feed would blank out all of a sudden. Didn’t find an answer. Tried adding the blog feed again, still no success. So just deleted it from my news list.
Oops, wrong dates. RSS disappeared around June and after a few weeks I did the search on July 3.
@ sharon,
It seems to be fixed (try adding it now?), but yes there were maybe 4 posts that were missed late June.
I also haven’t been getting the emails. The last one was June 21st. I’m on yahoo.
Glad you’re taking a day off and your African Violets are blooming :). You should put your feet up and smell the flowers 😉
Sounds like days at school. Our philosophy is “As long as someone does not hit someone else with a block or pee on the floor or get left somewhere by themselves it has been an ok day.” I teach preschoolers and they are pretty easily amused!! Not so the bunny…terribly upset that she is not given treats at half hour intervals!!
Not sure what to do about the African violets. Maybe it is the weather?? Currently enjoying the horde of Queen Anne’s lace growing outside (although not the mosquitoes) and waiting for the day when it is not 100 degrees to go pick some. At least it is not raining.
Adding myself to the people that havent received emails about the last few posts. Only realized because goodreads sent me a notification about this one(but not the others I .
Will just have to remember to check the blog directly on a weekly basis 🙂
Good luck with everything you guys are dealing with!
Kalanchoe likes the same conditions as African violet.
I second the kalanchoes. They come in oranges, yellow, magenta, etc. They love the sun, don’t need a ton of water or fussing, & they flower for a long stretch every year.
Actually, I’ve always found kalanchoes to be incredibly non-picky and almost as impossible to kill as an airplane plant. (which will grow on cement without dirt as long as you water it, I’m not joking – I had one drop off the parent and didn’t notice forever that it was just sitting there putting out roots – plus they can freeze back to the ground and come back from the roots, yea! Too bad they don’t flower). Violets are picky – too warm, too cold, not enough light, too much light, didn’t like the water, too crowded, not crowded enough, blah blah. I often wondered how they ever managed to grow in the wild. Gave up, not worth the annoyance factor.
My mother went through an African Viloet phase that nearly took over our dining room when I was in my teens. Yes they come in variegated strains and someone gave me a pick and white striped one a couple of years ago. Alas, our house was not warm enough and I refused to buy anything special for it, i.e. gro-light, after the trauma of dozens of them in my youth so it eventually passed to its eternal reward. RIP.
The difference might also be the water. We grew African violets when we first moved to OK, along with spider plants, snake plants, philodendron, wandering Jew, and a 30 year old asparagus fern. Then they all died. Then the garden began to struggle as well and we had the water tested again. The well had become contaminated (the drawbacks of living in the oilfields). Mom and Dad are one a water line now and can once again grow plants.
My sister recently complained of having a black thumb. Mom told her to collect rainwater for her potted plants, start using a water purification system, and get her well tested again. (She’s expecting the results daily.)
Enjoy growing your own personal jungle!
African violets also come in pinks, white and a few dual colors. I only split my violets when the over grow the pot. If you watch the plant, it will let you know when it is time.
For one glorious year I grew African violets on my office table at work. And they did everything you said. They multiplied. They got huge. They were super super healthy. And then I switched offices and slowly they all died. Everything about the setup was about the same in both offices, but for some reason they just didn’t work in the new office. If you happened onto one of the naturally perfect growing spots for African violets that’s super exciting.
There are so many African violet colors – most of them have some little bit of pink or purple but lots of them have white. Some of them have so deep a purple it’s almost black. Some of them have a purple that’s almost a blue… etc… and then there are the petal patterns and the leaf color variations too…
Have you tried primeroses? They are quite similar.
I have had several African violets that were white with pink edges, white with blue edges, double flowers with extra petals, and white and rosey red flowers.
I need to add myself to the group not receiving emails. I didn’t notice because I’ve been sick with a cold that makes your brain feel like cotton stuffing. I check my spam folder 2-3 times a week, so not in spam. I do love the newsletter emails! So sorry for all the troubles. taking a day off for yourself is a great idea.
African violets also co.e in pink and white.
That should say: come in pink and white
African violets also come in pink and white.
And I haven’t been receiving your blog update posts, either. I would say, given there are so many of us, that the common denominator is you. I hate to add more stress, but there you have it.
African violets also come in white, pink with white edges and purple with white edges. You can divide them, but they often spread out to fill the pot and are happy a bit crowded. You can propogate more with a single leaf in a new pot.
I have not been receiving recent newsletter either, until this one showed up today.
The African Violets look lovely.
I know the colours and varied from purples, whites and blues. They are wonderful to grow.
I have a tip for you. My Mother used to grow them. If you take a stem cutting place it in a small glass jar with water. In a few weeks you will see new roots growing and transplanted in to another container. Thought you might like to know. Your flowers are gorgeous. Thank you
If African Violets do well, you might also enjoy Gloxinias. I think that you can only get them in the right season. Your florist will know. I’m sorry about all the stress. Hopefully things will go more smoothly now. I adore Maud, and hope you find the perfect narrator.
I LOVE African Violets. Both my mom and my grandma grew them and now that they are both gone, my African Violets remind me of them every day when I do dishes (they sit in the window sill above my sink). Mom & Grandma always said you don’t divide them, you just move them to a bigger pot when they begin to die off in the old one. They prefer to be a bit squished in a small pot, and having the pots with a small water reservoir at the bottom it the best way to keep them happy. Whenever they wanted to grow a new plant, they would take a nice stem clipping and place it in a small baby jar with water (you still want the top of the clipping to be out of the water, kind of clinging to the side of the jar). The clipping with grow roots and you can plant it.
I also love Peace Lilies. Almost impossible to kill. They also don’t mind less sunlight, so they can be away from the window a bit and still thrive. These suckers can almost look half dead (all droopy and folded over) and with a little bit of water will perk right up. It likes the ground to be kept moist, but I have one of those glass water bulbs in it which makes keeping it healthy easier. Bigger than African Violets so it probably won’t sit in your window sill, but still manageable for a house plant.
I LOVE African Violets, I also love Peace Lilies
If you want good information about african violets look at the african violet society website. AVSA.org They have tons of information as well as photos of violets