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?
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