I believe that my wise old grandmother could have been a Master Gardener if such a thing had existed back in her days. Her yard was always blooming, and the house was always full of cut flowers on the dining room table and the coffee table in the living room, as well as smaller vases in the bedrooms. The only bedroom that did not have flower vases was the master bedroom. There she had several African violets near her sewing machine. They were always blooming, and she took very good care of them.
My first attempt at growing African violets was an abject failure, a disaster. I blamed it on them not liking my rowdy dorm at Texas A&M University (Moore Hall; just recently torn down to make way for bigger and better dorms — that’s when you know you’re old, when your dorm is torn down).
I never tried African violets again until a few months ago. I bought just one, a very pretty one. Surprisingly I didn’t take a picture, so I stole it from Jim’s Facebook page:
As soon as it quit blooming and the leaves started dying, I was ready to throw it out. While I was doing some monthly cleaning, I found some items that I thought could be re-purposed to, perhaps, help that little African violet last a little longer.
The plant came in a brown plastic pot with a hole in the bottom. African violets like their roots to be in moist soil and they don’t like water on their leaves, so most people water them from the bottom. I found that blue-green pot which the African violet pot fit into perfectly. I keep the blue-green pot filled one quarter with water that is wicked up into the African violet through the bottom hole.
I set the blue-green pot into the bigger clear bowl and filled it one quarter with decorative rocks and water. The water provides the humidity around the plant which is crucial to African violets thriving. No humidity, dead plant.
Next I took an old desk lamp and replaced the incandescent bulb with a CFL bulb and trained the light on the African violet. I plugged the lamp into a timer and set it so the lamp would be shining on that little African violet about 15 hours a day. African violets like lots of light in order to bloom.
See how finicky this plant is? And this is just one plant! I’m thinking, though, about an automated system for Zoey the Cool Cat. Hmmm.
I kind of ignored the little African violet except for adding water once a week. Yesterday when I went to add water, this is what I saw:
Five little flower stalks poking their heads through the leaves! I was excited, so excited that I decided to blog about my success. Now that’s excited!
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