topic Re: African Violets ~~ Anyone Else Love Them? in Community Chat

African Violets ~~ Anyone Else Love Them?

Magenta — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 17:45:27 GMT

Hi you all and a very good morning!

I have in front of my huge window a really cute white plant stand (bought it in 1975 at Hecht's and paint it every two years) and now this morning I see that the last of my six violets, is also coming out with buds. I love them. Have them in different shades of lavender-purple and a white with purple edges and one in a beautiful color pink. Get a big kick of growing them and should pay good attention to keep them going. Recently with the surgery, I sometimes forgot to water them, but they forgave me...

Anyoone else love them?

Have a nice day...

Magenta

Re: African Violets ~~ Anyone Else Love Them?

Jannabelle — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 17:47:52 GMT

I like them too, but can't always get them to bloom.

Re: African Violets ~~ Anyone Else Love Them?

Puzzle Piece — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 17:48:48 GMT

Me. I just enjoy violets. I grow the Parma's and the scent is wonderful.

Re: African Violets ~~ Anyone Else Love Them?

esmeraldagooch — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 17:50:04 GMT

I have one and have kept it alive in two homes. May buy more soon.

Re: African Violets ~~ Anyone Else Love Them?

LilacTree — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 17:50:06 GMT

I love them because my mom loved them. She had all the equipment and expertise to have the most beautiful African Violets I've ever seen. I tried so many times and never had any success with them . . . probably because I had such a busy life at the time. My mom never worked and after we all left she got involved in plants and had a bevy of finches. Before she got sick, she became an expert with both.

Re: African Violets ~~ Anyone Else Love Them?

LizAnne_1 — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 17:53:53 GMT

Hi Magenta. I love them but have never had much luck with them. My last one rebloomed once then the leaves shriveled so I had to throw it out.

I'd love to try my luck with an orchid sometime.

Re: African Violets ~~ Anyone Else Love Them?

TaxyLady — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 18:14:30 GMT

Tip. Make sure you wrap the pot with foil so the leaves are not cut by the pot rim. Feed them. Don't overwater or they will rot.

I had an aunt who went to Africa and she said they were breathtaking when growing in the wild.

I think they are a very pretty plant and one of my mother's favorites.

Re: African Violets ~~ Anyone Else Love Them?

terrier3 — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 18:22:02 GMT

Magenta - Your violets must just love the environment you have for them...the light must be just right!

I have six in one large copper window box. They are in individual pots, but I like the way they look gathered together.

Your plant stand sounds like a great way to group your collection.

You have always sounded like a nurturing person - your violets agree!

Re: African Violets ~~ Anyone Else Love Them?

gazelle77 — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 18:22:59 GMT

I never have had good luck with them. Love them... but.... They always died on me probably from OVER watering them( death by drowning....) No matter what I did they would just die on me.

Re: African Violets ~~ Anyone Else Love Them?

Lotus — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 18:27:02 GMT

I've always loved them and had great success with them. My landlord was very knowledgeable about rooting, soil formula, replanting and which plant foods to use and taught me a lot.

They are so cheerful and make me smile.

Re: African Violets ~~ Anyone Else Love Them?

Lipstickdiva — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 18:35:30 GMT

I love them but like a few others, have zero luck with them.

Re: African Violets ~~ Anyone Else Love Them?

CelticCrafter — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 18:47:38 GMT

My grandmother was able to take a fallen leaf and grow new plants from them.

I didn't inherit her green thumb when it comes to them, I never had luck with them.

Re: African Violets ~~ Anyone Else Love Them?

EmmaBunting — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 18:51:04 GMT

I love them too...but have never been able to keep them looking good.

Re: African Violets ~~ Anyone Else Love Them?

lulu2 — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 18:54:29 GMT

I've never had much luck in African Violets. Right now I have mini daffodils and primroses in the window. The grocery store always has something for $.99 or $1.49 so something pretty is in my cart every week.

Re: African Violets ~~ Anyone Else Love Them?

AnikaBrodie — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 18:55:16 GMT

I love violets but don't have much luck with them. I think there's a fine line between overwatering and underwatering and location, not too much sun, not too little, and I haven't been able to find it. So I enjoy them from afar.

Re: African Violets ~~ Anyone Else Love Them?

sgraham30 — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 18:56:21 GMT

I don't love them, but I like them along with petunias, geraniums, & alyssum.

Re: African Violets ~~ Anyone Else Love Them?

Magenta — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 19:06:07 GMT

Hi ladies,

and thanks so much for your replies. What I do is put into an empty bottle of water abt. 20 drops of Miracle Gro, especially for African Violets. In between watering, I do let them dry up a bit, before I water them again with this stuff and all in all it helps them a great deal. They do love a lot of light, and my windows let in the early a.m. a lot of sunlight until about 10 a.m. and for the rest they like the light.

In my case that seems to work, although my stepMom was able to get the same results w/o putting any feed in them. What she did was have a large round or oval ceramic bowl in which she put 3 of the plants in it, and it was gorgeous. Of course I should say that it was her and my Dad's profession, as my Dad was a landscape architect and she taught how to arrange flowers and arrangements.

Hope if you want to spend a couple of bucks, see if that helps you along with putting them into the light and you too might get better results, as to me it is worth it, as it works here in Casa Magenta.

Have a great day everyone. And for those who love daffodils, I do too, and they remind us of a spring yet to come...

Thanks again and have fun with them!!

Magenta

Re: African Violets ~~ Anyone Else Love Them?

Burnsite — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 20:37:37 GMT

Hi, Magenta,

Your post made me think of a neighbor when I was growing up, Lucy. She loved African violets and her kitchen was a bower of thriving plants. Her huband Warren loved dogs, and they always had the glossiest, most well-behaved Labrador Retriever.

So we children loved to visit them. Anyhow, when I got my first apt., I kept trying to keep African violets alive and they just died instantly. I had a tiny kitchen in my tiny studio apt, and I think the gas fumes killed them (from the gas stove).

I met someone in Manhattan who also had a wonderful collection of thriving plants, and she told me her "secret" is that she constantly threw them out and bought another plant to replace the dead one. I guess it's hard in cities.

Which means you are a plant wizard! I will try miracle-gro (a product I love) for the violets. Daffodils are the happiest sign of spring, aren't they?

Re: African Violets ~~ Anyone Else Love Them?

biancardi — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 20:39:56 GMT

Hi Magenta, I do love them, but they don't love me!! I purchase them in bloom and they are beautiful, but then I can never get them to bloom again...

Re: African Violets ~~ Anyone Else Love Them?

Marianne1 — Tue, 04 Mar 2014 20:40:11 GMT

I love them too.

I only skimmed the posts, so maybe someone already mentioned to not get the leaves wet when watering...