African violets

When I was in college, I was introduced to growing African violets by a gentleman that enters competitions showing his home-grown and stunning camellias blooms. He had a little bit of experience with African violets also and explained to me that they were actually very easy and hardy plants, they had just been given a bad rap. Well, I heard "easy" and "hardy" and thought maybe one of them could survive my college-lifestyle house.

That was 1997 and that same plant is still blooming in my dining room's north window. In my little world, they are easy because they would rather have too little water. And guess what, I forget to water them a lot. So you see, we're a perfect pair.

For Katherine's birthday I got her a self-watering plant pot and started a leaf shoot for her. The leaf and stem are placed inside a glass of water, held still by some aluminum foil stretched over the top of the glass. We got to watch each day the very slow growth of African violet roots and talk about what was happening. A month later the roots were well established and we filled the pot with soil and transferred it. After what seemed like forever, the leaf stem showed signs of new growth. Hot dog!

It has it's new home in her room, safely away from curious little hands, and is thriving. She is very excited to see it's first flower. So am I.