The only thing of color I have growing right now. And I do so appreciate them.
My violets have come from many sources, all given to me by friends and acquaintances, except for a couple of minis that I bought at the Philly Flower Show with Eldest Daughter.
The first one of those has croaked. In fact, every violet I have purchased for myself has not lasted.
But for many years, these hardy girls survived. And that is all. I had them in a vast array of pots, and left them there, unfed and unattended, almost ignored. Survived they have, in spite of me.
I just didn’t know anything about violets and supposed doing nothing was better than…well, I don’t know what nothing was better than. One of the gifters had mentioned that I wasn’t suppose to touch the leaves. He probably said ‘with my bare hands’, but what I heard was ‘leave them alone’. Mr. Jack White was very knowledgeable about most things with chlorophyll, and so his advice stuck with me. It also limited me as to what I could do. So. Nothing. Poor violets. It’s Mr. Whites’s fault.
Some were born in Kentucky, and moved to the Front Range of Colorado after a sojourn in Missouri. A few found their way to my home while in Missouri. Some of them maybe 20 years old. Maybe older!
That was pretty funny to me. My violets? Looking good? Well, now they sort of do.
See. Here I have Windows! And few, well...reall...no trees for shade, but Windows! And I decided that these poor girls needed something more than nothing. Even if it meant touching them. I eventually figured that made no sense, and smacked of an old wives tale. Kentucky was rampant with those! So I repotted a few, and I occasionally feed them.
Not regularly. But on occasion.
Special gifts from hardy girls who have hung in there with me, making some pretty good trips, dealing with some pretty dry soil, and some long time between drinks.
12 comments:
I used to have lot of African Violets. But then they all started to dye off, for some odd reason. I know have one. It started out the beautiful purple of the one in the first photo but is now a red/magenta color. Wonder how that happened?
The colors are so bright. Is it because they are alone in their bloom-time?
I love violets. They make me smile.
I have an aunt who used to grow african violets a long, long time ago. Your post reminded of how I used to love to visit her house and look at all the lovely flowers.
Your violets are very pretty -- I like how they have traveled all over with you. I also have a bunch of old violets. It's one type of plant I can just manage not to kill -- the other is Christmas cactus.
Violets are tough. I'm now a huge fan of the self-watering pots. Makes it harder to kill 'em.
Love your photos - great colors!
I remember that you left one that looked very much like the top photo, at my house for me to 'baby-sit' - for three years! It was covered with white cat hair by the time I made you take it back!
Oh, how pretty. I touch 'em. But, then I also kill them. I do adhere to the rule of only watering from below and never letting moisture touch their leaves.
It occurred to me, as I read your post, that my survivors are also the girls I tend to ignore...
I have my African Violets in a East window which they love. I have three vineing African Violets on my coffee table and it is full. The color is orange. They are my favorite house plant.I water once a week from the bottom.
Jean
Beautiful! We can't seem to keep the poor babies alive here. My mother has the magic touch with orchids, but neither one of us can keep an African Violet for more than a few weeks before it starts to conk. Maybe we will try ignoring them next time! =D
Love them, don't have any though. I should get one. Yours are inspiring me.
I would definitely agree with you on the windows being the clincher. The one and only time I have been able to keep African violets alive was when I lived in an apartment with lots of windows. The living room had an entire wall of northeast-facing windows, and the violets thrived there.
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