African Violets (Saintpaulia) originate from the cloud forests of Tanzania and southeastern Kenya in East Africa, hence their common name African Violets. These beautiful, fuzzy-leaf plants are known for their long-lasting, seemingly forever-blooming, beautiful delicate flowers. In my personal opinion, they do best in a self-watering pot with their own African Violet soil and every house should have one! :) They are pet-friendly, do best in bright indirect light and their compact size is perfect for a window sill. African Violets also come in an assortment of sizes, shapes and colors. Hooray for variety!
African Violets want to dry out slightly between watering and do prefer their humidity to be above 40% - this is where self-watering methods come in handy! The self-watering pots can increase the humidity for the plant and as long as the reservoir doesn't go dry, it has access to moisture when needed. Though the African Violet can dry out completely, or even wilt, it’s not recommended and usually results in bud drop and scarred and/or deformed leaves. On the same note, try not to get the leaves wet. When watering, if you choose to top water, be slow and steady so as to not get the crown or leaves. If you do not have a self-watering pot, I highly recommend bottom watering. I like to sit my violets in a saucer for about 30 mins until they drink their fill. Pot size is also incredibly important for violets as they would prefer to stay close to rootbound, only going up about a 2-inch increase in diameter at a time. A helpful word of advice I received once was that violet leaves should always be wider than their pot!
These amazing plants can flower all year long with the right conditions and care. I recommend using African Violet fertilizer once a month. If you choose, you can use a very dilute indoor fertilizer but make sure to cut the strength down by a third. Dead-heading is key: remove any spent flowers by pinching them off the stems, this will encourage the plant to continue producing buds. If the leaves get dirty, I like to use a paintbrush to clean them. We don’t want to spray or mist them if we can help it.
Here in the nursery we typically have an assortment in stock and I may be a little biased, but I think we have the best! Come see for yourself!
