Saturday, January 28, 2012
Keep your beauty in full bloom
With an astounding assortment of flower forms and colors, it's easy to see why African violets are a favorite plant worldwide.
Karen Hager is The Roanoke Times' gardening columnist. Her column appears twice monthly in Extra. Karen Hager
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About Karen
Karen Hager lives in Blacksburg with her garden-loving family: a husband and 6-year-old son. She learned her skills by trial and error, and encourages all gardeners to do the same. You can reach her at nrvgardener@yahoo.com.
My mother's favorite houseplant was an African violet. She had several, and her love of them was well-known. Although she's been gone more than a decade, African violets always remind me of her and probably always will.
First discovered in northeast Tanzania, there are thousands of varieties of African violets available today, with an astounding assortment of flower forms and colors. With their ability to flower at almost any time of the year, it's easy to see why African violets are a favorite plant worldwide.
They are compact enough to fit on most windowsills, and can be grown by gardeners of all experience levels. It may take some expertise to keep a plant blooming continuously for 10 or more months, but a beginner can produce several flushes of blooms each year, with fairly minimal effort.
It's not difficult to grow African violets, but it is important to learn the needs of the plant, if you want your plants to flourish.
Light
African violets need bright light, but should be protected from strong sunlight. Ideally, choose an east or south window from fall through spring, and a west window in the summer. For winter blooming, you may also need to provide some artificial light at night. Generally, they need all the light they can get, except in the summer, when full sun might be too intense.
It's very easy to tell if your plant is getting too much sun, as the foliage will turn yellow and the leaf edges will burn. If you have too little sun, you'll grow beautiful dark green foliage, but have few, or no, flowers. If your plants aren't flowering, the most likely cause is insufficient light.
Give plants a quarter turn in the same direction each week, so that all leaves receive an equal amount of light. Otherwise, leaves receiving the most light will grow larger, longer and quicker than leaves in shadier areas, and your plant will quickly lose its symmetry.
Watering
It's very important that you always water with tepid water, as cold water is particularly shocking to African violets. Be careful to avoid getting water on the plant's crown, by either sliding the long spout of a watering can under leaves, or by watering from the bottom.
Soil should be kept evenly moist and not allowed to become soggy. Wait until the surface is dry before watering. The special two-piece self-watering planters made for African violets make it easy to get the amount of water correct without wetting the crown.
Other needs
African violets thrive in the same temperatures that you're comfortable in. Keep them in a room that's a minimum of 60 degrees, avoid cold drafts and sudden temperature fluctuations, and they will be happy.
They also like high humidity. If you're having problems growing them, try putting them on a tray covered with 1 inch of gravel, and keep the bottom of the gravel wet at all times. The wet gravel will provide a nice, humid environment for the plants. If you have a windowsill above a radiator, placing the gravel tray there will triple the effectiveness of this method.
African violets like regular feedings from spring through fall, but don't fertilize them in the winter. Remove dead flowers and leaves immediately, and be sure to remove the stalk as well as the leaf.
The plants prefer to be moderately root-bound, so don't repot them too often. If you need to repot, spring is the best time to do it, and you should choose the smallest pot possible to hold the root ball. Too frequent repotting can also be responsible for a plant not flowering.
Propagation
Largely because of the connection to my mother, African violets have become a favorite plant of mine. If you learn to propagate them, you can turn your favorites into "friendship plants" and pass them on to friends.
Luckily, they are easy to propagate. Eventually, your plants will form several crowns and get too large for their containers, so one easy method of propagation is to simply pull off a crown and pot it separately. Be sure to get roots with each division so that each plant can re-establish itself quickly.
You can also propagate new plants from leaves. Select medium-sized, mature leaves and remove them from the parent plant, along with 1 to 2 inches of leaf stem. Root the cutting in water or a mixture of sand and vermiculite. Roots will form in about 2 to 4 weeks.
Once you have roots, pot them up and share the wealth. With a plant as pretty as an African violet, you can never have too much of a good thing.
Karen Hager's column runs every other Saturday in Extra.
