Posts

Posted on

5 Reasons Why Your African Violet Isn’t Blooming (And How to Fix It)

I’ve been there. In fact that’s how I got hooked. You spot a gorgeous African violet at the garden center, absolutely smothered in blooms, and you think — yes, I’ve got to have that one. Fast forward a few months later and the flowers are long gone, the leaves look fine, but there are no flowers to be seen…not even a hint of a bud. And you’re standing there wondering what you did wrong.

A comment I always get after friends and family visit my plant room and see dozens of violets in bloom is, “How do you get them to bloom? I’ve tried it, and they’ve never bloomed for me”. 

Here’s the good news. African violets aren’t really that hard to figure out once you learn what they like. They have specific conditions in which they will bloom and oftentimes, bloom profusely. And they are not difficult conditions to manage. Once you learn them, you’ll be rewarded with beautiful blooms all year round.

These are the five most common reasons I’ve seen — and experienced myself.

1. It’s Not Getting Enough Light

This is the big one, and it surprises people every time. A lot of newbies I’ve met either heard that AVs are low-light plants or that they can’t be in direct sunlight. It’s true that violets can’t be in bright direct light as it will discolor or burn their leaves. And it’s true that violets could exist in low light. But, there’s a difference between tolerating lower light and actually thriving in it. If you want blooms, your plant needs more light than you probably think.

Bright indirect light is the sweet spot — a few hours a day near an east- or west-facing window is ideal. A dim corner or a shelf far from any window? Your violet will survive, but it probably won’t flower.

If natural light is limited where you live, a grow light is genuinely worth it. This was the case in my old house and once I switched over to LED grow lights, the blooms kept on coming. I keep mine about 12 to 18 inches above the plants and set them on a timer to run about 10 to 12 hours a day.

Quick tell: If the leaf stems are stretching upward instead of lying relatively flat, your plant is likely reaching for more light. Move it closer to a window and see what happens. Incidentally, some violets do the same thing when the light is too strong…the leaves stretch inward to protect the center crown. The best thing is to adjust and observe until you find the right amount of light.

2. Fertilizer — Either the Wrong Kind or None at All

If you’ve grown other plants before, you may be used to only fertilizing your plants once or twice a year, or even not at all. This one got me early on too. The only other plant I’ve not killed was an orchid that I barely remembered to water. So I certainly wasn’t fertilizing it on a regular basis or, you know, at ALL. I assumed that as long as I was watering my AVs, they were fine. Nope! Blooming takes real energy, and if you haven’t fertilized in a while — or ever — that’s very likely part of the problem.

But here’s where it gets a little tricky. Fertilizer has three components that plants need in different amounts: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. If you look at a bottle of fertilizer, you’ll see three numbers which show the ratio of these components, for example; 12-8-12. The first number represents nitrogen, the second represents phosphorus, and the third represents potassium.

For African violets: fertilizers with a high first number, nitrogen, actually works against you. High-nitrogen fertilizers push out beautiful leafy growth, which sounds great until you realize you’ve got a lush, gorgeous plant with zero flowers to show for it.

What you want is a fertilizer where the phosphorus — the middle number on the label — is about equal to or higher than the nitrogen. Once I learned this, I started off with Schultz’s African violet liquid fertilizer, which is usually widely available at your local garden center. After some trial and error, I eventually settled on using the African violet-specific formula from Optimara for all of my plants. Some of my African violet club members also use mixes formulated for orchids as well, but Optimara’s fertilizer has worked pretty consistently for me. I mix about ⅛ to ¼ teaspoon of fertilizer to a gallon of water and fertilize every time I water rather than doing a full dose every month. Little and often is the way to go AND it’s easy to keep up with.

You may also see fertilizers that have a very high middle number like 10-30-20 or 12-36-14. These are known as “Bloom busters”. Can you use these for your plants? 

Short answer: “Yes, but”. 

Longer answer: Yes if you need your plant to bloom profusely at a specific time (like a show),  but I wouldn’t recommend using them in the long term. These formulations prioritize heavy blooming over healthy growth which can stress your plant if you use it for months on end. It’s better to use a formula that’s more balanced so that you can have blooms AND healthy foliage, which makes for a healthy, happy plant.

Note: if you fertilize every time you water, be sure to occasionally flush out your violet with plain water about every 4 to 6 weeks. This will help to keep the fertilizer salts from building up the soil which can damage the roots.

3. The Pot Size Is Off

African violets can be pretty particular about their pots, and getting the size wrong — in either direction — can affect blooming.

A common AV newbie mistake is picking a pot that’s way too large for the plant. If you’ve grown plants before…or even if you haven’t, it’s an understandable mistake to make. But it can be one that at best, prevents your violet from blooming, and at worse it can put your violet in danger.

Please don’t do this.

If the pot is too large and your violet is swimming in a sea of soil, two things can happen…and blooms aren’t one of them. One, your violet puts most of its energy into filling that sea of soil full of roots. Violets tend to start blooming once their roots reach some kind of obstruction, like the pot walls. That’s an indication to the plant to shift its focus from growing roots to growing blooms. Second, a sea of damp soil is dangerous to the health of your violet roots. AV roots are pretty delicate and prone to rot if submerged in wet soil for too long.

On the other hand, a plant that’s severely root-bound is stressed, plain and simple. A slightly root-bound violet will tend to bloom. A violet that has roots circling the bottom of the pot or pushing out the drainage hole is typically in survival mode. It’s not going to put energy into flowers.

The rule of thumb I follow: the pot should be roughly one-third the diameter of the plant. When in doubt, check the drainage hole. If roots are escaping, go up one size — JUST one. OR if you want to keep the violet in the same pot, you can carefully trim the roots at the bottom and sides of the root ball. You can check out my video on repotting for more information on pot sizes and how to properly pot your violet.

4. Watering Problems

I feel like watering is where most of us mess up at some point, myself very much included. African violets are not drought-tolerant, but they’re even less tolerant of sitting in soggy soil. Overwatering is the more common mistake.

When roots stay wet too long, they can’t absorb nutrients properly — and a plant that can’t absorb nutrients isn’t going to put out blooms. In the worse case, overwatering leads to root rot, and at that point you’ve got bigger problems than no flowers.

Underwatering causes stress too…it tends to be less fatal than overwatering. But a thirsty plant is just trying to survive…it’s not going to waste energy it doesn’t have by making lots of flowers.

The fix: water when the top inch of soil feels dry. Just stick your finger in the soil and feel. I bottom water whenever possible — I set the pot in a tray of room-temperature water for about 20 to 30 minutes and let it soak up what it needs. Then I take it out and let it drain.

And remember — room temperature water only. Cold water on the leaves causes those white spots and burn marks you might have noticed, and cold water at the roots is a shock the plant doesn’t need.

5. The Environment Isn’t Quite Right

African violets like comfortable, stable conditions (the key word here is stable) — around 65 to 75°F, away from drafts, away from heating and air conditioning vents, and with decent humidity. They’re not asking for much, but they do notice when things aren’t right.

Dry air is a sneaky killer of flower buds. In the winter especially, when the heat is running constantly, indoor humidity can drop pretty significantly. Low humidity can cause buds to form and then dry up before they ever open. I find that especially heartbreaking and frustrating — you’re eagerly watching flower buds grow and they simply dry up and shrivel away before they even get big enough to open.

A humidity tray is an easy fix — just a shallow tray with pebbles and a little water set underneath the pot. The water evaporates around the plant without the pot sitting directly in it. I’ve also found that grouping plants together helps raise the humidity around them naturally. If you don’t have a lot of plants around, you can also try doming your violet…that is, putting them under plastic or glass dome to help keep the humidity in. Just be sure to watch sides of the dome. If it starts getting large drops of condensation on the inside, open it slightly to let some of the humidity out and dry off the leaves if they start getting drops of water on them. You don’t need too much of a good thing.

So Where Do You Start?

If your African violet isn’t blooming and you’re not sure which of these is the culprit, start with light. It’s the most common issue, and it’s the easiest thing to adjust. Move the plant, give it a few weeks, and see if anything changes before you go troubleshooting everything else at once. There are some varieties out there that are genuine prima donnas that refuse to bloom unless they’re grown in exacting conditions (drop into any AV group and ask…you’ll get a list). But 99% of violets aren’t that hard to please.

These plants are a lot more resilient than they sometimes get credit for. They’re not demanding, they just know what they like and what they like isn’t that hard to provide. More often than not, a non-blooming violet just needs one thing fixed — and then it rewards you in a big way.

Have you dealt with a violet that just refused to bloom? I’d love to hear what ended up being the fix for you — leave a comment and let me know!

And if you want to see more African violet care tips, come find me on YouTube at My Violet Life — I’d love to have you over there too.

Posted on

African Violet Care Guide for Beginners: Everything You Need to Know

If you’ve just brought home your first African violet — or if you’ve killed a couple and you’re trying to figure out what went wrong — this guide is for you.

I’m Nicolette, and I want to be upfront with you: I was not a plant person. Not even a little bit. The orchid in my kitchen survived despite me, not because of me. My whole African violet obsession started on Mother’s Day 2021 when I spotted a display at Lowe’s on the way to buy a Mother’s Day plant for my mom. I remembered that my own grandmother grew African violets. On a whim, I grabbed two plants for myself, brought them home and named them Rosa and Lee after my grandmother. After the blooms that had attracted me at the store faded and withered away, I waited anxiously in hopes that the plants would bloom again. And…nothing…for months…because I had no idea what I was doing.

A few years, after many, many more plants, even more rescued leaves, and a dedicated plant room later, I’ve learned a lot — mostly through trial and and a lot of error. This guide is everything I wish someone had handed me on day one.

📌 Free download: Grab my African Violet Care Cheat Sheet — a three-page quick reference that covers everything in this guide.

African violets (Saintpaulia) are small flowering houseplants native to Tanzania and Kenya. They’re one of the most popular houseplants in the world — and for good reason. When they’re happy, they bloom almost continuously..

What most beginners don’t realize (I definitely didn’t) is that “African violet” isn’t just one type of plant. The kind that you’re likely to be familiar with when you see them at your local garden center or big box store. Little plant with fuzzy dark green leaves and purple, pink or white flowers. 

Here’s the truth that blew my mind in those early days. There are thousands of named cultivars — hybridized varieties with names like Jersey Snowflakes, Rob’s Vanilla Trail, and Buckeye Nostalgia. They come in minis and micro minis that fit in the palm of your hand, standard sizes, and large trailers that spill out of hanging baskets. Leaves that are dark green to light green or variegated in shades of green, yellow, pink and white. Leaves that have frilled edges, serrated edges, or smooth edged. Leaves that are fuzzy…or not.  Flowers range from tiny single petals to frilly doubles, in colors from deep violet to pure white to candy-stripe bicolors. Flowers that come with beautiful markings like light pinpoint dots and puffy spots, marbled streaks of color or pinwheel stripes. Once you know that world exists, it’s very hard to own just one.

These are just some examples of the wonderful varieties of African violets available. How can you choose just one?

Before you go down that particular rabbit hole, let’s make sure your plant actually survives. Here’s what they need.

The 5 Essentials for a Thriving African Violet

1. Light: Bright, But Never Direct Sun

African violets need plenty of light to bloom. They should never be in direct sunlight because direct sun will burn or sun bleach those beautiful leaves. The sweet spot is bright, indirect light or light filtered through something like a sheer curtain.

In practice, this usually means:

  • A north- or east-facing windowsill is ideal
  • South or west windows can work if the plant is a few feet back from the glass or shielded by a sheer curtain
  • If your plant is growing but not blooming, it’s almost certainly not getting enough light
  • Grow lights are a game changer if your space is dark — a simple LED grow light on a timer (8 – 12 hours on, 14 – 12 hours off) will keep them blooming year-round
  • Note: Make sure the leaves of your plant aren’t touching the glass of your window. A sudden heat wave or cold snap will damage the leaf touching the glass
Quick test: If you can comfortably read a book at that spot without turning on a lamp, it’s probably enough light for your violet. If it feels dim, your plant thinks so too.

2. Watering: Less Is More (and Method Matters)

Overwatering is the #1 reason African violets die. I know this because it’s how I lost my first couple plants, Bob and Walter (yes, I named them). The soil should never stay soggy — roots sitting in wet soil will rot, and by the time you notice something is wrong, it’s often pretty advanced.

Why is so easy to overwater your violet? Because an overwatered violet looks very similar to an underwatered violet, limp and droopy. But it’s easier for a violet to recover from a lack of water rather than the other way around. So how can you tell if your violet needs water? A simple rule of thumb: water when the top half-inch of soil feels dry to the touch. Not bone dry, not damp — just losing moisture.

How you water matters just as much as when:

  • For beginners, bottom watering is best: set the pot in a shallow dish of room-temperature water for about 20–30 minutes, let it soak up from the drainage holes, then remove and let it drain. This keeps water off the leaves and encourages deep root growth.
  • Top watering works too, but be careful to keep water off the foliage. Water on fuzzy leaves in bright light or cold temperatures can cause spotting.
  • Always use room-temperature water. Cold water shocks the roots and can cause white spots or rings on the leaves.
  • If your tap water is heavily treated with chlorine or if your municipal water supply is in question, consider using filtered, distilled, or room-temperature tap water that’s been left to sit overnight. (I eventually got a water distiller — more on water choices in this post.)

3. Soil: Light, Airy, and Well-Draining

Standard potting mix is too heavy for African violets. Their roots aren’t as sturdy as most houseplants and they need a light, airy medium that drains well but holds just enough moisture. If your soil stays wet for more than a day or two after watering, it’s too dense.

You have two good options:

  • Buy an African violet-specific potting mix. Look for brands like Espoma or Black Gold (one of my favorites) — these are formulated to drain properly. Serious hobbyists and professional may use Pro Mix MX. Some growers I’ve heard from has had mixed results with Miracle-Gro AV formula as fertilizer is already mixed in the soil. This makes it harder to calculate how much fertilizer your plant is already getting and it’s easy to overfertilize if you are also adding additional fertilizer.
  • Mix your own: a common DIY mix is 1 to 1 and a half part perlite to 2 parts peat-based potting mix, which improves drainage and aeration.
If you stick your finger into the soil and it feels wet and compacted for days after watering, it’s time to repot into a better mix. Good soil is one of the easiest wins you can give your plant.

4. Pot Size: Smaller Than You Think

One of the most common beginner mistakes is putting an African violet in a pot that’s too large. African violets like to be slightly snug in their pot — a good general rule is that the pot diameter should be about 1/3 the diameter of the plant’s leaf spread.

Too much soil around the roots holds excess moisture (hello, root rot) and the plant often focuses on root growth instead of putting energy into flowers.

When it comes to pot type:

  • Plastic pots retain moisture longer than clay — fine if you tend to underwater
  • Terracotta/clay pots dry out faster — better if you tend to overwater
  • Self-watering wicking pots like the Dandy pot are popular with African violet growers and can make watering more consistent once you get the hang of them. Just make sure that your soil mix is even lighter than usual to avoid waterlogging your roots, at least 55% perlite to 45% peat moss.

5. Fertilizer: Feed Regularly, But Lightly

African violets are regular bloomers, and that takes energy. A balanced fertilizer designed for African violets (look for a formula like 14-12-14 or similar) applied at ¼ the recommended strength with every watering will keep them fed without burning the roots.

Two things to avoid:

  • Over-fertilizing: too much fertilizer builds up salts in the soil and can damage roots. Flush the soil with plain water occasionally to clear buildup
  • Fertilizing a stressed plant: if your plant is droopy, dry, or recovering from something, wait until it’s stable before adding fertilizer. A stressed plant can’t use it and it can make things worse.


Also, after a fresh repot you can lay off the fertilizer for a couple of weeks while your violets absorb the nutrients from newly fresh soil.

Quick Reference: African Violet Care at a Glance

Common Problems (and What They’re Telling You)

If something looks off with your plant, here’s a quick diagnosis guide:

Bottom line: What violets really prefer is consistency. Consistent light, water, fertilizer and growing environment. Nail down these items and you’re well on your way to a very rewarding and wildly addicting hobby.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How often should I water my African violet?

There’s no fixed schedule — it depends on your pot size, soil, and environment. More humid environments usually require less watering than dry ones. Check the top half-inch of soil: water when it feels dry, wait when it doesn’t. Most plants end up needing water roughly once a week, but checking is always better than guessing.

2. Why is my African violet not blooming?

The most common reason is not enough light. Move it closer to a bright window (but not in direct sun or touching the glass) or add a grow light. Inconsistent fertilizing and being seriously root-bound are other common causes. For a full breakdown, see: Why Your African Violet Isn’t Blooming. [ADD LINK WHEN PUBLISHED]

3. Can I use tap water for African violets?

It depends on your tap water quality. Many growers use it without issue. If your municipal water is heavily chlorinated or has a strong chemical smell, you might notice it affecting your plants over time. Options include letting tap water sit overnight to let chlorine dissipate, using a filter, or switching to distilled or RO water. I went deep on this in my water guide.

4. Do African violets need special soil?

Yes — standard potting mix is usually too dense and holds too much moisture. AV-specific mixes or a blend of peat and perlite will serve your plants much better.

5. How do I know when to repot?

3 signs it’s time to repot: 

  1. roots coming out of the drainage holes
  2. the plant is clearly larger than its pot
  3. the soil has compacted so much that water runs straight through without being absorbed 

Most standard size African violets benefit from a fresh pot and fresh soil every 9 to 12 months. Smaller sized violets like semi-miniature and miniatures would need more frequent potting depending on the pot size, anywhere from every 4 to 6 months. I do a step by step guide on how to repot your African violet on my YouTube channel.

Ready to Keep Going?

African violets are genuinely one of the most rewarding plants to grow once you understand what they need. They’re not fussy — they’re just specific. Get the light and watering right, use good soil, and you’ll have a blooming plant that’ll make you embarrassingly proud.

Posted on

What’s the Best Water for African Violets?

There have been plenty of packages dropped on my doorstep in the past couple of months. But today’s package did not contain live plants (or leaves) for a change.

Delivery photos from Amazon always crack me up

About a month ago, I made the decision to purchase a water distiller. When I was learning about how to care for African violets, I found that it’s best to avoid using water that contained chlorine, chlorimides, or ammonia…which many municipal water treatment facilities tend to add. As DH and I have never been fans of our own city’s water supply, we tended to use bottled water instead of tap water. I had already been using distilled water for other things in the house, so in time I also started using it for my AVs.

As my AV collection began to grow by leaps and bounds, I found that I was purchasing a gallon jug or two of water a week just to keep up! So distilling my own water seemed to make some sense to me…with the added bonus of fewer plastic jugs to recycle!

The way distilling works is that water inside the machine is heated up until it turns into steam. Then the steam rises to the top of the unit and is cooled down, which turns the steam back into a liquid, which is filtered through a charcoal packet.

All of the impurities, minerals, bacteria and most of the chemicals present in the water either evaporate or are left behind at the bottom of the distiller. The process of distilling a gallon of water took about 4 hours.

What’s left behind after distilling. Looks pretty gross and doesn’t smell that great either.

This isn’t to say that distilled water is always the best type of water to use for African violets. I found it useful for water propagation (all the leaves I started with our city tap water died within a week or so), and for making the fertilized water I use for my plants. Plus I’ve found myself needing to clean my plant room humidifier less when using distilled water instead of tap water.

But that’s not to say that you have to use distilled water. If you ever want to start a whole- ass debate among AV enthusiasts, ask a group of them about the best type of water to use for African violets. I unknowingly started a pretty lively debate when I put the question to my AV Facebook group.

Seemed like a simple enough question…

When it comes to watering their beloved AVs, it seems like everyone has an answer that works for them and most of the responses I got fell into one of these groups:

  • Tap water– A good many folks said that they use plain old tap water. In these cases, the water that came out of the tap was already pretty good quality or it came from a source of good quality water, such as a private well. In some of these cases, chemicals like chlorine or chlorimides were added to the water, so they did suggest using chlorine remover (the same kind used for aquariums) to dissolve traces of chlorine in the water. If like me, you find that your tap water is questionable, this might not be a great option for you.
  • Distilled water– A few people said that they also used distilled water, which is a type of purified water. As described above, this is water that’s heated until it becomes steam and then cooled back down into a liquid. This method removes most impurities and bacteria that might be harmful to your AVs. In addition to watering your AVs, distilled water is also great for use in machines like humidifiers or other mechanical devices. On the other hand, the process of distilling water also removes minerals like calcium and magnesium, which are beneficial for plants. Lacking these minerals for too long could hinder growth. To compensate for this you can add a calcium and magnesium supplement to the water before using on your AVs. Our local violet guru, in the Tidewater African Violet Society, Pat, recommended using a supplement like CalMag to your water or adding bone meal to the soil mix to ensure that violets watered with purified water gets these important minerals.
  • Reverse osmosis (RO) water– One gentleman suggested that I use a RODI (Reverse Osmosis DeIonized) unit instead of a water distiller. Reverse osmosis is another type of purified water where water molecules are forced through a series of semi-permeable membranes that filter out impurities and bacteria. The advantage of RO water is that you can install a unit for your home water system instead of spending a couple of hours a day distilling water. Alternately, you can also buy large bottles of RO water instead. Installing a RODI unit can cost anywhere from a couple hundred to a couple of thousand dollars depending on how you’re planning on using it. It’s also recommended that you add a calcium and magnesium supplement to RO water or add bone meal to your soil mix.
  • Rainwater– Another gentleman swore by using rainwater and it’s pretty easy to understand why. It’s free. You can collect rainwater by setting out containers or by using a rain barrel. You don’t have to worry about removing the chemicals your municipal water supply may have added and it also has the beneficial minerals that plants love. Plants are, after all, built to use rainwater. But, as with everything, there are a couple of disadvantages too. Rainwater can pick up contaminants in the air or through runoff on buildings. So if you live near a factory or if your air quality is a bit iffy, or even if it’s spring and there’s loads of pollen in the air, those issues can also show up in your rainwater. Plus, if you live in an area that doesn’t get rain on a regular basis, or if your area hits a dry spell, you may need to stockpile rainwater to get you through the dry periods

One thing that most people agreed on was if you’re not sure about the quality of your water, the best thing you can do is test it. The ideal pH range for African violets is about 6.5 to 7.5. Distilled and RO water is at neutral 7. The pH and quality of your tap water and rainwater may vary, so doing periodic tests using some simple kits you can find in an aquarium supply shop or on Amazon will help alert you to potential problems.

Lastly, they also reminded me that I need to watch the temperature of the water I’m using. Violets hate cold water….lukewarm or room temperature is best. And when top watering, be sure to gently wipe away any drops that land on the leaves.

I’m pretty sure that using a water distiller is not going to be my final solution, especially after seeing what kind of impurities it’s removing. Our violet guru Pat said that she had installed a RODI unit for her flowers and I’m thinking that I’ll probably transition over to that eventually. It would be nice to simply turn on the tap and get nice purified water!

What is your preferred source for watering your AVs? Leave a comment and share!

Posted on

Spring Violet Ordering has begun!

The first step is acknowledging you have a problem…🤔

It’s that time of year! The temperatures are warming up and the online violet sellers and local garden centers are once again offering violets for sale! After several long, cold winter months of scrolling through websites, drooling over everyone else’s violet photos, and building up my wishlist, my spring African violet shopping spree has begun.

The spree began in early March with a random trip to my local garden center to pick up seedling soil where I was greeted with this sight:

All Optimara violets. Could you believe this is only one side of the display? 🥲

So of course I went home with more than just seedling soil:

Meet Marylin, Geraldine, and Valerie. I’m impressed that I restrained myself to only three

And of course, I went back two days later:

So I also had to get Sarah and Gladys too…

In addition to my haul from my local violet paradise, some of my favorite online violet sellers like Linda’s Secret Garden and Petals and Leaves were updating their inventories as well. So new boxes of violets have been a frequent sight on my doorstep in the past few weeks. I’ve recently discovered a few other vendors like Appalachian Violets, Woodland Blooms, and Gary’s Violets and they’ve quickly been added to my growing list of favorites.

I’ve shot unboxing videos of all of my new spring violet shipments and will be posting them to my YouTube channel soon. In the meantime, I’ve just posted a video about how I choose and inspect new violets from big box stores and local garden centers. I also go through how I prep my new beauties once I get them home. Everyone has their own process, so if you’re curious about mine you can check out the video here:

Happy growing!

Posted on

Fall Unboxing Videos

I received my first online order of violets from Petals and Leaves on October 15th of 2021. Of course, I was excited, but since I was alone in the house at the time I had no one to share my immediate excitement with.

So I did the next best thing. I grabbed my phone and recorded myself opening up the box and discovering what was inside; my first named violets, Jersey Snowflakes and Rob’s Vanilla Trail. I did a couple of quick edits and shared the video with my African violet Facebook group:

Since then I’ve made it a habit of recording an unboxing video for each of my online shipments. If you’re just starting to order African violets online, seeing how different growers pack their orders may give you a good idea of what good and safe packing looks like.

I finally created a Youtube channel so I could post all of my unboxing videos without spamming all of the poor folks in the Facebook AV group. 😂

All of the unboxing videos from my fall shipments have been updated. You can check them out below:

Lyndon Lyon Unboxing

Petals and Leaves Unboxing

Linda’s Secret Garden Unboxing

Selective Gardner Unboxing

If you enjoy these videos, remember that Spring ordering has begun. So rest assured I’ll have a lot more coming soon!

Happy growing!

Posted on

How did I get here?

My name is Nicolette Tallmadge…and I’m addicted to African violets.

Before now, I’ve never been much of a plant person….aside from an orchid in our kitchen that managed to cling to life, and even bloomed despite the fact that I often forgot to water it.

That all changed on May 9, 2021. Mother’s Day. That day I went to Lowe’s in search of a peace lily. My mother had been taking care of my uncle’s peace lily ever since he passed away in 2019. Unfortunately, it had recently shriveled up from what I now know was root rot. So I had decided to get her a brand new one for Mother’s Day.

I located one, and on the way to the checkout, I spotted a small display of African violets. While I had never really kept plants before, as a child I was familiar with the ones that my grandmother had kept. African violets had been one of her favorites. On a whim, I decided to get two for myself in honor of her. Though I felt sorry for the poor plants that suddenly found themselves in my care.

I named the two violets Rosa and Lee, after my grandmother, and kept them in a not-so-sunny part of the kitchen (next to our poor neglected orchid). After a few weeks, the mass of pink and purple flowers dried up and dropped off. A couple of weeks more, the leaves began to grow faded and limp. Wisely, I moved the plants to a sunnier part of the kitchen and began to pay more attention to the watering. To my satisfaction, the leaves perked up and got stronger.

After a bit of research, I found that violets liked consistent feeding with fertilizer. I went to the local garden center and found some liquid African violet fertilizer. I began feeding my plants regularly and to my further surprise and delight, masses of flower buds formed within a few weeks. Several weeks more, a thick crop of beautiful pink and purples flowers bloomed on both violets. By then, I was hooked.

Rosa and Lee…the two violets that started off my obsession.

I got two more violets, this time from Home Depot, and named them Walter and Bob…after my uncles. Unfortunately, my early success with Rosa and Lee was not repeated with this pair. I ran into some trouble. For some reason, not long after the flowers faded, Bob, and then Walter began to lose leaves at a rapid rate.

I visited websites, watched Youtube videos, and finally joined an African violet Facebook group to figure out how to save Walter and Bob. Again…it was the feared root rot, the thing that killed my mom’s peace lily. After a long struggle, I managed to save Walter, but Bob was mostly a lost cause. During my research, I learned a bit about propagating violets from leaves, and in a last-ditch attempt to save something, I pulled four leaves from Bob and attempted to propagate them. Two of the leaves shriveled away within a week or two. The remaining two survived and to my absolute delight started growing baby plantlets! I fell even further down the violet-lined rabbit hole.

One of Bob’s remaining leaf producing a baby plantlet.

All of this research opened up an entire world of African violets. Like most people whose only exposure to violets are the ones you usually see in your grandma’s house or in a big box store like Lowe’s, Home Depot, and Wal-Mart, I thought that most African violets looked pretty much the same. Dark green, fuzzy, oval leaves with large pink, purple or white flowers residing in 4-inch pots. Pretty enough…but not that exciting.

I didn’t realize that African violets also came in a range of sizes and in a multitude of colors, and flower and leaf shapes. I didn’t know that there were some violets that could trail, and could grow, flowing from a hanging basket instead of those neat leafy circles I grew up with. I didn’t know that there were legions of violet enthusiasts who create their own hybrid violets to produce an unimaginable variety of beautiful plants with names like Jersey Snowflakes, Smoky Mountain, and Buckeye Nostalgia.

Texas Stardom, one of the first hybrids added to my collection.

From specialty growers and online sellers, I soon found myself adding two, three, four, and more violets to my growing collection in the space of a few months. And I was still eager for more. My quest for saving the last remnants of Bob hooked me into the practice of growing new violets from leaves and I soon found myself not only propagating from my own collection but getting leaves from varieties I couldn’t get as a full-grown plant and trying to grow them into my newest additions. Over the last several months, I began turning a recently vacated room into a plant room to hold my rapidly growing collection of violets and leaves.

My plant stand in November 2021

I now have 38 full-grown African violets in my possession, over 100 African violet leaves at various stages of propagation, and an ever-growing wishlist of new African violet varieties. And been less than a year since I bought my first two. To say that I’m hooked is an understatement.

My plant stands now…doesn’t include my quarantine room

This obsession is why I’ve started this blog and a Youtube channel. Because you can only talk about violets for so long with family and friends before their eyes start glazing over. And because you can only post so often in a Facebook group before some of the members start sending messages saying “Please, you’re too obsessed! Less posting please!”.

(This hadn’t happened yet…but I can imagine it happening if I didn’t restrain myself 😉)

Here, I’ll be sharing my crazy African violet journey; new plants, discoveries, resources, tips from AV people smarter than me, stuff that I screw up…and hopefully, some triumphs too. If you like photos more than reading, check out my Instagram…and if you like videos, check out my Youtube channel. I’ve already shared a couple of new violet unboxing videos from last year. But I’m hoping to add more videos in the next few weeks. And if you want to share your own AV obsession, please feel free to drop me some comments.

Happy growing!