My African Violet Addiction

I have grown and been in love with African Violets for about 14 years. My addiction (yes, I admit it!) began innocently enough with just one lovely little blue and white thumb-print violet.

Over the years, my hobby has grown into a wonderful collection of plants that bring me much joy.

I grow my many violets on a large three-tiered plant stand in my office. There are six 4ft fluro lights; three grow lights and three cool whites. The plant stand is not only a wondrous display of colour, but it generates lots of fabulous heat and light in my otherwise cool little office. The lights are on a timer that is set to come on at 9:30am and go off at 7:30pm.

My favourite violets of all are "chimeras". Chimeras are distinctly different to standard African Violets because they cannot be propogated via a leaf cutting! They will only bloom true via crown or sucker propogration. Although their foliage appears like that of traditional violets, their blooms are characterised by beautiful pinwheel patterns in two colours.

My favourite violet foliage type is "variegated" (which usually means multi-coloured). There are many kinds of variegation, patterns and colours. At the top of my pick list is pink, white and green variegation; especially when the violet blooms are dark blue.

My favourite violet bloom colour is red, with double and frilly petals. And my favourite kind of bloom type is "fantasy". Fantasy blooms are typically blooms that have dots, splashes or streaks of another colour in them.

These blooms are very unstable, and often when you propograte a leaf cutting from a fantasy violet, you will get far less (if any!) fantasy markings on the blooms. Again, the best propogation method is from a sucker or crown cutting.