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I have always loved houseplants, although flowering houseplants used to evade me. I decided

one day to buy my first African Violet. I did not have any type of green thumb, so i thought for sure I would kill this plant. It was a very pretty plant dark green leaves and dark purple flowers. I brought it home and immediately re-potted it. I did not know that for these plants to flower they prefer to be root-bound. I then proceeded to water it just like any other plant,wish the grocery store had told me NOT to get the leaves wet.

I also had no clue about the lighting; needless to say by the end of my first week this poor plant was dying. I took a leaf off of the violet hoping to save a piece of it and put it in a throw together green house made using a pot inside a ziplock baggie. I had to water this one via the bottom portion of the bag and being a "baby" of the mother plant I set it to get plenty of sun in a west window. Imagine my surprise when I noticed it had become pot bound and started new leaves.

I figured it liked it and just continued to water it from the bottom a few weeks later to my amazement it flowered. I had moved the "mother" plant to the same location and she had also recovered. Then I ran into a new obsticle, pest problems, mealybugs to be exact. These little critters have proven to be hard to eliminate because most pesticides are not for use on African Violets.

This led to experiment after experiment. I discovered most things will kill a Violet. I got brave one day and spritzed my infected violet with Avon's Skin So Soft, it was the only child safe thing I had not tried. It killed the bugs and two of the leaves but I now have very healthy plants.

I had also discovered upon trial and error that the amount of light these plants receive also is a direct link to how many flowers the plant will have. The more direct light the more flowers.

I have created a few mixed colors by cross pollenating and putting two leaves from two different plants in the same pot. I now have an entire room of various African Violets. They are not the easiest plant to grow but are definitely not the hardest. They are one of my favorites. In my opinion anyone can raise an African Violet if there clear care instructions with the plant at the time of purchase. As with any plant do some homework on it and you may discover the green thumb you never had.

Learn more about this author, Marilyn Y Meyer.
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