The African violets are undoubtedly among the cheeriest indoor plants available, yet people are sometimes disappointed with their performance. To help you grow better African violets, Don looked at some of the more common problems with this plant and how to overcome them.
Lighting: The lack of good light is one of the main reasons that African violets do not produce flowers indoors. Light helps feed the plants and they’ll starve if left in a dark spot. African violet leaves become ratty and horrible as they feebly reach out towards the light, desperate for sustenance.
The best position for your African violet is within 30cm (12″) of a window. If the window is facing north, and therefore gets the very hot sun, you may need to screen the window with a sheer curtain or blind as the strong northern light will burn the plants.
Water worries: Overwatering is the most common killer of African violets. To overcome this use one of the wick watering systems available. The wick passes through the bottom of the pot and into a reservoir of water at its base. Here the wick soaks up water as the plant needs it.
Ordinary potting mixes are not well enough aerated for African violets so you may want to use one of the special mixes available. Debco African Violet and Gloxinia Mixture is a reliable mixture although you may wish to add more perlite or vermiculite to lighten the mix.
Fertilising: You can fertilise your plants two or three times a year. There are special African violet fertilisers (such as the Kenrose African Violet Fertiliser) on the market available at garden centres. Alternatively use Aquasol or Nitrosol.
Common name: African violet
Botanical name: Saintpaulia ionantha. Named after Baron Walter von Saint Paul, who first discovered this plant. This plant is native to tropical East Africa. As this plant requires mild to warm temperatures and filtered light it is usually seen as an indoor plant.
Varieties and colours: There are many different hybrids on the market with flower colours ranging from white through to shades of pink, purple, blue, red and more recently, yellow (although this flower colour is still extremely rare). Small golden pollen sacks are conspicuous in the centre of the flowers which may be single, double, bi-coloured or fringed and which are held aloft on a pale green fleshy stalk. The round or oval leaves are usually covered with velvety hairs and are paler underneath. Some trailing forms are also available.
1. Nursery: Plants start at around $4-$5. The self watering African violet pots such as the Kenrose brand cost around $5.95 each.
2. Do-it-yourself: African violets are among the easiest plants to propagate at home. These are often done from leaf cuttings taken in spring and summer.
African violets are available from your local nursery for around $6 to $12. A useful book is Growing African Violets by Ruth Coulson (Kangaroo Press, 1993 edition) ISBN 0-86417-509-4.
There are African violet associations throughout Australia. For more information visit www.africanviolet.org.au, or write to:
The African Violet Association of Australia
8 Wangalla Road
Lane Cove NSW 2066