African Violet Blooms

If you remember this post, for awhile I was worried I had inadvertently destroyed the budding capacity of my African violet by watering it from the top down and keeping it in lower lighting conditions.  However, this fall I have renewed hope that I have a green thumb after all!  Buds started sprouting up several weeks ago (which had happened back in the summer too, but they never bloomed).

It may be tough to see, but the foliage has filled in quite nicely from where I had removed some "propagation" leaves earlier in the year.  Of the four leaves I snipped and attempted to propagate, one remains and is perhaps on its last gasp.

Below you can see additional buds gearing up to bloom!

Below is an overhead shot, trying to show you the filled foliage.

The photo below doesn't do justice, but this purple bloom is like fluorescent and almost an iridescent color display.

If you were wondering what I mean by watering "top down" or "bottom up," typically you water a plant by pouring or sprinkling water over the soil.  The water trickles down through the soil and is absorbed by the roots, with any excess water draining out to a saucer, trough or collecting in a stone base layer.  Watering from the bottom up, you either set a terra-cotta pot housing your African violet in a second pot which has water in it, allowing the water to absorb through the terra-cotta into your soil and roots - OR - you do what I have done and doesn't require a specialty pot... you just pour water into the drainage trough and let it wick up into the roots.  When the soil is really dry, I'll come back and add water to the trough a second or third time.  Since it takes me awhile to make the rounds when watering all my plants, I can usually do this one first, and like 10th and then last - in other words, I don't pour, sit and wait and pour again.  This is not a bad watering strategy for other really thirsty plants.  Sometimes if a pot is totally dried out and you go to water it, the soil is too hard to absorb any water so it leaks right out into your trough (more than you expected which leads to crazy overflow and a mess).  So instead, if the plant is clearly mega dried out, I may water the trough first, let it absorb and on my second pass come in and water top-down.

...And Other Fall Transitions

My African violet is coming back around!  Here you can see the first bloom has opened up, while several others lie in waiting...

 Here the mama gerber daisy is showing signs of wear.  Maybe it was from the dozen or so times I had let this go underwatered to the point its flowers and leaves would droop down to the window sill.  Maybe it was from putting out so many flowers.  Or maybe these things just don't grow back.  But as you can see, this baby mama is on its last stretch!

My Thanksgiving cactus is gearing up for a display - check out all those buds!  (I recently learned that Christmas cactuses have rounded greenery and bloom around Christmas.  These more common Thanksgiving cactuses have the spiky greenery and bloom around Thanksgiving and Easter.  I'll continue to call this a Christmas cactus, though, since that's how most people call all of them and it has a pleasant alliteration.)

Propagating African Violet

Since I was bummed that all my blooms shriveled off this plant (I'm still trying to figure out why, it could be a combo of improper moisture, improper humidity and improper sunlight... in other words I had no idea what I was doing), I decided to try to propagate it so at least I had something to be proud of!

From what I read, this can take a few months before you start to really see growth.  But here is what I read and the method I am following.

Take some clippings off of your African Violet, keeping about 1" of stem per leaf, as in the photo below.

Plant these clippings in African Violet potting soil, or whatever soil combo you come up with that is appropriate for these plants.  Then flood the pot making sure it is totally saturated.  Then cover the pot with a sealed plastic bag.  I used zip locks which I could almost close around the plants, but I figured a tiny opening at the bottom wouldn't impact the humidity-tightness of the environment.  The plant is theoretically able to sustain itself like this until it starts sprouting new growth in a couple months, so it's just autopilot here on out.  I'll post more pics of what this mini greenhouse looks like when I can get some photos during the day time.  Fingers crossed that it is as simple as it sounds!  And that my AV is sprouting some new blooms soon.  You can almost see them in the photo below.

EDIT:
I forgot to post photos of what the clippings looked like in their mini greenhouses.

African Violet (Saintpaulias)

My understanding is that these plants are long-term bloomers, close in decoration value to an orchid.  I got this one already in bloom.  I originally had it in an east-facing room where it received perhaps an hour of direct sunlight from a west-facing window in an adjacent room.  It started to lose a lot of its blooms so I wasn't sure if this was from not enough sunlight or perhaps not enough watering.  So I took it out of that darker space and put it on a west-facing window sill.  There haven't been any new blooms but it seems to be doing well.  I think the plant likes humidity so I am trying to keep it pretty moist.

March 2014:

May 2014:

I have also read that if you get water on the leaves and don't wipe it off, it will create brown spots that never repair.  So far I seem to have kept all the water in the soil, though, admittedly I don't really take care when watering!

1.) Propagate: Divide during repotting or grown from leaf cuttings.

2.) Water: Keep soil moist but not soggy.

3.) Light: Moderate to bright indirect light.

4.) Fertilize:

5.) Soil: