Thank you stonesriver and everyone else for the kind welcome. Yes, I think I may have been a bit bitten by the "gardening" germ. Granted, I am nowhere close to where most people on this forum probably are. I am mainly a "decorator" who feels that a house without any indoor plants is sad, dry and too much of a sign of our rushed times. So I decided I HAVE TO get some reasonably elegant indoors plants established. The only thing close to caring for a plant I've done before were some geraniums. They did OK, I managed not to kill them and they bloomed quite a bit over the winter even if they did get leggy. Oh, well. Now I took them outside and I decided that they will go in the basemenent for wintering when times comes. I will no longer keep them in the house because they are not really elegant, gracious plants. I like their bright colors outside in the summer but that's that for now. So I decided it was time for something finer and elegant to go with our classic/traditional living room as well as my busy schedule. I also knew this was going to be harder than a geranium which are quite hard to kill anyway. So off I went to Pikes and I grabbed some plants I had heard were not hard to care for and would do well on our Eastern bay window. A Peace Lily, four AV-s and two yellow begonias. (I did kill a begonia last year but later, after more reading, I realized I was making mistakes with it). A real gardener I will never be - not with a full-time academic career and two small children; but By God, these few plants must stay alive, do well, and even bloom nicely - this is all I hope for. I don't plan to do any complicated wick watering (at least it sounds complicated to me) or much propagation or anything - I just want to keep my living room looking as pretty as it is now, with lots of healthy blooms, if this is not too much to ask. Since I've heard so much about how important the soil is, I think I am going to change the soil the plants came in pretty soon; at least for the AV-s, I don't know whether I should do the same thing for the begonias, but probably should. Having a month between waterings sounds like a lot to me. These are small pots (4" I believe) and I think all moisture would evaporate altogether from such a small pot well before the 1 month mark; especially if I change the soil to something more airy. I did fertilize the AV-s when I watered them the first time - with some 5-7 drops of liquid fertilizer from MIracle-Gro, as indicated on the package. I am a super novice so I just did the novice thing. I guess changing the soil will also change the present routine. Some of the flowers on my AV-s are starting to fade now- they are starting to have little burnt patches on the petals, but I assume this is the natural cycle of the flower - as I bought them with quite a few blooms from the nursery and it might just be their time to go. I am just hoping they will continue to bloom for a while. Thank you again for the kind welcome, I wil certainly be around because I have been clearly "bitten". :-)

Tess You have received some good advice above. Let me add my two cents here. I have been where you are now and had to learn the hard way. Avs like to be pot bound and the regular potting soil by itself is too heavy holds water and will kill your plants eventually. Using a soiless mix will help you or adding plenty of perlite to your heavy soil but I would go with the soilless. One thing that happens with the way you are going now is you will either under water or overwater either way your plants will suffer. I seriously suggest you look into and try wick watering. Its the only way to go. Well, ok so that might 3cents worth.

If you have had them for a year without repotting them then it's past time. I think I have read to repot them every 4 to 6 months. I have repotted violets that were blooming without too much trouble but I should tell you that I don't have very many tiny mini's so I don't really have a lot of experience with them. Good luck and let us know how it turns out. Bonny

The problem is with the soil and not the plant. You need to pour water below the plant leaves and thoroughly drench the soil. Make sure the water is pH neutral or slightly acidic--absolutely no alkaline water (if not sure just use room temperature bottled water for now). Then go out to your nearest gardening store to buy a bag of african violet pottling soil and one bag of perlite (can also buy it online). Then mix 1/2 cup of soil with 1/2 cup of perlite and repot this plant. You'll need to completely soak the current soil, so you can pry it off gently and pot the plant in the new, better quality soil. A watering cord/wick can also help maintain perfect moisture for the plant. Good luck!