I am by no means an expert, but I do have constant blooming african violets. I did purchase the self watering pots as an easter gift for DM years ago and all of her lovely violets died. So, I can't recommend the self watering pots.

I just water when the soil is dry and keep in south/southeast window. I've heard people claim that you should water from the bottom, but I like to water from the top, works for me, so who knows.

I buy my AV at the grocery store. Do you have a large chain- type grocery store in your area? If so, pick one up the next time you shop. Bring it home put it in a south facing window water when dry. I think I would start with one plant to find the best location for growth in your home.

You could probably find all sorts of info online, I'm just sharing my "gardening" tips, hehe. Really a no brainer for me, being that I am definitely houseplant challenged.

I await all of the other responses as well. It is so nice to have flowering plants year round. I especially enjoy the AV blooming around Easter. Can you tell I am sick of winter?

Oh,you really encouraged me! The self-watering pots are so expensive!

About the south window. Right now it's getting direct sunlight because of it being winter with a low sun. In a month or so it will only get bright light, no sun.

Can you be more specific on how much light it should receive?

I'm going to go with vintage style decorative glazed pots that drains. They're very inexpensive and so CUTE!

I have 2 that I've had for years - one is coming into bloom now. I move them around, sometimes in a west window (but it's diffused light), sometimes east, sometimes southeast. I have them in plastic pots that sit inside white ceramic pots so they look nicer. I have a layer of small pebbles in the bottom of the pot so excess water drains away. I sometimes water from the bottom sometimes from the top. I fertilize when I think of it but no where near as frequently as recommended. The one thing you do have to be careful about is getting water on the leaves or on the stems - when you water take care to directly water the soil - they don't like getting wet. I find them nice, a bit of color periodically throughout the year, not a big investment (mine came from the grocery store) and pretty forgiving. They're small, not a lot of impact, though, so put them where you'll enjoy them fairly close up.

I had one for a number of years that did well in my light-filled bathroom. Any pot with drainage should work.

Here's a link to the FAQ on basic care of AVs from the AV forum. (I completely understand not wanting to post on a forum when you don't know anything about the subject.)

Here is a link that might be useful: Basic care of African Violets

I have african violets in my sunroom. They bloom year round. I think I have a picture in one of my albums, I'll check.

I use regular pots. Let them dry out, then water. Use an AV fertilizer.

I have cyclamen blooming right now also. Succulents are great!

tina

I have two african violets which are in constant bloom. I've had them for years, and they've been in bloom for years.

They sit on the sill of a south-facing window. I've read that they like a lot of light but not direct sunlight, but that window gets direct sunlight all year long, especially in the winter, and those plants are pretty happy with it.

I have them in normal ol' every day type pots with saucers. I water into the saucer. I do that actually with all of my plants. Keeps me from overwatering and flooding.

I do water about 5x a week. I don't water ALL of my plants that often, but the AVs suck up the water from the saucer farily quickly so I just keep replenishing.

I've also read that they like to over grow their pot with the leaves out reaching the edge of the pot. That seems to be working for me as well. I regularly pinch off dead leaves and dead flowers when the stems get thin.

I will try to remember to take pix tonight and post.

[IMG]http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o110/tinam61/100_0137.jpg[/IMG]

Sorry - you will have to copy and paste. For some reason, it is not letting me post the pic! I copy the code (same as always) into the link, name it, and then when I preview - IT SHOWS ME THE PICTURE but rejects the message!

tina

Here's your picture Tina. :)
Those white violets are really bright! How lovely!

I have a half dozen or so in a garden window in my kitchen that has north, west, and east exposure. Some of them bloom all the time; others never bloom. I think the nonbloomers need to be repotted, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. They are all in regular cheap-o pots with regular potting soil. I water them once or week or so, or whenever I notice they are dried out. I also pull off dead and dying leaves as necessary.

Most of them were started from single-leaf cuttings -- put the end of a leaf in water until it gets roots, then plant. Some are pretty old -- well over 20 years old. I saved them from my mother's collection of plants when she died 10 years ago, and they are still going strong.

So they are tough critters. Luckily, our cats don't seem to be interested in eating them.

I can try to post a picture tomorrow.

I just snapped a couple of pics. First is my beautiful Amaryllis (sp?) Another no brainer for the challenged.

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All I can say is WOW! Those are beautiful! I'm really looking forward to getting them now.

I had to LOL at the Amaryllis comment. I've always had a green thumb and my MIL gave me an A. bulb at Christmas. I think it's dying. It's just sitting there not doing anything except one long stem and it should be ready to open by now.

oakley - do you have the Amaryllis in a sunny window? I actually had to slow mine down a bit. It was in the same window as the AVs until it got ready to open. I then moved it to my cocktail table in order to make it last longer:>).

I am interested to see how the AVs that you have ordered come packed, etc. Can you take a pic after you get them potted.

My AVs are in cache pots. The pots have a saucer which I remove when I water them. I put all of the AVs in the kitchen sink and water them with the hose. I've heard you are not supposed to get the leaves wet, but I don't worry too much about that. Once they drain, I put them back onto the saucer and back onto the table. You definitely want pots that have a drain hole in the bottom. My pots were inexpensive, but I do like the cloisone pattern on my cache pots. I also have a large McCoy pot that I planted 3 AVs together in. I didn't think to take a pic of that, but it is as healthy as the AVs I snapped photos of.

Also, the purple AV needs to be re-potted. I've just been lazy about doing it. They seem to look like the stem is too long before the plant starts IYKWIM. I just repot them when they look like that and it works well.

Miracle Grow has a product to feed AVs as well. I forgot to mention that I do feed them now and then, but not on a consistent basis. It would probably be a good idea to follow the directions on the MG, but I just have too many other things going on, so that's at the end of my to-do list:).

I would like to order some if they are better than the grocery store AVs. Are you able to order certain colors, varieties? Also, I wanted to tell you that my AVs cost about $2.99 to $5.99 depending on whether the grocery chain is having a sale. Do you mind revealing the cost of plants you've purchased? If not, no biggie, just curious if they are cheaper to buy them and pot them on my own.

Best of luck and please post a pic of what you receive.

Below is the link where I ordered mine. After reading their website they seemed to be experts. I'm thinking they were $7.00 each. I don't have a store nearby that sells these plants, that's why I had to do it online.

After I wrote my last post I went to look at my Amaryllis and I'll be darn, the top bud is splitting to make a new bud, so I guess I didn't kill it! It sits in a west window, bright indirect light because there's a patio cover out back.

My DILs sits on her kitchen table and it gets no sun and it's growing like crazy!

Here is a link that might be useful: The Violet Barn

I have AVs and also the self-watering pots. Have had them before with the regular pots, but the self-watering kind make it so EASY! And I'm all for easy!

Like dlm2000 said, just don't get water on the leaves. Just the soil. And they need light. I keep mine in a east window, which they love. Moved one once to another room with less light, and it quit blooming, so I moved it back. I also got mine from the grocery store.

You will love them! Their sweet little blooms are so uplifting. And so many different colors - they are a bright spot wherever you put them. :)

Oakley - Thanks for posting the website. I see many varieties that I would love to have. I will hold off until I see an update from you regarding the heartiness of the plants you ordered.

BTW, while at the grocery this afternoon the AVs were $1.99 on sale. They didn't have many left as they are now putting out the primroses. I love the way they look, but I've not had any luck with them. My MIL has had some beautiful primroses. Unfortunately, mine don't last more than 2 weeks so I just pass on those.

Thanks again for posting the website!

I'll make sure to let you know what shape they're in when they get here. We've had ice on the ground since last Thursday, more ice to come, so it will be interesting to see if I blew a wad of cash. lol.

I could have selected the more expensive shipping where they guarantee the plants, but I didn't want to put out the extra money.

I've been house bound because of the weather for 4 days now, tomorrow will be 5, and I've gotten into Spring already! lol.

Now if I could just find a nice little Jade plant online! Or maybe I should cut up my credit card. :)

Is there any reason you couldn't buy these locally? Av's and jade plants are very common and are at all our grocery stores. The more exotic varieties ( everfloris) are at Lowes and the nurseries have tons.

I have a few I picked up at the box or grocery stores, and one I started from a "gift leaf." They bloom intermittently. One is in a self-watering pot, the others just in regular ones -- I don't see any difference in performance.

Incidentally, many years ago I taught kindergarten in a basement room with high windows. My grandmother was culling her AVs so I took about 10 of them and put one on each table. They bloomed like crazy -- every mom who visited asked how I accomplished that. I firmly believe it was all those little guys breathing all over them every day! When I stopped teaching and took them home, they never bloomed as beautifully again! Maybe I should try breathing on them.

I meant to say that our Lowes and Home Depot stores have many varieties of violets.

Other posters have cautioned against wetting the leaves, that is correct. My violets need watering no more than once a week, not always quite that often.

tina

Bumble, I live in a rural area, we do have a Walmart Supercenter but they don't put out any plants until spring, and I doubt I find a jade plant there, but I'll look. I'm only 40 minutes away from the City, but I wouldn't know which store to go to for houseplants since they don't sell them very much.

I remember years ago I could find every housplant in the world at stores, now it seems that people aren't into them like they used to be in the 70s and 80s.

I used to grow my own Jade plants with a leaf cutting, I grew Crown of Thorns, so many different varieties of plants, but that was when I could find decent houseplants besides Ivy.

Hi Oakley, I have a whole rack of AVs in my sunroom and most of the time they are blooming. Most of mine are in self watering pots, but some are not. They are in a window, but I think it faces east. I fertilize them about once a month and I usually have about 7 out of 10 blooming. I felt like I had offically turned into a LOL (little ole lady) LOL, when I could grow AFs. I'll try to get a pic tonight and post tomorrow. I also have 3 pots of bamboo (in just water) that I have had for about 8 years. I have seperated and cut it back lots over the years and it keeps on going.

excessfroufrou!! Hi there! Miss Frou Frou is still in a prime spot on my bookshelf. :) Pretty as ever!

Please do take a picture.

I know what you mean about feeling like a LOL. When I was about 20 we rented a house from this "old" lady and she had gorgeous African Violets. We had to go to her house once a month to pay rent and she'd go on and on about them. I was really into plants back then. She was also one of the very few female attorneys in Oklahoma..when she got her degree.

If I can grow the four I ordered, I'm thinking about getting a tiered stand for them.

We have so many trees around our acre and I may not have much direct sunlight come spring and summer. My only east window gets sun all year long except there's a floor vent close to the area. Not sure if that'd be good or not.

I'm going to Walmart in the morning to scope out their plants, IF they have any.

Can't wait for the pics!

Here are the pix as promised. They are not all perfect, but they sure are cheery in this drab weather. My DS bought me the wire rack at the Salvation Army, he also gave me those giant green pots for Christmas this year.Also here is a pic of my bamboo.
Syble

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oakley- like you we live in a rural area with many trees that shade the front of the house (where my AV's live). I think they do well because they get diffused sunlight.

Good luck with your plants. Can't wait for the pics!

Syble, those are luscious! And the white stand really makes the whole area cheery. Good job!

Work, that makes me feel better because I'm pretty sure we won't get hardly any direct sunlight in a couple of months. Except for the east window.

Went to Walmart today and they had zero plants. I know they get some houseplants in the spring, so I'll wait until then. My AF's should come next week.

After looking at Syble's green pots, it makes me want to buy the Fiestaware plant pots and saucers but they're so expensive!

I bought a couple of beautiful vintage planters from Ebay. They don't have drainage holes, which I expected.

If I put pebbles in the bottom, will that be okay to grow a plant in? And what exactly would the pebbles do anyway, wouldn't excess water still sit there and contribute to root rot?

I just love AV and they make me think of my mommy and grandma. My mom always had tons of them sitting in the kitchen window.

They came today! Along with a couple of succulants I orderered. Of course they had to come today when I planned on being gone so they sat in 33 degree weather for three hours, but I have to say, they were pretty insulated.

Aren't these cute? I'm just going to let them sit there before I repot them, so they can get used to the house.

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They said not to put the succulents in direct sunlight, which is good.
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Bumping this up. I keep reading on "official" sites not to give them direct sunlight. But I see a lot of your's get sun.

Mine are in a south window and I can give them sun or just bright light, depending how I move the slats on the shutters.

What do you suggest? It's not that strong summer sun though.