Hi Quakey, Very good news. It is always nice to hear a success story. Larry

I am thinking that your plant is so grossly overpotted and the regular potting soil could be way too heavy for the plant - that you really need to repot in a much smaller pot and use light soil. You probably can use the soil you already bought if you add 1/3 of perlite to lighten it up. Forget about bloom. I would remove the buds anyway to conserve the energy. Normally I would say wait a bit for your plant to recover from repotting - but in this case I think immediate intervention is due. And until you do it - keep the soil barely-barely moist. Overpotting and heavy soil is a 100% recipe for a root rot. Whan you pot your plant in a small pot - you can use your pretty one as a cachepot. Good Luck Irina

Under the right conditions, many varieties of African violets will bloom year round. If your violet hasn't bloomed in a while, it may not be getting enough light. Try moving it to a brighter window or growing it under florescent lights. Your violet may also need some fertilizer to bloom. Fertilize each time you water, using one-quarter of the strength recommended on the package. If you violet has been in the same pot or soil for a while, repotting may give it the boost it needs to flower. If it looks like there is more than one African violet in the pot, it probably has suckers (baby plants growing off the mother). Removing the suckers will help the mother plant bloom. African violets bloom best when they are rootbound. The pot should be one third the diameter of the plant. For example, if your plant measures 12 inches across, it should be in a 4-inch pot. Join us on the African Violets forum.

Thank you, Earle and Aegis. Appreciate that you both found something there that you really liked. Irina - thank you! I was hoping someone would offer me a description/corrected name (I was pretty sure I didn't have it right.) I will amend my labeling immediately. I love what the plant is named after, too - I can just picture those pretty winter birds after your explanation. :-) Alabama, thanks for relaying your own experience with growing in that exposure and with LED's. I would imagine I will have to adjust the length of time the lights are on based on the time of year. When the sun is at it's high point in the year, the window gets much more bright light at morning and evening than it does right now. It could be tricky to make AV's happy long term, esp. those not first along the window side of the shelf. So far I am not using a timer, but manually turning the lights on and off, while keeping watch. Some are still leaning towards the window in spite of the lights, but not all. Most are growing nice and flat, so I think you're right that some plants will be happy there but there may be some I'll have to move to the fluorescent lighted stand eventually. It's an interesting experiment, anyway.