African violet

I have experimented with African violet propagation by either taking the 2- to 3-inch stem connected to a single leaf and placing the lower inch of the stem in a small water filled glass container, or by planting the stem into a small clay pot filled with moist potting soil.

Small African violets can be content on a bathroom vanity with filtered light.

However, if you want your plants to be in a show, they must be registered with either the Canadian or American African Violet Society.

* Soil: Use African violet potting soil and repot every 12 to 18 months.

Through the decades, African violet growers have tinkered with the purple, rose and white blooms.

In the case of African violets, propagation is done by leaf cuttings which take root easily.

African violets (Saintpaulia) are great favourites, and their botanical name derives from Walter von Saint Paul, a soldier in the former German colony of Tanganyika who originally sent seed back to Germany.

Stock up African Violet Push the cuttings in vertically, 30cm apart, firming the soil back around them with your heel along each side of the row and closing the trench.

THE African violet can flower for much of the year, producing delicate pink, purple, white, reddish - and even stripy - flowers above rosettes of densely furry leaves.

Display and plant sale by Diablo Valley African Violet Growers.

African violet does seem to clash with my peccary hand bag.

The researchers at the university in Gibbet Hill, Coventry, have found a way to stop the African violet pathogen in its tracks and believe the same method could be used to tackle the anthrax pathogen in people.