The backstage story behind his lovely plant dates back to the year 1892 when for the first time this plant came in to knowledge and its colors spread beyond Africa. It was a time when almost whole part of East Africa was under the German rulers. Many German officers were deputed in this region and Baron Walter Von Saint Paul-Illaire was also one of them. Baron Walter had interest in botanical plants and used to look around new plants as well.

Baron’s father was a long time patron of the botanical garden at Herrinhausen, near Hanover in Germany. Baron Walter inherited his interest in botanical plants from his father only.
Sometime in the year 1892 Baron Walter was touring in the areas of Tanga in Tanzania in the East Africa and spotted this low-growing beautiful plant. He was fascinated by its hairy, fleshy leaves and its typical attractive blue colored flowers.

Out of his interest Baron Walter collected few samples of this lovely plant and sent them to his father. Some of these samples from East Africa were shared with Herman Wendland, Director of the botanical garden at Herrinbausen by his father.

Herman Wendland could identify that the plants belong to a genus of the plant world which was completely unknown till that time. He named the plant for the first time and coined a new genus called “Saintpaulia” dedicating it to the father and son who introduced this new plant to the rest of the world.

Today this plant is famous with its popular name “African Violet”. It has 21 species in all with six different variants. There are two natural hybrids of the African violet which were discovered by botanists subsequently. The variants of African violet display lovely colors with hairy and fleshy leaves and can easily be spotted in many homes. People around the world love this beautiful plant and love its flowers specifically.

The “Saintpaulia” or the African violet is a typical wild species and does not grow in natural way everywhere. All the variants of this species are related to its own unique habitat at some particular region in East Africa. All the variants of this species display different growth patterns, forms, and range of flowers with color variations ranging from white to dark purple.

Colors and various forms of this lovely plant are in fact descendants of its original collections and because of careful breeding and hybridization the plant is now so popular that everyone wants it to be growing and flowering in homes. The popularity of this plant is increasing tremendously and who knew that an East African wild species will be loved so much!

African Violets Pictures

African Violets Videos

African Violet Species and their Conservation	African Violets Hobby (Noids)
my african violets	H&G Video of the Week: African Violets

African Violets Question & Answers

African Violets Question: 1

african violets?

me and my mom just got african violets and we wanted to know how to regrow them with a leaf clipping. like my mom said something about puting the leaf in water or something until roots grow. im not sure if this is right though. any help would be great thanks.

Answer: 1.
try here
Answer: 2.
Break off a leaf, immerse in about halfway in some water and let it set there until it starts to grow roots, Cactus will do the same thing.
Answer: 3.
From my plant knowledge your mom is correct. When roots are well established you can plant it in a pot. I do know they need special plant food and often.
Answer: 4.
Since African Violets don't like their leaves to be wet I'm not sure if that will work or not. I do have one that I have had over 20 years. I rescued it out of someone's trash. It has produced many other plants by itself. By a fluke one time I had a new plant come up. A leaf had fallen off and got covered with dirt. It shot up another plant. It was a surprise to me. Normally you water African Violets from the bottom up. But every once in a while I like to water from the top down. This kept the leaf wet and cause it to sprout. Most plants do regenerate from cuttings but there are some that are more complex. Based on some of the answers you got here I may try putting a cutting in water to see if it works on African Violets.

African Violets Question: 2

African Violet experts.... Help!...?

Hi... I bought a beautiful double african violet (purple with cyan and white frilled edges... Really nice looking) some months ago... rather young, it had around four rows of leaves and 5-6 flower stems... it was very cold and when I brought it home, most of the leaves shriveled up... After removing them within a few days the plant only had the inner row of leaves left and stopped flowering... I put it in a bright sunlit spot and gave it ample water and fertilizer... now it has nice vivid green leaves... 3-4 rows... When should I expect blooming?... What else should I do to encourage it to bloom?...

Answer: 1.
it should bloom in may just keep doing what you are doing.your doing a good job it will be ready to bloom do not worry when it's ready.
Answer: 2.
Avoid putting water on the leaves as this will turn them brown.
They like indirect sunlight.
If you want more blooms fertilize them with a fertilizer high phosphorus level...10-50-10

This is usually the middle number on a fertilizer product.
Green lights super bloom works great so does BR61. Ask for them at your local nursery.

African Violets Question: 3

What are some plants that you can grow from clippings?

I am a relativly new gardener and have just started to grow clippings in water (only african violet, spider, and some other sort of viny house plant). but i want a little more veriaty. so i was wondering what are some other plants that do well when clipped. thanks!!!

Answer: 1.
Easily grown plants from cuttings would include English ivy, goldfish plants, wandering jew, pothos, crown of thorns, swedish ivy, prayer plant, brugmansia.

Most anything viney is really easy to grow from cuttings. Other plants you can easily grow from dividing baby plants from mother plants.

As soon as your little plants start to show rootbuds switch them into potting mix, before they grow long water roots. Water roots will rot in soil and your cuttings have to grow soil roots to survive and thrive in a pot.

Good luck with your gardening :)
Answer: 2.
any plant that has viens on the leaves
Answer: 3.
POTATOES!
Answer: 4.
Also, if you find something that you want to root, but it doesn't seem to be rooting in water, you can get a rooting hormone () and that will do it. Passion flower is GREAT indoor vine that is lush, fast growing with lots of amazing flowers, that can only be rooted with a hormone.
Answer: 5.
Morning glory is another one but beware, it really wanders and Ajuga is another one! This one really travels especially from my neighbor's yard! In fact I'm fixing to kill what's in my yard!
Answer: 6.
I know that if you find a freshly cut branch then you can put it in water, inside, and watch it grow its buds. But you need to add root fertilizer. My mom just tried a little while ago and it worked. Shes now growing a small tree that will get bigger.
Answer: 7.
You would be surprised at some of the plants you can root.I do it all the time.Just take a clipping, put it in water and wait to see.
Answer: 8.
my plants that have water roots when get planted flourish.. so i don't know what Chicken in Black is talking about that they might not survive.. because that's the only way I've ever done it, and I've got 4th generation plants potted while first growing 3 inch long water roots first
Answer: 9.
Burro's Tails grow _ridiculously_ easy from cuttings.

African Violets Question: 4

Houseplant experts Help... Calathea Care...?

Hi... I'm one semi-experienced houseplant keeper and I want to know is this plant (Calathea) able to live indoors or it can only be kept inside greenhouses... I LOVE the markings on the leaves and want to experience the joy of keeping it... Any suggestions?(I grow african violet, clivia, peperomia, sansevieria, amaryllis, ferns and some other interesting plants in my apartment...)

Answer: 1.
Calathea is a beautiful plant but a bit of a challenge to keep indoors. Yes it is possible. Here's what you do.
Step 1:
Provide a calathea with moderate light. Direct sunlight will make the leaf color less attractive and possibly burn the foliage. A window with direct sunlight coming in should be shaded by a transparent curtain. The best place for a calathea is an east or a west window with either a curtain or shade from a tree.

Step 2:
Increase the humidity of your calathea's environment. High humidity is essential to a calathea and unfortunately, most homes have low humidity. Increase the humidity by placing the plant on a tray of pebbles, placing it around other plants and misting it with soft water daily. Running a humidifier near the plant is a drastic but more successful method.

Step 3:
Give a calathea a temperature of 60 degrees Fahrenheit to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. A somewhat warmer room will be tolerated, however the warmer the room the more humidity the plant needs. Because increasing the humidity sufficiently is challenging, temperatures less than 70 degrees Fahrenheit are best.

Step 4:
Water your calathea frequently enough to keep most of the potting mix moist. When the top of potting mix is dry but there's moisture several inches into the soil (gage by sticking your finger down into the potting mix), it is time to water. The water must be room temperature, so let the water sit in your watering can for 15 minutes before watering.

Step 5:
Check the calathea every spring to see if it needs re-potting. If roots have wrapped around the bottom of the plant, move the plant into the next size pot.

African Violets Question: 5

Why do people like african violets so much?

One of my teachers LOVES them, and so for her b-day we bought some, but I went to three different stores to find them because they were sold out. One of the guys who worked at the store when we FINALLY got some said that they were extremely poplular. They're cute, but they're nothing extraordinary--they don't even smell! Why are they so coveted? Heck can you smoke them or something? What's so special about them??!!??

Answer: 1.
they are a beautyful plant thats why the colors are extreamly pretty thats what the people go for the colors.the purples and blacks.
Answer: 2.
there pretty!!

Tags:   African violet · flowers · Home Gardening · Indoor Plant · saintpaulia · violets5 Comments