African Violets A Window Garden A Hobby

Pinterest Hidden Image

The value of indoor gardening as a health-preserving and rest-promoting hobby is inestimable. It can supply necessary relaxation and ease mental tension in these trying times.

If you’re not already an indoor garden hobbyist, you’ll find starting a window gardening venture worthwhile this fall when your outdoor garden needs less attention.

african violetsPin

The saintpaulia (African violet), more than any other house plant, has been responsible for many an individual’s present-day interests in window plants, or maybe we should thank their grandma!

These responsive African Violet plants are of easy culture and adaptable to many growing conditions. They keep interested at a keen pitch by offering variety in color, size, the shape of bloom, and unusual foliage – all this in addition to their willingness to flower almost yearly.

One reason for the continuing interest in saintpaulias is the ease with which they may be propagated. A leaf cutting may produce a flowering plant in six or seven months.

African violets, of course, predominate many windows (especially the kitchen window) because they make such a beautiful bloom show.

Related: Growing African Violets

Plenty Of Light

A window garden may be any size, large or small, but if it’s built around an African violet collection, it should be well lighted, preferably by a northern or eastern exposure.

Most plants need plenty of light – especially African violets – but they do not want direct sunlight.

However, a little winter sunlight is beneficial and will promote growth for all the plants and encourage the African violet to bloom more profusely.

Temperature Extremes Not Wanted

Extremes in temperature are not desirable. If the room is hot and the air dry, the plants will not prosper. African violets also tend to drop their buds prematurely under such conditions or if the air is stale. A room temperature range from 65° to 75° degrees Fahrenheit seems excellent.

I have more consistent success when all the plants in my window garden are potted in the same general container style. In this way, they all need watering about the same time, and I give them more regular care.

Decorative pots are used for beauty’s sake, and each is equipped with a wick for several years. I have used wick watering exclusively.

First, probably because I am a little lazy, and second, my plants seem to like it. Then too, I am often away from home for several days at a time, and my wick-watered plants are more easily cared for by someone less familiar with their needs.

All there is to water them is to fill the little reservoir under the pot.

If you try wick watering, allow the soil to dry a little now and then, and water from the top every so often to wash out any accumulation of fertilizer salts. There are several good wick watering pots on the market, but you can also make your own.

Daily Inspection Of African Violet Plants

If you use ordinary pots rather than wick-watered containers, proper watering will have much to do with the success of your garden. For best results, water regularly with tepid or warm water, never cold water, and pour the excess water from the saucer.

Plants should be inspected daily, and the soil kept only slightly moist to the touch.

Any loose, porous soil with a high organic content may be used with good results. I add some perlite to provide better drainage and aeration. Don’t use soil that is too fine or too heavy; it will pack down, and when you water, it will be a soggy mass.

Whatever the pot or soil, plants should be well fed to produce luxuriant foliage and good bloom. Feed a reasonable amount of well-balanced, completely soluble fertilizer at the top of the soil every two weeks. Your window garden will remain beautiful and be a constant pleasure.

“Why a window garden?” is a question I am usually asked. “Don’t you want to grow petunias, zinnias, or roses in the yard anymore?”

Of course, I do, for I have a small back-door garden spot I love where I work many happy hours. Then, when I am tired, I enter the cool shade of our enclosed porch and enjoy my plant window.

I am content to sit, to forget the hot sun, the worry about watering with the hose for hours each evening, the struggle with bugs, and many other trials and tribulations I have weathered in my years of outdoor gardening.

A window garden has much to recommend for, as an armchair gardener, you can have all the thrill of growing things without the real hard work.

And a window garden may be completely redone anytime the arrangement is not pleasing. You do not have to wait for fall or spring; you can start remaking or rearranging it anytime the urge overtakes you.

It seems all necessary to have a successful indoor garden is a careful selection of plants that will live happily in the exposure you wish to grow them in.

It is a good idea to know your window first, then plan the type of window garden that will give the most successive bloom and growth throughout the year.

Why Window Garden?

Why a window garden? Because its joy is constant, the plants growing there will provide freshness and color during the drab days of winter and the hot, sunny summer.

Window plants will bring hours of pleasure and contentment. The seasons change, and outside flowers come and go, but a window garden well filled with attractive plants – and African violets – will bloom on, come snow or summer shower.

Getting Started With African Violets

by A Wright – 63494