When my sister was at my house she was checking out my African Violets. I really don’t have a lot of other plants besides those…a few but not a lot. I’m always intimidated when my sister checks out my plants and she is really an AWESOME plant lady…me, not so much.
The one she was checking out was this…it’s a trailing African Violet. An AMAZING blog reader gifted to me. She ordered it from The Violet Barn and had it sent directly to me. I’d not had a trailing violet before so this was really new to me. It was a tiny plan but it has flourished. It has been blooming since May. This is actually about the least amount of blooms it’s had since then. It truly is a continuous bloomer. It stays in my west kitchen window right above my sink so I can see it when I’m washing dishes. I love it.
I told my sister I would give her some leaves and start a plan but she said no. I had given her some leaves and they had just barely started making new babies and died.
I forgot to ask her what she did with them once the babies started…I don’t know if she immediately transplanted them or what. So I thought I would show you what I do with my babies once they start. The answer is nothing.
Just wait. I think I jumped in mid-story. First let me show you one of my African Violets.
Here is one…
If you want to start baby violets, you need to… pick a healthy leaf and clip the stem of the leaf to be about one inch long. Put it in the soil and then wait and wait and wait and wait. I put about 1/2″ of the actual leaf submerged into the soil. The waiting is LONG I really think it might take 3 months before babies will start to form.
A blog reader sent me some leaves quite some time ago. I did everything I explained above and finally little babies are starting to form.
I put three leaves in one pot and lots of little babies are forming. Can you see them hiding?
Even more…
It would be VERY tempting to start trying to transplant these but I don’t. I will likely let them be in this pot for another month or more. I often leave them until the parent leaf rots away. The babies need to be established on their own before taking them away.
It looks like I am going to end up with LOTS of babies so I’ll be sharing them. I’ll give my sister one and our son Buck has a plant room in his new house so I’ll give him one too. Karl’s friend Ethan is into plants so one will likely go there too. There will be lots to share so that’s awesome!!
I bought this plant at the thrift store. It looked awful. I ended up repotting it, cutting it back, and planting the cuttings.
It is finally looking better. You can see some of the leaves I stick back in the dirt are starting to thrive.
This is a new African Violet I bought this summer. I ordered it online. I love the variegated leaves.
It’s now going to bloom for me. YAHOO!!
This is a miniature violet that is variegated too. It will never get “big”. It’s developed to be a mini.
It doesn’t bloom a lot. I really think it’s time for a bigger pot. I’m hoping I can find a self-watering one in mini size.
I bought this as a starter plant this summer. It had a little setback as there were actually two plants together. I had to split them. It’s not looking better. Hoping for a few blossoms soon.
This is my Swedish Ivy. I got clippings from my sister’s plant this summer and started them. It’s looking so good considering it was a new plant just this year.
I bought this Wondering Jew from the thrift store. I think it was an outdoor plant and no one wanted to bring it in when it was getting colder so they took it to the thrift store. Their loss was my gain. It’s a big plant!
Upstairs my violets are doing okay. I have a couple that needs repotting including this one…
Each violet is different. This one has a white edge around the purple flowers. The plant in the background doesn’t have that white edge around the blooms…but it’s purple. That one also got a couple of sun burned leaves.
Aren’t the blooms on this one pretty?
I bought a new Christmas cactus. From the color of the buds, I had hoped it was a yellow version. Alas, they are pinkish-white. I am looking for a Christmas Cactus with yellow flowers. They do exist…I’ve seen them. There was a HUGE beautiful one on the church silent auction. I was so tempted to buy it but it was going for $75 when I last looked. I’m sure it went for more. The plant was so pretty.
That’s my plant news. Many thanks to the blog reader who sent leaves. I’m loving that they are making little babies. I can’t wait for them to grow up so I can share them!! That’s one of the things I really love about plants. So often, they can be shared!!
The Swedish ivy is beautiful and the Wondering Jew was a real find at your thrift store. The African violets are in a class of their own.
The Christmas cactus will start from a “leaf” like the violets do. Break off a section where is forms a double branch and put it in cactus soil. Treat it like a whole plant with light and water. Maybe you can get a start from whomever bought the yellow one.
I love your African Violets, Jo. Thanks for the tour!
This brings back fond memories of my grandma as she always had African violets. I tried many years ago to have some but they didn’t do well for me. They are all beautiful!
Thank you for sharing the pictures of your plants and showing us how to start new one. I have so many sweet memories of mom and her plants. She had so many she was always starting baby plants and giving them away when they were growing well. She had hers all in a south facing bay window. They were such a beautiful addition to the room. For some reason they never got sunburned.
Jo, you definitely have a green thumb.
What do you feed your african violets? What do you do when the main stem of the plant starts to curve in an S shape?
I think you are wrong when you say you are not a plant lady. Your plants thrive! I really like the Swedish ivy plant besides the violets. My MIL had a yellow Christmas cactus. I was hoping I had a start from it, but guess not. This year is the first year that my mother’s Christmas cactus didn’t bloom for me nor did any of the others. I do not have the right place for them I guess. I have had my mother’s for over 20 years and it always was beautiful. I think we keep our house to cold (66 degrees usually).