African Violet - The Early Days

To every lover of “green things growing” the African violet offers a challenge. It will grow well and bloom almost endlessly under the conditions of the average home, but it will not flourish so easily as to let us neglect it or lose interest in it. At its best the Saintpaulia is a great delight and particularly dear to all of us who need flowering plants at the window to call a house a home.

A little over a century ago this “violet” was discovered in “the hilly regions of Eastern tropical Africa.” Today it is the darling of the window-garden enthusiast and the profitable joy of the commercial grower as well. On greenhouse benches and the housewife’s sill, it blooms with equal grace, increasing its original popularity of 1893 when, for the first time, it flowered in Europe, thousands of miles from its native haunts.

From the day of its discovery, the Saintpaulia (African Violet) took the horticultural world by storm. An important garden magazine of the time noted, beside the drawing we have reproduced: “It does not often happen that a plant newly introduced into Europe can claim the honor accorded to the subject of this plate, of being within two years of its flowering figured in five first-class horticultural periodicals.” And today in America, it is the same. Leading magazines within a few months of each other run feature stories, illustrations in color, and even place the lovely purple and green beauty of the African violet upon their covers.

Not until the autumn of 1946, however, was there any test of popularity. Then the H. G. Hastings Company in Atlanta, Georgia, sponsored the first African Violet Show and the ensuing thousands of visiting “violet” fans required the attention of the police to keep traffic in hand.

But this was not the only time the police had to deal with African violet furor. A correspondent wrote of what happened in one little Pennsylvania town: “It seems someone had grown a violet there that was a dirty white and some man - possibly a grower - propagated and advertised it around as a yellow. Now he wishes he had not. The people of Manheim have been nearly crazy answering questions from collectors, in the state and out, who have traveled miles to see the wonder and to buy a plant or even just a leaf of it. Finally Manheim had to refer the situation to the local magistrate. He posted notices all around the town - -There Are NO Yellow Violets Here.”

Related Articles

• African Violet Videos - Below are links to videos related to African Violets… Growing Under Lights Water Fertilizer and Light Mixing Soil for African Violet Transplanting African Violets Selecting a Pot for an African Violet Flowering and Lighting for Your African Violet Propagating from Leaves Propagating and Producing Suckers from Overgrown African Violets Make a Self Watering Planter
• Care and Growing African Violet Plants - Easy to Grow Color - The African Violet is in the Gesneriaceae family and may originate in Africa but in fact is not a violet at all. The name comes from the violet color of the flower. They do very well as a house plant and adapt perfectly to life indoors where they bloom almost continually. Description This low-growing, hairy-leafed plant hold