African violet is an armful!

African violet

is an armful!

Peggy Bredvold holds an African violet plant that resembles a big bouquet.  Bredvold received the plant from Greta Jensen several months ago and says it’s been blooming ever since.

African violets are grown almost entirely as houseplants. A full-sized plant typically measures 6 to 9 inches in both height and width, and Bredvold’s plant is more than double that size. With dark green, thick, and star-shaped blossoms of purple, the African violet makes a lush, tropical impression on her dining room table at a window with southern exposure.

Thrilled with the plant, Peggy said, “I have never had a violet before.”

It is interesting to note that in 1894, Baron Walter von Saint Paul-Illaire came upon a cluster of small, fuzzy-leaved plants in what is now Tanzania in East Africa. He had been exploring the area to bring specimens back home to Germany. This simple little plant, Saintpaulia ionantha, commonly referred to as the African violet, now grows in many homes and offices throughout the world today.