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Still Going Strong

February 7th, 2018

I always have an African violet by my sink. It’s something my grandmother always did and something I started doing four years ago when I purchased my first one. When my mom got too sick to take care of her houseplants, she gave me all of her African violets. They were gifts from me five years ago or so (I got her a collection from The Violet Barn along with some gloxinias too, which I remember her always have when I was a kid). There are a few, so I rotate through them as they bloom. Back in October, right around my mom’s birthday, one of the ones she gave back to me started blooming.



While the other violets that live upstairs do OK, they really thrive by the kitchen sink. I don’t know if it’s the extra steam from doing the dishes, the light that comes in through the low window, or the extra fertilizer they get each morning (I water it daily with the water I rinse my coffee cup with). I can’t believe this beauty has been blooming for so long.

Do you have any houseplants just because you have memories of family members or friends having them?

4 Comments to “Still Going Strong”
  1. Joan Ray on February 7, 2018 at 3:32 pm

    Like you, I have an African violet that reminds me of someone… my grandmother had one that she started from one belonging to my great-aunt. I have one that my grandmother started for me.

    I also have a Christmas cactus that was started from my other grandmother’s plant. It blooms beautifully several times a year.

    I love the way that plants bring back memories of those we loved.

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  2. Robin on February 7, 2018 at 4:44 pm

    That violet is beautiful! I brought home Mum’s African violets, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter cacti and her African violets when she passed away 19 years ago. I don’t have the violets anymore (though I do have one of my own in the window over the kitchen sink) but the Amaryllis and cacti are doing well. It’s time to separate the 11 amaryllis bulblets so they can take off on their own and live with someone else. That’s always a good feeling.

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  3. Samantha Fisher on February 8, 2018 at 10:01 am

    I have a few Christmas cacti that were give to us as gifts from our son’s teachers at school. I used to have a beautiful dark purple violet plant from my great grandma, but now I’m not sure what happened to it. Seeing this post reminded me of her.

    Reply to Samantha Fisher's comment

  4. Mandie on March 25, 2018 at 5:48 pm

    I had an African violet given to me by my best friend probably 13 years ago as a birthday gift, and it died around the same time her mother did this past year. She just gave me a replacement the other day, as this year’s birthday gift. It’s so important to me.

    Reply to Mandie's comment

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This is a daily journal of my efforts to cultivate a more simple life, through local eating, gardening and so many other things. We used to live in a small suburban neighborhood Ohio but moved to 153 acres in Liberty, Maine in 2012.

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