Beautiful, hardy, colorful and very unique with their "strange" blooms. Seem to withstand both heat and the cold.

When I see one of these flowers, it brings back such wonderful memories for me. Even though I can’t grow the African Violet, my mother was great at it. And when I see a pot of these someplace, I still think of her. I tried growing one a few years back, and the flower bloomed until it died. My Mother said it bloomed itself to death. Oh, well. I still love them.

There are many magnificent flowers on this planet but I have never enjoyed the sight of any of them more than the violet. While African violets are beautiful houseplants my favorite of this variety are those sweet little wild violets that pop up in the early spring. The first glimpse of their gorgeous purple (occasionally white) blooms contrasted on the dark green of their leaves is like the welcome return of an old, good natured friend. Sadly, so many of these great little plants are never given the respect or appreciation they deserve and end up being mowed down by lawnmowers before their short season is up. I’m not exactly sure why, but I always associate violets with the late 19th century and one of my grandmothers. I remember once as a child reading about how to make terrariums. So, on a rainy spring day I went out into our yard and dug up one of the little violet plants and sealed it in a small jar. Later that weekend, I gave this little home made terrarium to my grandmother. To everyone’s surprise it stayed in bloom for over a year. I guess the humble little "shrinking violet" actually has more grit than it is generally given credit for.