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Growing Violets
You have no idea just how many times I have tried to grow African violets. Over the years I have had so many, and while I can sorta keep them going, they are never as beautiful as when I first bought them. Finally, success! Last summer, we had to cut down two of our beautiful back yard trees and all of a sudden I had light coming through my kitchen window. I figured it was time to try again. I bought this violet (upper left top corner) and enjoyed it for a long time until all the blooms went away. I kept at it, watering it, turning it, feeding it and one day I thought I saw some buds. Putting on my glasses, I saw I had a lot of buds. Okay, so far so good. I crossed my fingers and waited. And for the first time ever, my African violet re-bloomed A LOT!!. Not just one or two blooms but many. Today, I will be purchasing another one and I hope that my kitchen window will be filled with them just like my mother's and grandmother's windows.
My grandmother, Rose Behnke (top right photo), was known for her African Violets. She was written up in many magazines and she grew all of the violets that we sold. She hybridized many African violets back in the 50's and 60's, and even named one after me! The 'Stephy' violet was a very light pink with ruffles around the bloom. (For more information on the history of Behnke's and violets written by my mother, Sonja Behnke Festerling you can click here.) As I mentioned, my grandmother had African Violets in her kitchen window for as long as I could remember. She also had them in her sun room off of her home. They were the go-to gift that she would hand out to visitors and take with her on trips across the country as hostess gifts. Rose Behnke would also welcome each new First Lady to the White House with a selection of hand picked violets for her new home. From Bessie Truman (middle far left photo) to Nancy Reagan--we have an album full of thank you's from each of them. My grandfather would always take a box full of violets to the hospital to hand out to the nurses whenever one of us was sick. You can also check out Rose's "do's and don'ts" on Growing African Violets.
Then there is my mother. I think violets have a special bond with her. She has some that are over 40 years old (middle photo) and they just love her. Mom used to give talks at the nursery for violet lovers and always had a crowd (middle right photo). While she was recovering from a fall last summer, I actually thought I had managed to kill her violets. They were not looking too happy. Mom was gone over a month, but within 2 weeks of coming home they were all blooming again. How could it be that with both of these wonderful women in my life, I could not grow a violet? It was awful. Everyone assumed I would have this green thumb when it came to violets. Not so much. But now I have hope. I have light, I have the desire and I won't give up.
The bottom two photos are of my mother, Sonja. The one of the left is of her watering some of the many stock plants. The bottom right photo was the front page of the Washington Star when my mother was 17 years old.
-Stephanie Fleming, Behnke Nurseries
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