Pretty pictures: Saintpaulia ionantha cvv.

I still think they're pretty, but oh boy have I soured on Saintpaulia. In fairness to myself, they totally started it, by dying when they didn't receive enough water (and then developing crown rot when they did: just no pleasing some people), instead of gritting their (metaphorical) teeth and getting through it anyway, like your more understanding and compassionate plants will.




So I've gone, in a fairly short span of time (about 6-8 months?), from having nineteen of them to having only three. Two of the remaining ones clearly would like to see me replaced with someone else, a sentiment which is becoming increasingly mutual.




Carol, at May Dreams Gardens, has a theory that a person should own no more African violets than his/r age divided by ten, making me at one point 190 in African Violet years. The penalty for exceeding this is premature aging, she says. So now I'm in my 30s, both in AV years and in real life.




Logically, there ought to be a plant where the more of them you have, the more slowly you age. I mean, if Saintpaulia ages you faster, then something should be able to age you slower. My fingers are crossed that it's Anthuriums, 'cause if it is, I may not just be aging slower, I might be getting younger. Anybody seen the Benjamin Buttons movie? Did he have any plants?




Anyway. Sooner or later, I will probably re-succumb to temptation and try them a second time. Should this happen, I really hope I can come up with a better way to water. I mean, I know there are ways: I hope I am inclined to use them.