House plants are a great way to add life and color to your home when the winter days start to get you down. One house plant for black thumbs (people who kill plastic plants) that I love is the African violet.

The easy-care African violet is one of the most popular house plants and for good reason. They thrive almost anywhere, bloom during the winter months, and tolerate beginner mistakes. What’s not to love about this easy-care house plant?

Growing African Violets

African violets are fairly easy to grow if you have bright, indirect light. What kind of light is that, you ask? An east or west-facing window, and even a southern window will do if you can set the plant a little bit away from the window.

Still not sure what kind of light you have in the room where you want to keep your African violet? Take a book with medium sized print into the room. Stand where you intend to put your violet plant. Open the book. Can you easily read the print without turning on a light? If the answer is YES, your African violet will get enough light. If the answer is NO, then you either need to find a new windowsill or add a plant light to the room.

Violets need to be watered whenever the soil is dry, which in the summertime for me is once a week and in the winter, at least twice a week.  The forced hot air heat inside my home dries out the soil quickly and reduces humidity to levels that the violets dislike, so I mist them with room-temperature water a few times a week. Once every two weeks, I mix liquid African violet fertilizer into the watering can and water it into the soil. I also pinch off dead flowers and leaves so that nothing rots near my violets.

If you tackle these basic steps, you should be able to keep a violet alive. If you’d like further instructions on how to care for African violets, view the presentation, below.