On the Homefront: A Window Sill Full of African Violets

When we bought our current house over ten years ago, we remodeled the kitchen, and I insisted on having a greenhouse window installed.  I love it!  This is what the window looks like right now -- full of blooming African violets.  I grow African violets in memory of my mother.  She had the greenest thumb of anyone I ever knew, and growing these flowering houseplants was one of her specialties.  She could grow them up from a single leaf (and would upon occasion pinch a broken leaf from a plant in the now defunct dime store of our home town for just that purpose!).  I remember when I was in college, I bought a tiny African violet plant for a quarter from a yard sale.  It consisted of two tiny little leaves, and the whole year I had it in my college apartment it remained that way.  When I went home for the summer I left that pathetic little plant with my mom.  By the end of summer my African violet had burgeoned into a robust and leafy thing of beauty, covered with lovely pink flowers. My mother passed away years ago, but in her honor I learned how to care for African violets and now have them flowering on my own kitchen window sill, just like she did.  Thanks for the memories, Mom, and a window sill full of blooming beauties!