Growing African Violets Under the Full-Spectrum Fluorescent Light Bulb Light

African violet (Saintpaulia ionantha) was discovered by Baron Walter Von Saint Paul in 1892. He found that precious little plant about an hour from Tanga on the nowadays border of Tanzania and Kenya.

Photo African Violet courtesy of Betsy J...

The baron soon took in that the plant was different. So he decided to send some specimens to his father in Germany. He revealed son's find with a botanist at Royal Botanic Garden in Hanover.

Botanist's name was Herman Wendland, and he realized that the plant was new to science. He named the genus after the Saint Paul family "Saintpolia" and coined the species name "ionantha" which in Latin means "violet like."

Since, African Violets quickly made their way to become the most popular blooming houseplant in the world. They are easy to grow by following a few simple rules.

Photo above: African violets (Saintpaulia ionantha) grown from leafs

These are the African violets I grew from four leaves (for the first time ever) with no special care except watering when the soil looked dried out (as on the photo). I'm assuming that full spectrum light would enable anyone to grow plants indoors year-round even though your home has no place with ideal natural light conditions.

The full spectrum light bulbs are no longer very expensive (one of the best prices you find at the website below - click on the link and find out for yourself!), they save energy and have several more benefits which I'll be writing about in my next post.

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