African Violets, originating from East Africa, are a great flowering companion to brighten up your home. Known to symbolize devotion, commitment, and faithfulness, they make a thoughtful gift for special occasions. Under the right care and placed in indirect light, African Violets will reward you with constant blooms all year round.
As your collection of African violets grows, you’ll probably run out of spaces to place your African violets pretty quickly. The size of your collection and the layout of your house influences which African violet plant stand is the best for showing off your lovely collection.
African Violets thrive indoors in humidity and bright indirect light, which is where they will produce the best colour and blooms.
Choosing the Right Pot
Besides the plant stands for African violets, another aspect of displaying this beloved houseplant is the pots you choose to place your African violets in. If you want your African violet collection to look its best, you need attractive pots. However, when it comes to choosing pots, you have to think about appearance as well as function.
Choosing the correct pot for your African violets matters because it affects how much water the soil holds on to. That still leaves you with a vast array of choices for containers. Self-watering pots can work well for African violets that are mature and well established. However, since African violets can handle their soil drying out between waterings, it isn’t absolutely necessary to use self-watering pots. If you already have a habit of watering your plants regularly, self-watering pots are probably unnecessary for African violets.
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Plastic pots are long-lasting and keep the soil from drying out too quickly. Ceramic pots are usually very attractive. However, it isn’t always possible to find ceramic pots in exactly the right size. Also, for some reason, ceramic pots sometimes lack drainage holes. If you find a ceramic pot you love that isn’t ideal for your African violet, consider planting the African violet in a plastic pot and then slipping the plastic pot into a slightly larger ceramic pot. You can remove the plastic pot when it’s time to water.
Clay pots can be used for African violets, but they aren’t our first recommendation. Clay pots tend to allow the soil to dry out quickly. For quick reference, these are the typical pot sizes for different-sized varieties of African violets.
Plant Stand Ideas for African Violets
Let’s get clever with exciting new ways to grow your beloved African violets vertically! From hanging baskets to unique wall planters, here’s how to decorate any space with these brilliant flowers.
Floor Plant Stands
Convenience Concepts 5-Tier Glass Tower: If you have a limited footprint available for displaying your African violets, this tower is the perfect option. It’s easy to put together, only takes up 11.75″ x 15.75″ of floor space, and with five tiers, there’s still plenty of room to display lots of African violets.
Augosta 3-Tier Wood Plant Stand: If you have more space available, this large three-tier plant stand looks stunning in front of a sunny window. The A-frame design makes it a unique focal point and draws attention to your plant collection.
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Bamworld Plant Stand: This indoor/outdoor plant stand has plenty of room for a large African violet collection. With 11 shelves, this stand looks equally beautiful on a balcony or in a living room.
FEISIER Plant Stand: For smaller collections, this metal plant stand creates a delightful display.
Bamworld Plant Stand - 7 Potted Ladder Plant Holder: This bestseller plant stand has room for a medium African violet collection. The alternating height tiers draw attention to your collection.
Plant Stands with LED Lights
African violets are fairly easy to care for, but they won’t produce beautiful blooms if they don’t get enough sunlight. Depending on your home’s layout, it can be difficult to give African violets adequate access to light year-round. Plant stands with LED lights make it easy to supplement natural light with artificial light.
Monios-L Plant Shelf With Grow Lights: This four-tier stand, with plenty of room for an impressive collection of African violets, is a great way to show off your collection while also providing enough light to create optimal bloom conditions.
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Grow Light Strips: Plant stands with LED lights included can be expensive. If you’re up for the DIY approach, adding LED grow lights to an existing plant stand can make your plant-collecting hobby easier on your wallet.
LED lights use less electricity, last longer, and are more cost-effective.
More and more growers are saying goodbye to their fluorescent lights in exchange for the convenience of LED’s. LED lights use less electricity, last longer, and are more cost-effective. They also use substantially less heat making them safer, and I’ve noticed I don’t get water spots on leaves. The dimmers also allow the lights to be closer to the plants.
Wall-Mounted Plant Stands
When you don’t have a lot of floor space, wall-mounted plant standards are a great solution. Wall-mounted stands bring your plants to eye level, making them easier to admire.
Wall-Mounted Outdoor Plant Stand: These space-saving shelves are the perfect size for a small African violet collection.
6-Inch Flower Pot Holder: With a minimal, functional design, these ring wall-hanging brackets keep the focus on your African violets. The rings come in a set of four, and you can attach them to the wall in any arrangement that suits the space.
Hanging Plant Stands
Finding hanging baskets for African violets can be tricky. As you’ll read later in this article, African violets do best in very specific-sized pots, and it’s not always easy to find hanging baskets in the correct size.
3-Tier Hanging Planter Shelf: Perfect for any space, this hanging tier planter has three shelves that hold three plants each for a total of nine plants.
3-Pack Macrame Plant Hanger: This pack of three macrame plant hangers has three different sizes to accommodate different-sized pots.
Other Creative Ideas
Here are some additional creative ideas to display your African Violets:
- Utilize your window space to set up a compact tiered shelf.
- Why not use your DIY skills and old PVC pipes to create this African violet tower?
- A curved shelving unit like this can easily beautify your dull corners.
- Create tiered shelves with integrated lighting to showcase a great collection of your African violets.
Spalted Maple African Violet Plant Stand
Caring for Your African Violets
African violets need many hours of bright, indirect sunlight. The best place to position African violets is in a window that faces north or east. Rotate the plants slightly once a week to keep one side from growing toward the light more than the other sides. During the winter, make sure your African violet is not too close to the glass when temperatures are cold. The cold can quickly damage the plants before you notice the problem.
With African violets, the size of the pot can influence how well the plant grows. When an African violet’s pot is too big, the roots do not reach all the soil, and the excess soil holds on to too much water. The correct pot size is one that has a diameter of about one-third the diameter of its leaves. If you are able to find a pot that is wider than it is tall, that’s also better for your African violet. Their roots tend to grow out more than they grow down, so shallower containers better accommodate this growth.
Since African violets are grown in such small pots, they use up the nutrients in the soil fairly quickly. For this reason, it’s important to change the potting soil regularly each time you repot your plant. Repotting regularly is good, but repotting too often can stress your African violet. The general rule is to repot around twice a year. However, this depends on how quickly your African violet grows-you’ll need to repot less frequently if your African violet doesn’t grow as quickly.
African violets can survive in normal household conditions, but to have the most attractive African violets, you’ll need to put in a little extra care.
Whether you’re just starting out or are a seasoned grower, African Violet Resource Center has everything you need to help your plant grow vibrant and strong.
