History of African Violets

The African Violet was discovered in East Africa in 1892 by Baron Walter von Saint Paul, a German Governor of Tanganyika (now Tanzania). He sent seeds back to his father who was an amateur botanist in Germany where it aquired the botanical name: Saintpaulia.

Over twenty wild species have been found, all of them have blossums in the blue-violet range with varying characteristics. Hybridization has resulted in the highly varied modern varieties we see today.

The best window for your African violet is a north-facing window in bright weather and an east-facing window the remainder of the time. Southern and western exposures are usually too bright for violets. They will also thrive under fluorescent lights.