My Plant

In mid-April 2010, I bought an African violet.  The woman who was selling them as part of a fundraiser had spoken up on the library's behalf a few nights before at an open meeting with town council.  At the time, I wasn't in a position to speak up (I had only been interim head librarian for about a month at that point), and really appreciated her arguing on our behalf.  As a result, when I saw her selling the violets as a fundraiser, I bought one.

Now, I don't have a particularly green thumb.  I have absolutely no plants in my condo, and do not rent a plot at the community garden.  I improvised a water catch tray from a weird lid, and watered the violet daily from a plastic cup.  Somehow (I'm not sure how), I managed to keep it healthy enough for it to bloom again.  At the same time, I fought a never-ending battle against other library staff members who couldn't walk by the violet without stroking its leaves.

So now the violet sits on the second tier of my desk out front.  A few months back, the woman who sold me the violet came in to the library and asked if it was the same one she had sold me.  I said that it was, and she was amazed that it was looking so good.

This violet has gone through a few rough stretches though.  I'm pretty sure I was overwatering it at first, and I damaged a few leaves when I smacked my pen down on them to prove a point to one of the other staff members here.  So I've had to do some pruning of leaves that are in bad shape.  But the violet is still here, still alive, and still looking pretty good.  I've even placed a small origami crane in the violet because I thought it was funny to have a bird "nesting" in the violet.

...now if only I could get it to bloom again.