Why Do My African Violets Change Colors?

About This Episode

A question about why an African violet is changing colors. Plus, Grumpy shares a tip on buying garden tools.

Question Of The Week

"My African violet had the most beautiful white blooms with purple edges. Now they've changed to solid purple. I rooted some leaves from my original. I'm wondering if my little flowers are going to be true to their mother plant, or purple." - Anna

Grumpy's answer: Okay, well bi-colored African violets like yours are hybrids, and they carry the DNA of two or more parents. And sometimes these hybrids decide they wanna be the color of just one of their parents, so they revert to that color. Once they do, they usually stay that way. So the rooted leaves of yours will probably have solid purple flowers too. The color of royalty.

Tip Of The Week

You'll thank me for this if you make this mistake, and that is when you're getting your hand tools, whether they happen to be trowels or pruners or clippers or whatever you use out in the yard, don't buy green ones because you know what you're going to do. You're going to finish digging that hole or pruning that plant or clipping some foliage and then you're gonna drop the clippers right onto the lawn where it's green, and you can't find them anymore.

And you wonder where the heck are they? And the only time you find them is when you're cutting the grass and you run them over with the mower and metal is just flinging everywhere. So do yourself a favor, doesn't cost any more, get some with blue handles or red handles or yellow handles, whatever, just not green.

About Ask Grumpy

Ask Grumpy is a podcast featuring Steve Bender, also known as Southern Living’s Grumpy Gardener. For more than 30 years, Grumpy has been sharing advice on what to grow, when to plant, and how to manage just about anything in your garden. Tune in for short episodes every Wednesday and Saturday as Grumpy answers reader questions, solves seasonal conundrums, and provides need-to-know advice for gardeners with his very Grumpy sense of humor. Be sure to follow Ask Grumpy on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen so you don't miss an episode.

Editor’s Note: Please be mindful that this transcript does not go through our standard editorial process and may contain inaccuracies and grammatical errors.