The Last Flower of Winter

We have African violets growing on the kitchen windowsill which I look at each day while I'm doing the washing up. Through this winter, as they have in previous years, they've produced a steady stream of flowers to brighten the season's long dark days, but today there's just one flower left.

I've always had a soft spot for African violets simply because they obviously originally came from Africa - which is where I like to think I came from - but I now know that the ten species are native to only one quite limited area of Africa, the Usambara Mountains of Tanzania, just inland from Tanga.

Not only have the two 'adult' violets flowered all winter, they've also given us a baby, grown simply by breaking off a leaf and sticking its stalk into some compost.

At one time I had half-a-dozen or so of these plants in several colours but I now only have the one colour - despite the standard 'violet' flower being my favourite. I would have more but we're very short of the not-too-sunny windowsill space where they grow most happily.