African violets are available in a huge range of foliage and flower sizes, shapes, and colors.
Today we are going to take a quick look at the vast variety out there so these plants can show off their jaw-dropping beauty and diverse nature – and hopefully encourage you to try growing an African violet yourself!
The varieties available now are so vast that I won’t attempt to cover them all, but I will highlight a few features worth note as a houseplant enthusiast.
Table of Contents
- African violets sizes: from tiny to large!
- African violet foliage varieties
- African violet flower variety
- African violets: rosette-shaped plants and trailing plants
- Big Takeaway
- Related Posts
African violets sizes: from tiny to large!
African violets can range from over 16 inches in diameter to as small as 3 inches in diameter when mature.
The various sizes are described as:
- Large standards (12 to 16 inches in diameter)
- Standards (8 to 12 inches in diameter)
- Semi-miniatures (6 to 8 inches in diameter)
- Miniatures (3 to 6 inches in diameter)
- Micro miniatures (less than 3 inches in diameter)
This means there is an African violet out there for lots of difference spaces and size preferences!
As a person who absolutely loves small, cute things AND who also doesn’t have a lot of free space for houseplants these days, the micro miniature violets really appeal to me. Are these not the cutest little plants in their tiny 2 inch pots!?
African violet foliage varieties
African violet foliage can be found in different colors, shapes, and variegated presentations.
Leaf shape can range from nearly round to a more narrow and pointed leaf.
In the photo below you can see round leaves on the left, pointed, narrower leaves on the right, and a leaf-shape that is somewhere in-between round and pointy in the middle!
The color of the leaves themselves are also found in a range from light green to dark, nearly black leaves.
But my absolute favorite African violets have stunning variegation! There are plants with white, cream, and even pink variegation!
The variegated plants made me stop in my tracks and take a second look at African violets after overlooking them at plant shops for years!
Even though variegation was the aspect that drew my attention, I’ve become quite captivated with non-variegated plants as well.
Below is a gorgeous variegated specimen that I found on Pinterest when perusing and had to include!
African violet flower variety
The flowers of African Violets range even more than the sizes do! We’ll take a look at single flowers, double flowers, semi-double flowers, star flowers, and frilled flowers in this section. AND we will check out some of the out-of-this-world colors.
There are more flower colors and shapes beyond what I’m showing here, as well!
Single flowers have a single ring of petals. 2 petals are smaller, 3 petals are larger, with the reproductive organs (2 stamens and a pistol) in the middle.
Double flowers have 2 complete rings of petals, doubling the amount of single flower petals like the name implies. The flower is so full of petals that it is much more difficult to see the reproductive organs.
Semi-double flowers fall somewhere in-between single and double, having 5 to 10 petals with some petal ruffling in the middle.
Star flowers have 5 petals of equal size instead of 2 smaller and 3 larger petals, like the single flowers.
Lastly, frilled flowers have frilly, ruffled leaf edges and can be single, double, semi-double, or star shaped as well.
And, as you have probably noticed, African violets can come in a HUGE range of colors and color patterns.
I’ll insert some photos below as eye candy, but these are just the tip of the iceberg of what’s available!
African violets: rosette-shaped plants and trailing plants
Rosette-shaped plants are those whose leaves emerge from a central stem with the flowers in the center of the rosette. This is the growth pattern most of us are familiar with.
Trailing plants have a cluster of stems producing both leaves and flowers are over the plant, creating a fuller-looking plant. I don’t have any trailers currently, but I definitely want to try one.
I had no idea they existed until a couple of months ago!
Big Takeaway
African violets are available in a huge range of sizes, colors, and growth patterns.
They are fairly easy to care for and definitely worth a try for anyone interested.
If you’d like to learn more about their care, check out my blog post here: How to Care for African Violets (and Get Them to Bloom)
If you want to learn more in-depth information about African violets, I highly recommend these 2 resources:
- A blog dedicated entirely to all aspects of African Violets, called Baby Violets (linked here)
- A video podcast about the care and cultivation of African Violets and its relatives: All About African Violets (linked here)
Did any of these plants come as a surprise to you? Did one of them peak your interest? Did I forget something important? Let me know in the comments below!!
Happy growing!
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