African Violet Hospital

A neighbor had an ailing African violet plant. For quite a while, I've been eying the pot, feeling desperately sorry for the pitiful thing, wanting to assist. Finally today I offered. I should have taken a "before" picture, but it was in such urgent need, not a moment could be wasted! (Okay, that was an exaggeration - haha!)

There ended up being two plants in the pot, so I took them out, separated them gently, and repotted them in two pots. Their roots were not deeply enough into the soil. Perhaps you've seen African violets like this; they grow up and up, and their root systems look dry and unstable.

These poor things have such skinny little stems on their leaves. Probably none of these leaves will actually survive, but the plants need them until the new leaves come out and mature. The white "collar" on the plant is designed to keep the delicate leaves/stems out of the wet soil, and in the light.

This one looks much better than its sister. In fact, I think it looks perkier already, just from some TLC. My neighbor gave me African violet food for them, and I think I've found a good window with the right light. So now we shall wait and see. Will they both survive?