Rescue Plant Mission

Look at this poor thing....


I so feel like calling and reporting this to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Plants! The only thing stopping me is I know it was not intentional. This little sad sop was given to my mother-in-law as a party favor thank you for attending a baby shower. It was in a beautiful decorative tea pot. I'm sure it was nestled tightly in a box amongst a million other African Violets (yes, it really is an African Violet) on their way to a loving home. I could tell from the leaves it's been crushed, maybe sitting in a cold car overnight or watered improperly. Somehow abused!! So sad!

If you've ever been to my house, you know how much I love plants and African Violets are a favorite. I have 5 of them - had 6, but gave one up to my daughter when she moved to her own apartment. I also have a leaf. This lonely guy has been just a leaf for about a year now.



You can actually grow new African Violets by taking a leaf, placing it in water until roots form and then plant it. I've done this before very successfully. I'm not sure what happened here. I keep seeing leaves trying to come up in the soil, but then they go away. Maybe I scare them because I usually get excited and shout, "I see leaves!!! Leaves are coming!!"

So when my mother-in-law saw the condition of her party favor, she passed it on to me thinking I could nurse it back to health. We'll see if I can get it to look like this...