Mae's Real Stories

In our sunroom, beneath a very large double window, was a low radiator with a wide shelf on top, used entirely to hold my mother's large indoor garden of African violets and a few other plants in small flower pots. Some were presents from her friends, but most of them she grew from cuttings. She would take a leaf from a healthy plant and get it to grow into another plant. My mother seemed to know just how much to water them, and the new and old plants all bloomed. The pink, white, and purple flowers with dark green leaves were very pretty in the sun-filled room.

My mother liked to draw pictures of the African violets on various-colored drawing papers. This is my favorite of those pictures. She made it for me to fit the oval frame.