GROWING INSIDE

For many of us, African violets are probably the houseplants that we know best. At primary school a friend gave me a dull-brown pot containing the purple, velvet-like little flowers as a present. That plant received as much care and attention as the goldfish and budgies. In the same house there were ferns, motherin-law’s tongues and begonias – real stalwarts everywhere, from the farm veranda to the flat balcony.