Hello my name is Betsy and I live in Metairie, Louisiana, just outside of New Orleans. I'm 40 years old, married to a great guy. We have no children, but we have 3 miniature dachshunds, 2 females and 1 male.

I grew up in Michigan. My mother all ways had lots of house plants and a garden outside in the summer time. As a child I all ways had plants in my room. My mother's sisters where also gardeners and I can remember when they would come to visit, we all would take a house tour to look at all our house plants. We live in an apartment now with no window space for house plants. My balcony looks like a jungle, with our mild winters here in South Louisiana; I can grow all of my house plants outside, except African Violets.

I've always been interested in African Violets but thought they were too hard to grow. I received my first AV in April 2001 from my mother in Michigan. When I brought it home I put it in the kitchen window and all the flowers died. I got on the Internet and found a lot of information on AV's. Rachel's Reflections was the greatest; I learned a lot from her site. I built my own plant stand and now I have African Violets and a few other plants growing in side. Now every time I see African Violets in the store, I want one.