African violets have been loved and nurtured by generations of houseplant growers, but they’ve got a reputation as plants that our grandparents love to grow: cute, maybe, but not cool. That’s changing, though. Many of us are (re)discovering that African violets make wonderful houseplants! And now there’s more choice than ever before, as breeding programmes have created a rainbow of flower colours and styles, variegated leaves, tiny teacup plants and huge dinnerplate-sized ones. I talked to African violet grower and show judge Annie Rieck about why she loves these plants, and how to grow them successfully. Annie has her own podcast called All About African Violets and has been growing them since the 1990s.