My African Violets (Saintpaulia) are beginning to flower. After spending the summer vacationing on the screened-in porch, they are rewarding me for the outdoor sojourn with many buds and blooms.

When blossoms cover the crown of the plant, I bring them into the living room to show off a bit. Since I grow the violets in ordinary plastic pots, I like to dress them up for their time in the spotlight by placing the plain pot in a fancy container.

One of the problems I often run into is the outer container is a bit too deep for the plastic pot. I don’t want to run the risk of breaking the brittle leaf stems against the upper edge of the pot so I try to find a way to raise the bottom of the pot an inch or two.

I’ve found the quickest, least expensive and easiest solution is to grab the roll of aluminum foil and crumble up an insert to fit in the bottom of the pot.

Voila’! The inner pot is now at the perfect level.