Sheryl: Nope, African Violets and other Gesneriads don't need to stay saturated; in fact, keeping them too wet can cause root rot, fungus and decline of the plants. A lot of experienced Gesneriad/African Violet growers use a wicking system, with a piece of cotton cord or string trailing from a water reservoir through a hole in the bottom of the pot and up into the soil near the roots of the AV. This wick allows the plant to draw up just enough moisture to keep the roots moist without saturating them. Those self watering two piece AV pots do the same thing, the bottom reservoir pot holds the water and the unglazed top pot slowly draws up enough water to keep the roots consistently moist.
Toni: Yes, the flowers of this AV have a bit of a metallic sheen. I think it's a plant I purchased at either Wal-Mart or Home Depot a couple of years ago.
I used to kill plants by overwatering and keeping them waaaay too wet, so about ten or so years ago I started planting everything in a mixture of soil, orchid bark mix and extra perlite, a very chunky and fast draining mixture which works very well for me.
