Friday, January 2, 2009

Sweet Violets-diminutive garden jewels




Viola odorata, the sweet violet, is a native of Europe that comes in many shades of pink, purple, white, and even yellow. It spreads in the garden from seeds and vegetatively, but unlike V. papilonaceae, it is welcome in my garden, for it is not difficult to control unlike the latter with its deep set rhizomes. The flowers are fragrant, if you get down low enough to sniff them. The pink clone came from Logees and the apricot colored one was given to me by Panayoti Kelaidis when I visited the Denver BG years ago. I treasure the latter for its unusual color and all of my forms early bloom.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I don't have to get down low to smell my violets. Their perfume wafts a fair distance so people walking by can smell them.

You have to choose scented ones, though. I went to a violet nursery in England and sniffed at them all. It was surprising how few were scented.