Post by Mairead on Sept 5, 2013 15:03:35 GMT
I do not know of a forum for discussing these beautiful plants, so I am making this one. I have grown them for years, along with other plants, but now my love of violas has taken over. I am not very mobile, and they are ideal for growing in tubs and containers where I can reach them easily. They are always interesting, flower for months on end, in some cases throughout the year, and hugely repay any attention you can give them. To my mind, no flowers are more beautiful, with the bonus of scent in most cases added. And what a scent!
What exactly are these violas I am talking about? They often look like pansies, but the foliage is more spreading, often tufted in appearance, which gave them the name at one time of tufted pansies. I think that name was much more apt than the very general and confusing one used now, viola. The viola is a hybrid of several viola species, including the wild pansy, and the European species Violas lutea and cornuta. The name 'tufted violet' has been used in the U.S.A., and that is quite good too, I think.
Violas are easy to grow, not always so easy to obtain, especially here in Ireland. It is easy to find seed of violas, but not to find the named cultivars. How do they differ, you might ask? They all have lovely flowers, but the named varieties of viola particularly have long stalks which the seed-grown ones in the main do not have, and the flowers are not just pretty, but often extraordinary as to colour. Incidentally, the viola is the one plant where the production of double flowers is not very desirable. The beauty of the viola is in the single flower, and the flowers of the named varieties have a beauty unparallelled in most other cultivated flowers - but then of course, I am prejudiced.
I will have more to say as the forum gets going, now I have to go out (metaphorically speaking) onto the highways and byways to find other viola lovers to invite to The Viola Tub.
Meanwhile, I would be interested to hear any ideas viola people might have about the name - can you think of a better one which might be descriptive of this plant? And which might appeal easily to gardeners in general? Because I suspect that the confusing name may well be holding back the popularity of the 'viola'. What do you think?
What exactly are these violas I am talking about? They often look like pansies, but the foliage is more spreading, often tufted in appearance, which gave them the name at one time of tufted pansies. I think that name was much more apt than the very general and confusing one used now, viola. The viola is a hybrid of several viola species, including the wild pansy, and the European species Violas lutea and cornuta. The name 'tufted violet' has been used in the U.S.A., and that is quite good too, I think.
Violas are easy to grow, not always so easy to obtain, especially here in Ireland. It is easy to find seed of violas, but not to find the named cultivars. How do they differ, you might ask? They all have lovely flowers, but the named varieties of viola particularly have long stalks which the seed-grown ones in the main do not have, and the flowers are not just pretty, but often extraordinary as to colour. Incidentally, the viola is the one plant where the production of double flowers is not very desirable. The beauty of the viola is in the single flower, and the flowers of the named varieties have a beauty unparallelled in most other cultivated flowers - but then of course, I am prejudiced.
I will have more to say as the forum gets going, now I have to go out (metaphorically speaking) onto the highways and byways to find other viola lovers to invite to The Viola Tub.
Meanwhile, I would be interested to hear any ideas viola people might have about the name - can you think of a better one which might be descriptive of this plant? And which might appeal easily to gardeners in general? Because I suspect that the confusing name may well be holding back the popularity of the 'viola'. What do you think?
