Violas make colorful carpet plants grown at the base of spring-flowering shrubs, such as lilacs and flowering quince, and among spring-flowering bulbs, such as tulips and daffodils, where their contrasting colors and delicate foliage provide a startling garden picture.
They may, of course, be effectively employed in a flower border or a rock garden, but they are ideal as carpet plants, for their shallow roots do not steal moisture or nutrients from the plants among which they grow.
As a group, we are told that the genus viola, which botanically includes pansies and the violets and violas referred to here, grows best in the shade. I have found, however, that they do well in locations where they get only an hour or two of coloring each day if a light mulch of peat moss or grass clippings, for example, is placed around them.
The mulch retains necessary moisture in the soil, and weeds, with which most of them cannot compete, are eliminated.
The violas prefer cool weather, so they make their best flower displays in spring and fall but may not survive the summer heat.
However, most of them redeem themselves by self-sowing, and even though the “mother” plants may vanish in summer, seedlings will appear in fall to flower again and live over for another spring display. In this way, most violas perpetuate themselves in even the hottest of hot-weather gardens.
Violas Quickly Grown From Seeds
Most of the violas are grown quickly from seed. In March, you may start them indoors and move the seedlings to the garden as soon as the soil can be worked. You can also sow them outdoors anytime until September, but late sowing would be preferred if your summers are hot.
An ordinary seeding mixture is satisfactory. And there are no special requirements for getting them off to a good start.
With about four true leaves, the young plants can be transplanted into 2” inch paper pots or whatever you ordinarily provide for seedlings. They require only one transplanting before they are set in the garden. It is good not to expose the new plants to direct sun because they wilt very quickly.
After they are established for a week or two in the garden, water them with a diluted solution of soluble plant food.
Naturally, when you set your seedlings in the garden, you will water them well, but take care that you don’t plant the seedlings too deep. Violas don’t like to be half-buried in the soil. Any well-worked garden soil will do, and, of course, moisture-retentive, organic soils are best.
The IMP violas or pixie pansies of old gardens are also known as heartsease. Horticulturally they are Viola tricolor hortensis. They are supposed to be perennial but are quite likely to behave like biennials in my New England garden.
After they bloom, they should be allowed to form seeds and are then cut down or pulled up and discarded. The following season, seedlings will appear, often in another part of the garden. They transplant easily, and it is like finding treasure when with a trowel and basket, you go about the park collecting them.
Often, enough plants for a carpet planting among bulbs may be found. They never wilt, and they lift their sunny faces as happily in one section of the garden as another. It is nice to add a little fertilizer once a year and some well-rotted manure. A soil that will grow giant pansies will give you plenty of flowers on any of the violas.
Old Viola Varieties
BLACK IMP with tiny blossoms looks as if they were cut from black or very dark purple velvet. They are lovely planted near daffodils or dwarf yellow iris. CLIFF IMP is another viola that blooms with daffodils and also Arabis Alpina.
The little blossoms come in a medley of colors: lemon yellow, lavender, rosy-mauve, lilac, gold, and deep violet. It is one of the first flowers to bloom in the spring.
Besides the IMPS, the lovely viola papilionacea, butterfly violets, hardy perennials, and long-lived garden plants. They also come quickly from seed and bloom the first year. Their blossoms are very much like wild violets.
Viola odorata semperflorens is the long-blooming English violet with fragrant blue flowers that are lovely near the large-flowered, pastel pink primroses.
Viola Patrini is the Chinese violet with large lavender-blue blossoms. Beautiful near the lemon-yellow flowers of Trollius europaeus and the dark purple tulip, QUEEN OF THE NIGHT.
Viola sylvestris rosea has bright pink or rose-pink blossoms and is one of the loveliest villas in the garden, especially near white and lavender dwarf phlox.
Somehow, my favorite is Viola blanda, the sweet white violet which is low-growing and fragrant. It likes to spread hither and yen among the garden beds, but it never becomes a nuisance. It is hardy as far north as Quebec.
Viola canadensis is the Canada violet and grows nearly a foot high with heart-shaped leaves. The white blossoms have yellow centers and are tinged purple on the outside.
There are many named varieties of Viola cornuta on the market, and a package of SCOTCH GIANTS in a mixture will offer fun and delight. Started in a flat indoors in March, they bloomed all summer until it was time to cover them with evergreen branches for the winter. Then, when spring came along, and they were uncovered, they were full of buds and ready to bloom.
Planted across the path from some giant pansies, they grew so large they were often mistaken for pansies by visitors. They have lived four winters in the exact location in my New England garden.
BLUE PERFECTION, named variety of cornuta, is lovely planted with forget-me-nots at the edge of a border.
AVALANCHE makes a creamy white mat beneath a brilliant red fern-leaf peony. In spring, this combination has heart-stopping beauty.
Snails in Violas
In New England, the only garden enemies of violas seem to be snails, so I keep a snail repellent near them in damp weather. I have never been bothered with diseases in my planting, but violas are subject to leaf spot and root rot. Spraying with a weak solution of Bordeaux will control the area.
The treatment for root rot is drastic: burn the plants, remove the infected soil, and don’t plant violas in the exact location again. My violas have never been bothered with violet sawfly, but spraying or dusting with lead arsenate as a control.
The violas are generally not troubled with insects or disease, but I mention them to warn you at least against the unexpected. This is an attractive plant family. If you can grow pansies, you can develop the violas and violets mentioned here. Remember, they make colorful ground covers.
44659 by Dorothy Holland