Precipitation and Participation

My New Violas From Tomás

Firstly I want to say thank you to a lovely plantsman who sent me ten shiningly healthy violas in exchange for five of mine, a most generous trade, I'm sure you'll agree.  Trading plants is another joy of gardening, and imagine my delight on opening the carefully packed plants to discover Viola 'Molly Sanderson', which I told you I lost two years ago, nestling amid violas I have never seen, nor in some cases even heard of, before.  How I look forward to seeing them flourish and flower !  Tomás, believe me they are truly much appreciated.

The rain today is that falling straight-down, no-nonsense kind of deluge.  The only way to see my violas is by pressing my nose to the foggy kitchen windows, but I know the plants are probably loving the unexpected precipitation, especially since the temperatures are still around 18 degrees celsius.

Viola 'Columbine' blooming away

Viola 'Etain' October Blooms

The cuttings I took during the last week or so are still perky and greener than green.  I didn't come across one seedhead yesterday as I pottered around the tubs.  It looks almost as if  the bees and hoverflies are taking 'industrial action' (which strangely means the very opposite of how it sounds).  or perhaps it is holiday time for pollinators - I'm sure they can take holidays too, like the rest of us.  There are usually bees (mainly the bumble ones) busy in the garden right through December, so they have hardly gone into hibernation.  Maybe they will all be back with the sun.  There are still many violas in bloom, in some tubs just one or two, while in the case of violas 'Etain' and 'Columbine' the plants are still covered in blossom.  Interestingly, in the case of the latter, there has been a change, in that the deadheads which used to be so hard to remove now just snap off at the base of the flower stem - perhaps there is some kind of seasonal cause for this new behaviour.  I know other growers would fervently urge me to trim all the flowers and foliage off, in the interest of the production of cuttings, and perhaps to give the plants a rest from spending their energies in flowering, but I tend to go with nature in this, and will not be cropping back my plants yet.  Those two violas have been in bloom steadily since early April and are looking very upbeat about it.

Car Boot Sale Viola Book

Here are two more viola books, one by Roy Genders, who has written umpteen books on different garden plants, some on gardening generally, many on specialist plants.  I can't remember where I read the interesting comment that this prolific writer plagiarised his own books constantly in his production of endless garden works, but I have always enjoyed everything he wrote and learned a lot from his books.  The second volume is one I found at a car boot sale, casually thrown into a box of mixed items.  Naturally enough I was instantly attracted by the cover illustration.  It is a small work of some thirty-two pages only, full of common sense.  The illustrations inside are copies of pencil drawings, but very helpful in their clarity.  Look at the cost of this little book !  I paid fifty cents for it,  I will allow someone of more mathematical ability to decide how much its value has inflated or otherwise since its publication.  There is no date on it but I am guessing it is a good few decades old.

Recommended Viola Book

To go back to Roy Gender's book, which is full of good stuff, in his list of viola species he mentions how the species Viola gracilis is very much involved in the ancestry of the garden viola.  The editor of the other book, T.W. Sanders, who I see from the cover was a one-time editor of Amateur Gardening , gets to the question of "what constitutes the difference between a Pansy and a Viola.  Well, first of all, both are Pansies and both Violas; they are merely distinct types of the same genus and species."  Now no-one could dispute that the viola known as 'viola' has a lot of Viola tricolor in its blood, but the horn at the back of its flowers loudly proclaims the importance of its Viola cornuta ancestry.  Other writers stress the participation of Viola lutea in the viola's origins.  It would be wonderful if there were an apt, catchy name for the so-called viola, to halt all the confusion. 

Near the top of this blog, on the right, are  two links.  The top one is to the Viola Tub Forum, and if there is anything anyone would like to say about violas, please feel free to go on and post.  This little forum is literally in its infancy, and if people have anything they would like to say there,  posts would be really welcome.  You can start your own threads, it's not necessary to keep to what I have blogged here.  Eventually we might be able to use the forum to set up viola exchanges, even.  You can write about violas, pansies, viola species, seed sowing, cuttings, varieties, anything, it's your forum.

Viola 'Orange Sorbet' yesterday

The second link is to the website of the National Viola and Pansy Society of Great Britain.  It's a fascinating website, and you never know, you might even be tempted to become a member.  Graham, who runs it, is a goldmine of viola information and enthusiasm.  I have not the competitive urge myself, but I know some people would really enjoy growing and showing plants if they got into it, and for this reason alone the society would welcome you with open arms.  If, like me, you just want to grow violas for the sheer interest and love of them, you will still find a lot to inspire you in the NVPS, which is almost one hundred years old now.

I don't know if it's raining where you are, but we have had more than enough now, thank you. Maybe when I write again the sun will be shining down on us and our violas.

Viola 'Aspasia' enjoys the October sun. The sticks are to deter a determined cat

The Importance of You, Me, Canaries, Violas

Viola 'Ivory Queen'

There are so many big and important things going on in the world, and there are blogs about them all. What does it serve the world, then, that someone who loves, say, violas, blogs about them?  I have been thinking about this, feeling a little guilty, even, that perhaps pastimes such as growing violas are not of the first importance in the context of wars, hunger, grief.

Viola 'Helen Dillon'

The more I think about this, though, the more I see that to love something from creation is an acknowledgement of that creation.  We are the keepers of the world, and perhaps one small person can only concentrate on one small piece of this beautiful world at a time.  Bigger people do bigger things.

Also, there is no doubt that my love for violas and my enjoyment of them is balm to my soul, just as the love of his canary was to the prisoner of Alcatraz.  And is it not true that most flowers the world over are indeed born to blush unseen? Nevertheless, they live, and there is a reason for that life; and like those of us who are insignificant threads in the large pattern of life, still we are threads in that tapestry, a vital part, no matter how invisible, of the whole.

Violetta 'Zoe'

So, I reassure myself, love on, whether it be the tiniest insect, sparrow or lily of the field, or a viola;  love of these little things in life is a bow to the great Spirit that sustains us all.

I think it must be the simple structure of the viola flower which makes it so attractive to a large variety of insects.  This morning I lifted a leaf of Etain, and a large white moth flew out and away. Even though the day is very overcast albeit quite warm, the hoverflies in their varied colours of jacket are busy around the tubs; as I bend to scrutinise a flower, they pause politely in mid-air, not the least bit intimidated but patient until I pass.  Yesterday there was a bee drunk underneath a flower of Cleo.

The ecosystem is humming with business.  The largeness of life is in all these small beings.

Viola 'Cleo'

Peace In Our Gardens

Out among the viola tubs today there was perfect peace.  A myriad hoverflies and two or three honey bees were visiting the flowers; from the next door gardens came the joyful shouts of children; as I deadheaded and took in the scent which literally hung in the air, a plane sounded overhead, and suddenly I was thinking of the radio news earlier about Syria.  How privileged I am, to be pottering around here, while all over the world are people who never know this peace.  How different from ours are the lives of children, who hear the roar of planes and bombs and face the threat of death from the skies - all because of the fights of their elders, who should be their guardians instead of being the means of tormenting and shortening their precious early years! Whatever way you look at it, whatever side you are on, where is the good if your struggles for power sacrifice your children?  How could any war be worth the loss of your own offspring!  Surely these wars are the worst kind of child abuse!

Viola 'Etain'

When I sit in the kitchen, I can see through the open door a brown window box overflowing with viola 'Etain'.  This is a lovely yellow viola, with a purple border all round the flower.  It has been flowering since April and shows no sign of stopping yet.  I would take cuttings but I hesitate to disturb it.

Viola 'Aspasia'

'Aspasia'  is a bubbly little viola; its flowers are much smaller than those of V. 'Etain', but the plant is every bit as upright and floriferous, and has an altogether happy appearance.  I have been deadheading all my violas every day if at all possible, and  'Aspasia' is one plant which really rewards this care, although all violas are the better for it.

Viola 'Irish Molly'

I had read about viola 'Irish Molly' before I ever saw her, and when I first spotted her in a nursery it was instant recognition.  No photo can really do this viola justice.  It has a tufted habit foliage-wise, with the flowers held well above the leaves.  But it is the flowers which are unforgettable - in colour they are a mix of brown and greeny yellow, and seem to be regarding one solemnly.  I had this plant for some years and lost it, and now have it again.  According to one catalogue it is considered quite difficult to grow, but I think I lost mine through carelessness, and I shall take care not to do so again.  I remember when I first laid eyes on the low-lying rocks of Connemara, supine at the edge of the green Atlantic, and the time I stood at the Rock of Cashel and saw all Tipperary and beyond spread at my feet and glowing in the sun; that is how it is to look at Viola 'Irish Molly' for the first time - a jewel of a plant which glows at you and dwells in serenity.  But you need to see it in real life, photos just do not do it justice.