What's In A Name?

You can buy violas almost anywhere plants are sold, that is, the pansies and their tufted cousins, although of course I am talking about garden violas here, but you cannot buy the named varieties everywhere.  Garden centres generally sell seed-grown violas in huge numbers, both in the spring and at this time of the year, for bedding purposes.  What is the difference between the so-called 'named' violas and those grown from seed?  This puzzled me for a good while.  I knew there was something, I could see it, but not say it.  Eventually realisation dawned.

The main difference you will find is in the habit of the viola - the seed-grown ones are very vigorous, very hardy, but not the same as their named cousins.  In the main,  the flower stalks of the named varieties are taller, held well above the foliage; this foliage, as I have mentioned before, tending to spread outwards in a tuft-like manner, not holding together in a clump as with most of the seed-grown plants. In the case of the seed-grown plants, this clump will spread, but the flowers are held close to it, even if they have fairly long stalks. You need to look yourself at the two types to see what I mean. As to scent, those grown from seed often do have it, but the perfume from the flowers of the named ones is usually truly delicious, and rises into the air all round the plants.  Both the plants grown from seed and the named varieties attract all kinds of pollinating insects; today, in the heat of our tropical weather which has come from the Azores, so the weathermen tell us, the air over the violas was teeming with hoverflies, bees, other flies gleaming like jewels that I have no name for, and even the odd wasp, which latter insects do not always seem to be very attracted to violas.

Sorbet Mixed Violas

There is one type of viola grown from seed which often does have tufted foliage and tall flower stalks; I was informed by the sales person in the nursery that they are called Sorbis violas - I have just now discovered that this should actually be 'Sorbet'.  No wonder I couldn't find them online.  At the outset I should say that one box of these violas can embrace several different-looking plants.  Some look rather like the primitive wild pansy, in shape and even at times in size.  Some have a modest scent, some don't.  Some have a very attractive, rounded shape flower, and nice colours, some are more like the ordinary

A Sorbet viola, scentless

bedding violas that have been available for years.  I don't think they could be F1 Hybrids, because of this inconsistency, but I am willing to be proven wrong, because my education in such matters is quite deficient, and I am only learning as I go.

In Lidl I bought a box of mixed bedding violas, and a couple of plants have indeed long flower-stalks, a memorable scent, and very desirable colours; however, the flowers despite the long flower stalks still do not stand out as high as I would like over the foliage, and the leaves are not spreading, but rather make a clump, so that the flowers seem to be studded on the plant rather than dancing above as in the case of the named  'tuftys', which, it seems to me still have not been surpassed by any seed-grown varieties..

An orange Sorbet viola, scented

I am more than willing to admit that plants of the last description are in the end a matter of taste; also that some named varieties do not hold their flower-stalks as high as those of other named plants; nor do all the named varieties run and create offsets so willingly as others.  I will discuss these again.  Suffice it to say for the moment that it is the named varieties of viola that have stolen my heart and remain true to their promise year after year.

On the left is the viola purchased in a mixed box from Lidl.  It is very highly-scented, a beautiful colour, but the flower-stalks, of medium length, hardly clear the foliage, which is in a clump rather than tufted, as with named varieties and in the case of the two Sorbet violas pictured above.
As I said above, not all Sorbet plants show this tufted quality either.

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.