The Bee And Me

Viola 'Columbine'

The downpours have finally departed, for the moment at least.  Out in the tubs this afternoon the violas were certainly showing signs of having been well and truly drenched.  At least the gnats are gone for good, the boiled stones having done the trick. 

There are much fewer blooms on the plants now.  Violas 'Maggie Mott', 'Zoe' and 'Rebecca' have ceased blooming altogether, and I don't see any more buds.  'Glenholme', 'Etain', 'Aspasia', 'Irish Molly', 'Columbine' and 'Vita' are still blooming away, but with the exception of 'Etain', the flowers are much less in number than a couple of weeks earlier.

Viola 'Vita' still standing proud

After being cured of its mildew, viola 'Mrs. Lancaster' never bloomed again, for the last two months, in other words, but has spread lushly all over its tub.  'Helen Dillon' is moribund, although I have managed to save a couple of healthy cuttings from it, and no doubt will be able to buy it again in the spring, as it is one of the named violas sold by three local nurseries,  although in two of them it usually bears the name of viola 'Etain'.   I bought the real 'Etain' from Murphy and Wood, a rare plant nursery near Cabinteely in south County Dublin,  and they never make mistakes in their plant names.

I found a mere five seedheads today, on 'Vita', 'Aspasia' and 'Columbine', and brought them inside to mature as I have done with all this summer's seedheads.  I have a nice little container of seeds now;  as I said before, I didn't record the plants they came from, although perhaps in the future I may be more careful.  So if I find a really splendid viola amongst my seedlings next spring, I won't know its ancestry.

The Last Flowers on Viola 'Ivory Queen'

Never mind, such an outcome would be a great thrill anyway.  From what I read in my books, it is not as easy as all that to find a really worthwhile viola seedling which might go into commercial production.  From all my books it is clear that more than a unique colour is necessary; you need those long flower stalks I am always going on about, they need to hold the blooms well clear of the foliage and not let them flop or lie along the plant; flowers should be produced freely, that is, more than just one or two here and there; also importantly, the viola should flower over a long period as all the best named varieties do.

Then there is the worry that a plant which starts off in fine fettle will lose its enthusiasm and start producing much smaller flowers, something I have witnessed myself and have read warnings about.  An added bonus is scent - I confess I much prefer violas with a noticeable perfume.  This is more often than not, I think, a feature of the best violas.  My Viola cornuta minor has a beautifully strong scent, and I am really curious to see if this is true of the new cornutas my gardening friend sent recently and which I mentioned last week.

'Irish Molly' with mixed violas

So all the fun lies ahead, the seed sowing, the nourishing and cherishing of the seedlings, the testing of their qualities.  I suppose the solitary bumble bee I met bobbing around the tubs today might well feel a similar anticipation - sadly, I may never know.

Autumn Dreams

Garden Seedling, now lost

I was taking cuttings of several of the violas today, and when lifting the foliage of some, I found lovely healthy little seedlings had sprung up underneath; obviously the seeds don't need a great deal of light to germinate.


A Semi-Double Seedling

This is part of the joy of growing violas - taking cuttings, collecting seed, and dreaming of next spring when these new plants will be appearing.  In the case of the seedlings, there is all the anticipation of seeing the first flowers, and deciding what violas may have parented them.  I am not very organised yet when I collect the seed heads, I don't write down what tub they were growing in or the name of their mother plant.  This is because I am in this for the fun, not for the sole purpose of hybridising.

Black and Purple Seedling

I haven't cut back any of my plants yet, as I am truly reluctant to part with all those glowing flowers, not to mention to thwart the efforts of all the little flies and bees who are visiting them.  Today is a beautiful summer's day in autumn - sunshine, blue skies, temperatures over 20° celsius.



Seedling with flowers of a lovely colour, now tiny

I am posting pictures of four seedlings I had from the last two years.  At least two, the very dark ones, probably had as their parent Molly Sanderson, who then fled with the harsh winter of 2011; I think that viola may not be very hardy, and this impression is furthered by the fact that both these seedlings survived only a year.  I named none of them, as I think it is better to wait and see how the plants will turn out, how sturdy they are, how floriferous and so forth, before endowing them with any title.  The wisdom of this is borne out by the fact that the semi-double viola produced all single flowers in its second year, two seedlings as I said did not survive, and the last of the four, although still here, and as colourful, has produced only very small flowers through the whole summer, after showing in springtime the lovely medium-sized ones it first appeared with two years ago, and which it bore all last year quite effortlessly.

Preparing for Cuttings

I know that I should be cutting the violas back now, so that they will produce lots of new growth for cuttings and division; however, it is very hard to cut off these beautiful flowers when winter is approaching and there will be less of them anyway;  having said which, some of my plants flowered right up to November last year, so there could probably be two more months of bloom to be had this year, unless we get some freak bad weather.

Viola 'Vita'

I have found some seed heads too, but have not labelled them nor noted which plants they came from this year;  it is very interesting and enormous fun to sow them in spring and see what new plants grow,  This is one of the many joys of growing violas; or indeed any plants, from seed.  They are very easy to grow from seed too, germination seeming to be 100%.

Viola 'Columbine'

Here are some pictures of my plants: the first is Viola 'Vita', discovered by Vita Sackville-West in her garden at Sissinghurst Castle. The pink flowers are small, but it flowers on and on.
Viola 'Columbine' seems to be quite healthy. The flower stems are very wiry, and you have to be careful when deadheading, so as not to take a large tuft of new flowers and foliage at the same time. It has lovely stripy flowers with a beautiful scent.

Viola 'Helen Dillon'

Viola 'Helen Dillon' has recovered from a mildew attack in this picture, but has lost a lot of foliage  in the process.

This plant was actually sold to me in Woodies as Viola 'Etain', but since I already had that plant I knew that name was incorrect.  Graham of the U.K. National Pansy and Viola Society pointed me in the right direction to identify it, and it seems to be Viola 'Helen Dillon', but strangely, not the plant which originally bore this name - just the one that does now.  I am not very clear about all this, so will report back at a later stage when I learn more about it.