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.

To Start With

Viola 'Aspasia'

Welcome to The Viola Tub,  where I shall be writing about my adventures among my pet violas.

Why Tub?  I like to grow my violas in tubs and sinks, because I have mobility issues.  That is a grand way of saying that I often cannot walk.  That may not always be the case, but for now, it is.  You might like to grow yours in the ground, or on walls, or in hanging baskets - violas will grow anywhere and be happy.  Well, they do need a few things to keep them content; like all plants they need watering, feeding, the removal of dead flowers and checking for pests and diseases, which are thankfully few and far between in the case of  violas.  But I love looking after mine, it is part of the joy of them.

All that, of course, applies to other plants and flowers.  Violas happen to be the plants that keep me happy.

Violetta 'Rebecca'

Unnamed Viola seedling summer 2013

I want to straighten a couple of things out first.  The plants I mean when I say 'violas' are in a genus with many other viola species and hybrids.  The pansy, for instance, is very little different from the plant known as the garden viola.  The difference is firstly in habit.  The pansy tends to straggle, as its ancestor, the wild pansy, does.  Enthusiasts mainly in the 1800s started to 'improve' the pansy, by selecting the best colours and shapes and crossing these, thus producing the show pansy. Later, the show pansy was crossed with, among other viola species,  Viola lutea and Viola cornuta, a European mountain viola the foliage of which was tufted and spread by runners, rather than by small side plants, as with the pansy.  Initially, the hybrids produced were known as tufted pansies.  Now the name 'viola' is the preferred one for these plants, but it is easy to get confused, and I think tufted pansies might have been a handier appellation.

Anyway, next time I will bring along a few photos of my violas, and if you don't know them already, it will be interesting to see what you think of them. By the way, the little viola pictured at the top of the blog is Jackanapes, reputed to have been discovered in her garden by the famous Gertrude Jekyll.