Vivid, Vital, Viola

 There's a bit of a colour gap in the garden at the moment. The spring bulbs are over, and although the apple blossom is out and the forget-me-nots are thriving in a delicate drift, there is little to seize the eye and provide zest. The pale blues and whites are submerged by the thuggish greenery of May, as all and sundry thrust out their leaves and crawl across the soil. But there is one thing. Thank you, Violas.

I sowed two packets of viola seeds last autumn - one I had purchased and the other came free with a magazine. I left them to their own devices in the greenhouse over winter, and then when the first signs of spring came I put the little plants into the hanging baskets on my shed, and into a couple of small patio pots. You have to plant them in something small unless you have a heck of a lot of them, otherwise they look wimpish. It was easy, no fuss, but now those little faces are making a fuss of the best kind. Their vivid yellow and purple faces are nodding away in their baskets and draw the eye every time I look outside. Joy at 1.95 a packet, who can complain about that!


Back in  May 1939, Gardening Magazine (price, sixpence) published a letter from D.B. of Nairn, who asked for advice on violas:


"Would you give me your views on the cultivation of violas? Four years ago I planted a crop of these flowers and had excellent results for two years. The third year, however, every plant died despite several efforts to save them. The soil here is very sandy, but in the garden it is well fed.

Violas like a deep heavy soil enriched with well rotted manure, and not too hot a position during the summer. They like the surface of the soil constantly stirred during the growing season and a mulch of leaves or peat mould is beneficial. On your soil you would need to enrich the site a good deal to make it suitable and we advise you to take cuttings or sow seed every other year to keep up a supply. Violas can exhaust themselves very easily, especially on a hot, dry soil, and on this account it is wise to remove all faded flower heads to prevent seed setting, unless a little is wanted for propagation purposes, and to cut the plants right back once during the season to encourage them to make growth again.

So now I know to keep those hanging baskets and pots watered, and to deadhead regularly. I may allow a couple of the nicest ones to set seed later on and sow these in the autumn.


If bright colours are your thing, are you into Sylko cotton reels? I have a little history book - click here

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