Crafty Violet

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

The duration of flowering, the richness of colors and funny "faces" on the opened petals of flowers make Violet a regular in city flower beds and country flower beds. Even the low growth of the plant does not prevent her from being the "Queen of flower beds"

Primrose

Fearlessness before the cold allows Violet to be one of the first to show the world a bright bloom at the very beginning of spring, when most plants are still sweetly stretching after hibernation. Beginning in March, flowering continues until the hottest summer month, July. As for the Violet tricolor, hiding under the shade of bushes and trees, it continues to bloom until the arrival of autumn.

Rod Violet

Several hundred species of herbaceous perennials are combined into a genus

Violet or

Viola (Viola).

From the creeping rhizome, stems rise above the surface of the earth, covered with leaves with graceful serrations along the edge. Dark green leaves love to amaze with a variety of shapes, being either oval, or kidney-shaped, or heart-shaped.

On low-growing plants, you will not see peduncles, since the flowers are located directly on the stem, or in the leaf axils. It looks like all the shades of the rainbow were involved in coloring the flower petals. Although the shades of violet are the leader, the petals can be yellow, cream, orange-red, blue, purple …

Numerous seeds, enclosed in a seed box, remain viable for two years, and therefore can unexpectedly show a plant in any corner of the garden, multiplying by self-sowing.

Popular varieties

* Violet tricolor (Viola tricolor) - the plant that gave life

Pansies, loved by many, as well as most modern hybrids by crossing with other species. A very viable plant, sometimes turning into a garden weed, which is so sorry to get rid of.

* Horned violet (Viola cornuta) - was born in the Pyrenees, mountains spread over the territory of three states. From April to July, its low bushes (height up to 30 cm) with oval leaves are generously covered with dark purple flowers. The breeders did a good job and presented gardeners with many hybrids, differing in a variety of colors.

* Fragrant violet (Viola odorata) is a small violet full of grace, ideal for rocky gardens.

* Violet Wittrock (Viola x vittrockiana) - popularly called"

Pansies ».

Growing

It is believed that it is difficult to grow Violet, although, in my opinion, the plant has no special complaints, except perhaps its dislike of high temperatures and weak immunity against diseases and pests.

The plant is light-requiring, but for prolonged flowering in the summer, Violets are best placed under the shade of taller plants. If the heat is not to her taste, then she survives the winter frosts safely, with the exception of Violet Parma, whose double flowers are less resistant to cold. To make the winter frosts easier to endure, you should cover the Violet bushes with reliable protection for the winter.

The soil for Violets requires fertile, loose, seasoned with deciduous humus and rotted manure, moist. To keep the soil from drying out on hot summer days, the plant needs abundant watering. At the same time, water stagnation, which provokes fungal diseases, should not be allowed.

To maintain lush flowering, it is necessary to promptly remove wilted flowers, dry stems and leaves, damaged parts of the plant.

Reproduction

For reproduction, you can use sowing seeds, spring cuttings, or dividing an overgrown bush.

A perennial violet in culture is often grown as a biennial plant. Therefore, seeds are usually sown in July-August, removing containers in a cool place. In autumn, seedlings can be planted in open ground and covered with mulch for the winter. Such sowing will allow you to admire the flowering in the early spring of next year.

Enemies

Excess moisture provokes fungal diseases that affect the roots and leaves of the plant.

Violet also does not bypass many garden pests: nematodes, larvae of ticks and beetles.