My stars of the season
Winterflowering violas will keep on blooming however harsh the weather – and every garden should have some, says Monty Don
OUR houses may have been full of Christmas cheer over the past few weeks, but I’m afraid our gardens are devoid of colour at this time of the year. A few brave primroses or late roses are bravely showing their heads above the winter parapet but by and large the garden has shut up shop.
This is the moment when I thank heaven for that lovely group of violas that give us winter-flowering pansies, violas and violets. These are tough plants that, as a result of ingenious breeding, will provide a wide range of colours from an almost black purple to oranges, velvet ruby tones and every shade of blue and yellow throughout winter – and they’ll cope with the very worst weather. In summer they barely register but at this time of year they are heartwarming stars and every garden should have them. I like to grow them in terracotta pots, either singly in very small pots that can be grouped together or as a larger display in a bigger container. This means they can be enjoyed up on a table or ledge and grouped according to how the individual pots are performing.
Winter-flowering pansies, Viola x wittrockiana, are fun and have a certain heft that makes for a dramatic display, but I must confess that I prefer the rather smaller violas, which may possess less individual petal power but produce more flowers more often, and this massed effect generally proves more successful.
This distinction between pansies and violas can be confusing. All pansies are violas but not all violas are pansies. At the beginning of the 19th century gardeners began to breed enthusiastically from Viola tricolor, the wild pansy, and found hundreds of new varieties could be created – by 1835 there were over 400 varieties for sale.
Then in 1979 there was another breakthrough when the ‘Universal’ series of pansies proved to be reliably winter-flowering. The upshot was that we can now have violas of some sort, from the smallest, prettiest little violet to a big blowsy pansy, all the year round. The smaller violas seem to be hardier than pansies and in my experience cope with snow and ice with no problem at all.
Winter-flowering pansies are short-lived perennials – which really means they should last for at least three years (thus differentiating them from biennials, which flower and die in their second year) and possibly for much longer, but then rapidly deteriorate, unlike long-lived perennials which should continue to perform year after year. However, they are best treated like annuals and used for bedding to provide the earliest colour, gaily out in the worst weather once the days start to lengthen and, with a little judicious pruning, flowering right into late summer.
Pansies and violas can be raised from seed sown in June or July with the young plants placed in position in autumn, or from cuttings taken in late summer. The advantage of cuttings is they preserve the exact particulars of the parent plant whereas seed will always be an unknown combination of both parents.
They are woodland plants and flower best in cool, damp conditions in light or dappled shade, although pansies are much happier in full sun than violas or violets. I love to grow them in pots and leafmould makes the perfect compost, but any loose, lightgrowing medium suits them. Although they shouldn’t dry out, neither should they sit in wet soil, so ensure they have good drainage. Regular dead-heading is essential – scissors help to keep the production of new buds coming.
Finally, when you have tired of simply looking at your violas then do not hesitate to eat them. They make a delicious and beautiful decoration to any salad.