Last weekend I finished my rose pruning and now have a garden of sticks, knee height, some not even that. Even though I have filled a couple of vases with the last roses retrieved at pruning, the garden itself feels quite sparse and bare so I decided I should take a trip to the pre-spring party, held by my local garden nursery, to see if I could pick up some bargains and fill the many gaps in my new garden. As I hoped, advanced potted annuals were in abundance.
I love the sweet smell of Stocks and can never resist the temptation to "snap" things with the bright and colourful flowers of the Snapdragons (my inner child at play perhaps?). Graceful Sweet Alice (or Alyssum) is another annual that is almost guaranteed to succeed due to its hardiness and tendency to self seed; but, of all the spring annuals, I think that Pansies and Violas are my favourites.
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| The little "mouth" is perfect to snap your finger. |
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| Double Stock |
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| Double Stock |
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| Double Stock |
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| Single Stock |
Graced with a very subtle fragrance, Pansy and Viola flowers appear, to me, to be little smiling faces, showing their delight in the warmth of the sun. Generally speaking, Pansies are bigger (both flowers and foliage) and Violas are much smaller. Some Violas are also known as Johnny-Jump-Ups or Heartsease. Over the years, breeders have brought out some amazing variations and of these I think that the Wild Silk Pansies and Viola Kittens have been my favourites. Pansies and Violas come in a huge range of colours of reds, blues, purples, pinks, oranges, yellows and whites. They are also great garden survivors and with regular trimming and enough water, some of them can have the lifespan of a perennial and if you have a tricky shady spot, their other cousin, the Violet, won' t mind, particularly if the soil is on the moist side; although a word of caution, Violets, especially the native varieties, due to their tendency to multiple and spread, can be a little difficult to remove should you later change your mind.
The other nice thing about (particularly) violas is their ability to self seed and it is always a pleasant surprise to find an unexpected little clump of pretty faces smiling up at you from the base of a pot plant, or from a little corner of the garden. Members of the violet family are edible and few cute little violas look amazing atop a green salad; or for an unusual decoration for cupcakes, wash a handful of violets, brush them with well beaten egg white and coat liberally with castor sugar. You can eat them, but, as they are so pretty, you probably won't be able to bring yourself to do so.
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| Viola |
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| Viola |
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| Viola |
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| Viola |
The other nice thing about all the annuals I've named in this post is that they are all feline friendly so if your little fluff ball has a nibble, it won't do them too much harm.
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| New from Colour Wave, Friolina Aquamarine Violet |
Elsewhere, the Scabiosa is also doing well, softening the weathered retaining wall.
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| Scabiosa |
