The Pansy Had A Baby! (Viola)

Member Name: Emmald

Product:	Viola
Date:	21/02/09 (131 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A good low maintenance bedding plant

Disadvantages: None

Picture a pansy, then think miniature and you will have captured the image of the viola. I love them, they are a dwarf perennial that bloom from March right through to October.
Pansies are very attractive, they offer colour and their smiling faces cheer you up on the dullest of days. Whereas pansies tend to be a little more unruly viola`s are neat and delicate little plants often with plenty of flower.
Last year we mixed some viola plants in with some other Summer bedding in planters and the result was spectacular. The flowers went on and on offering great value for money besides being an eye catching display.

There are many different types and colours of Viola, blues, pinks, purple, lemon and magenta to name a few and many offer an interesting combination of colour too.
Viola plants are a popular bedding plant and the garden centres offer them at very reasonable prices. If you are thinking of planting some in tubs or pots then make sure that they are situated in a shady place, direct sunlight will burn their leaves and flowers. Viola`s love damp ground and if they are treated well they will repay you by doubling or maybe trebling their size, they are a sociable plant and are happy to link up with anything else that may be growing beside them.

Dead heading is a fiddly job at the best of times but if you dead head the viola`s it will pay dividends. As the Summer months pass the plants might start to look a little worse for wear, don't be tempted to throw the towel in, just trim them back and in no time they will spring back into life offering you new growth that will flower again given time.

The viola`s act as a magnet to aphids and slugs adore them! I was lucky last year, my slug defence barrier seemed to work well for once!

Viola`s have other uses besides being bewitching little blooms, the perfumiers use them for fragrance, the confectioner uses them for liqueurs , they are crystallised and used as cake decorations and being rich in vitamins A and C are used in Chinese medicine to make a herbal tea.

The Viola is often one of the first bedding plants to be found on display. there is a big temptation to buy the plants that are already in full bloom but in reality it is more sensible to buy the lush green plants with little bloom, they will serve you for longer.
When you get the plants home and are ready to transplant them into either tubs or the garden then handle them with the greatest of care, rather than try to pull them from their packaging by the stems then push them up from the bottom. Viola`s need to be planted six to eight inches apart to allow them to multiply.

Viola`s are low maintainence, they offer good value for money and are exquisite.

Summary: Lots of bloom and the Viola makes good ground cover