Viola Seedlings Are Blooming!

I have a little planter that fits around the umbrella pole on my patio table. It consists of six pie-shaped wedges.

In the spring, as soon as I’ve set up the table, I plant this planter with… can you guess… sure you can… need a hint… starts with a V…

Violas! Three in each wedge.

They grow quite happily and flower freely all through the spring. I usually Ieave them there until the end of May, then I pull them out and replace them with herbs of some kind.

This year, I replaced them with three different kinds of basil and some variegated thyme.

Then several weeks ago—or maybe just a few days ago—I noticed seedlings of the violas coming up amongst the herbs. And then yesterday I saw that a few had started to bloom.

What? How did that happen? You don’t deadhead the violas, Carol? You let them go to seed?

Yes, I do, and happily so.

I let violas go to seed wherever I can before I pull them out to plant summer annuals.

And where I plant violas in the ground, I leave them until they fade away from the heat.

Then sometimes, if I’m lucky, I’ll get a few viola seedlings coming up here and there.

Which I love and leave and let be.

Especially when they flower.

(“You really like your violas, don’t you, Carol?” Yes, I really do.)

In other viola news, for the first time in a long time, I’ve left three planters filled with violas on the front steps. Yes, they look a bit rough. Shaggy even. In the morning, I’m going to move them to a more shaded location, give them a bit of a trim, and see if they’ll stay around long enough to grow again when it cools down.

I’ll report back how they did. In the meantime, here’s a picture of the violas in the planter on the patio table earlier this spring.

I do love my violas!