There, my friends, are the first violets blooming at May Dreams Gardens this season.

They are growing approximately six inches from the foundation on the west side of the house, a spot I assume warms up a tiny bit sooner than other spots in the garden.

I am not sure about the variety, but I think these are what is left of some remnants of Viola mandshurica ‘Fuji Dawn’ which I grew from seeds 20 plus years ago. Normally, ‘Fuji Dawn’ has variegated leaves, but as we all know, sometimes the offspring end up losing the variegation.

They are not native.

The native violets are showing leaves but no blooms yet.

They should be blooming soon.

I do love my violets. Am I obsessed with them? More so than other plants? Well, that’s a good rhetorical question. I do love them in the spring, along with the pansies and violas. By May, though, I will likely have moved on to another flower.

Though, I see some evidence of my violet obsession here and there.

 I bought some old botanical drawings of them, suitable for framing.

I just need to find some frames!

These are from a book and the person I bought them from (via Instagram!) might have listed the name of the book but I only got the pages.

Whenever I buy old books about wildflowers, I usually look up violets first. Sometimes I get lucky and find a nice illustration to go with the description.

Here’s one from Wild Flowers of America by Jane Harvey, Illustrations by Irving Lawson (Whitman Publishing Company, 1932).

I could frame it but it is about 3″ by 3″ so would be a small picture. Besides, I don’t want to rip it out of the book!

And in the book, Wild Flower Children: The Little Playmates of the Fairies by Elizabeth Gorden, Illustrations by Janet Laura Scott (P.F. Volland Company 1918), they show this little flower child.

Where am I going with this post? I’m not sure. I’m just thinking about violets and thought you should too!