Violas

Grown for over 2000 years, the sweet violets were the symbol of ancient Athens, though I think its likely to be a broken piggy bank these days.

Violets were used in cooking during the medieval period, primarily to disguise bad tastes (later superseded by curry powder) and to scatter about the rooms of a house to cover up unpleasant smells, our potting shed could do with these when Robert, Roy and Gordon have been on the beer though in all likelihood most plants would wilt under the incredible unpleasantness of their gaseous escapes.

Genoese an Venetian merchants in latter years discovered a glossier leafed form with an even stronger scent, these were used in hybridising with the regular violets and produced a strain known as the Parma violets of which there were many varieties, though unfortunately most of these are now lost.

Viola cornuta as seen in todays image was introduced in the 18th century from the pyrenees, and although much less scented its use in the breeding of our perennial varieties has led to an incredibly large choice available to gardeners.

Viola cornuta and its other perennial forms require rich moist soil to do well and frequent dead heading of spent blooms to keep going, this dead heading avoids the setting of seed and allows them to be truly perennial. It is also worth cutting back to about an inch any straggly plants, this helps them create a ground covering mat of foliage which can be very floriferous the following year. An easy plant.