Reaping What You Did Not Sow | Violets
A contest from @kus-knee about when nature provides extra bounty.
A couple of years ago, I noticed a little beauty similar to this along the edge of my garden. This is down near the end, under the lime tree, in partial shade. I'm planning a woodland garden there, so I was pleased to see it.
This year, these tiny plants have made it all the way up the garden, almost next to the house. Violets spread their seeds with an exploding capsule which can propel them some distance. Some varieties have small structures attached to the seed containing foodstuffs attractive to ants, which carry seeds back to their nests. When all the good stuff has been devoured, the seed is moved to the ants' waste and debris area - rich with nutrients for the new plant.
My "lawn" was already overtaken with moss, especially in the more shady part of the garden. Here you can see the progress the violets are making after two or three years of being left to their own devices. Soon, they'll form a dense, low mat of foliage of heart-shaped leaves, with flowers in the winter and spring, and I'll never have to use the lawn mower again.
I'm not sure whether the variety I have are sweet violets or dog violets. As well as their delicate foliage and spreading habit, violets are sweet smelling and used for perfume and in cooking (you can eat the flowers). Violets are wide spread in Europe and the Northern Hemisphere, very adaptable and very hardy requiring minimum temperatures of -20 to -15 degrees centigrade. Pretty amazing!
A heart will shape its-self soon with the sweet scent of violets for happy spring in your garden @shanibeer
That's lovely @simonjay :)
Pretty violets, Happy Spring! I didn't know that their seed spreads using the explosive pod method, that is cool to learn.
They're quite something, aren't they? 😎
Nice article and explanation!
Thank you 😊
I went on a quest for our violets - and they survived the last summer!
That's great news!
Wow. How lovely @shanibeer. I'm very fond of violets. Can you smell their scent?
Yes - if you get close enough! I guess if the weather was warmer the scent might fill the air more.
That would be wonderful. I'm amazed at how much scent our violas have in the hay baskets. I can smell them every time I walk to the front door. It's lovely! 😁
The spring is back! Nice pics!
Yes, so welcome!
I think most of our violets died during the last summer - I have to take a look. But I think it's still a bit early for them here.
It was too hot for them? Maybe the rhizome survived.
Most oft the lawn died, too. It was like one of these documentations "the savannah is waiting for rain" - only the plants in Africa are used to months of drought while plants in Northern Germany aren't ;)
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Beautiful! I believe this is what is in some of the gardens downstairs in the courtyard. They're so lovely, and I can easily imagine your beautiful yard full of them and moss! <3
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