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Tag Archives: viola cornuta

Scent in the Garden

20 Monday Apr 2015

Posted by wellywoman in In the Garden, Pests, Scent, Spring

≈ 33 Comments

Tags

Narcisus 'Geranium', RHS Great London Plant Fair, Scent in the Garden, The Cut Flower Patch, Victorian Violas, viola cornuta

Tulipa 'Verona'

Tulipa ‘Verona’

I remembered it was time for the latest instalment in the ‘Scent in the Garden’ meme on Saturday afternoon whilst I was crouched in a very uncomfortable position sawing at the base of my Viburnum x bodnantense. I’m not sure why it came to me then, I’ve somewhat lost track of the days in recent weeks; perhaps it was the scent of the narcissi which jogged my memory. I’m a bit late to the post but it’s that time of year where a couple of extra hours each day would be useful in order to fit everything in – like pruning shrubs and writing blog posts. Anyway better late than never. Blog posts like this are a useful exercise in getting me to stop and actually look at my garden rather than letting the spring garden pass by in a blur. Spring for a gardener is a bit like the spin cycle on a washing machine – lots of frantic activity – before things then slow down. In between my seed sowing, pricking out, potting on and watering (who’d have though April would be so bereft of the synonymous showers) it would be a pity to miss these scented spring delights.

Narcissus 'Geranium'

Narcissus ‘Geranium’

There are so many forms of narcissi it would be impossible to have one favourite, but for me Narcissus ‘Geranium’ is certainly in my top ten. It has tall stems but smaller, more refined flowers than many varieties, with a dainty, snub-nose trumpet in vibrant orange. Most of all though I love its potent perfume – a real ‘knock your socks off’ whiff. Unfortunately my resident slugs and snails seem to be attracted to all my narcissi, including ‘Geranium’. So much so, many of them have been chomped to a raggedy mess. After the briefest of rain showers one night last week I went out on the first mollusc patrol of the year. After weeks of dry weather they were out in force and it was a real heart-sinking experience. Buoyed by the glorious weather and spring bursting forth I have been feeling quite perky and full of the proverbial joys, but having to pick big fat slugs and snails off the trumpets of daffodil blooms rather burst the bubble. Why do they slither and slime their way past weeds and leaf litter, crawl all the way up the daffodil stem to eat the flower? It seems like they are taunting us gardeners, it’s almost like they know how to wound us the most. There’s that point in a spring garden where everything looks fresh and new, untouched by the weather and pests, and I just want to keep everything looking so pristine and beautiful that I wish I could press pause. Then there’s the tipping point where spring perfection morphs into doily-like hosta leaves, tattered narcissi flowers and frost-induced mushy, brown magnolias and I sigh with resignation. Perhaps the slugs and snails might have a penchant for Chanel No. 5 and I could spray weeds to distract them from the daffs … It would be an expensive means of control, not quite as expensive as nematoding my garden for the summer though!

Tulipa 'Verona'

Tulipa ‘Verona’

Tulips aren’t generally thought of as being scented. I didn’t think so until I was researching The Cut Flower Patch. I’m eagerly anticipating the opening of Tulipa ‘Ballerina’ with it’s orange jelly-scented blooms but it’s ‘Verona’ which has been the first tulip to flower in the garden. A fabulously voluptuous variety with ruffled peony-like flowers in a deliciously buttery-cream colour. It doesn’t have a powerful ‘fill the air’ type perfume but, if you get up close, it does have a delicate sweet aroma. It lasts for ages too – providing a good four weeks of flower power. If you’re going to grow one tulip I can highly recommend this one.

Crab apple blossom

Crab apple blossom

At last the crab apple has come into blossom; it’s later than it has been in past years. For the last week the tree has been studded with rose-pink buds. From the vantage point of the kitchen sink I thought something reddish-pink had become caught in the branches until I realised it was simply a huge cluster of flower buds. This weekend delicate white petals have started to unfurl, and with them a wonderful, underrated perfume. Underrated perhaps because it isn’t an overt aroma, the sort typically used in the perfume industry. For me, crab apple blossom perfectly captures spring in its scent – clean, crisp and fresh, like washing which has been dried outdoors in a gentle breeze. My crab apple in full bloom on a warm, sunny day fills the air with its scent, appreciated not just by me but also the bees which descend en masse to devour the nectar.

Syringa meyeri 'Josee'

Syringa meyeri ‘Josee’

My mission to add more scent to the garden was helped somewhat by a visit to the RHS Great London Plant Fair last week. It was a coincidence (honestly) that I happened to be in London that day anyway. It was my first visit to a London plant fair and I was impressed. I would have liked there to be more nurseries in the Lindley Hall but overall there was a good selection of plants and at reasonable prices. The big dilemma was how much I could safely carry and keep alive on the long journey home. Among my quarry were Syringa meyeri ‘Josee’  and Viola cornuta ‘Victoria’s Blush’. I adore lilacs. There are several ways I can get to my allotment but I deliberately walk the route which takes me past a huge unkempt lilac, just so I can have a quick smell of the intoxicating aroma. I’ve always wanted one of my own but I have been a bit put off by the size of many of the varieties. So the smaller, more compact variety Syringa meyeri ‘Josee’ took my eye. A height and spread of 1.5m will make it ideal for my already cramped garden. I’m a huge fan of violas, particularly the perennial varieties. These trouble-free plants have a long flowering season. A purple Viola cornuta lines my borders producing a low-growing carpet of foliage and for several months delicate scented flowers. Cut back hard in mid-summer it gives a second showing into autumn. It does self-sow in cracks and crevices but I don’t hold that against it. For such a little flower Viola cornuta produces a heady fragrance, best on a still balmy evening.

Viola cornuta 'Victoria's Blush'

Viola cornuta ‘Victoria’s Blush’

This little beauty was on the Victorian Violas stand. Its pale pink flowers caught my eye but it was the scent that won me over. I could have left with more if I’d had another pair of hands, luckily though it’ll self-sow once established. As ever, it would be fantastic if you would join in this meme – posting on your own blog (leave a link here) or leaving a comment about what its scented in your garden this month. I’m really loving discovering new scented plants and celebrating all that is fabulously fragrant.

Plant of the Moment – Viola cornuta

04 Monday Jun 2012

Posted by wellywoman in In the Garden, Plant of the Moment

≈ 23 Comments

Tags

viola cornuta, Viola cornuta 'Alba', viola odorata

Viola cornuta 'Alba'

Viola cornuta ‘Alba’

It’s a hard task to pick a favourite plant from my garden at the moment, as the recent warm weather has encouraged so many to bloom but a close encounter with this plant the other day made my choice a bit easier.

It was one of those lovely warm and still, if slightly humid, days last week when perfume hangs in the air. The fact that I noticed the incredible scent of my Viola cornuta did have something to do with the fact that I was on my hands and knees weeding, at the time. Viola cornuta, or the horned violet, may be related to the masses of pansies and violas sold as bedding plants across the country but there is a delicacy and a simplicity about this plant that it’s highly bred cousins often lack. It forms clumps of mid green foliage along the edges of my brick paths and from late spring right through to autumn will consistently flower.

I have both the lilac and white flowering types which have the distinctive viola flat-faced blooms with five petals. The plants grow to no more than 15cm tall so make perfect specimens for the front of a border and like full sun although they can cope with light shade. The flowers are held above the foliage on stems creating a pretty, hazy appearance. Viola cornuta is easy to grow, some might say too easy, spreading by its roots and by seed. For me, this is a trait I’ve embraced as it softens the edges of my borders and pops up of its own accord around my garden. It seems equally happy growing in the damp, rich soil of my shady border or eking out an existence in the gravel around the base of my raised beds. By mid July the plants can start to look quite straggly but, like geraniums, if you cut it back hard it will regrow within a few weeks and reward you with more flowers into the autumn.

Viola cornuta

The perfume from these little flowers is beautiful, a scent reminiscent of our native wildflower, Viola odorata, if there were any left in the countryside for me to get a whiff of. (I’m sure there are some, somewhere, but I have yet to discover them). With large enough clumps of it you don’t need to be crawling around on the ground to experience the aroma and it would make a lovely plant for a warm, sunny courtyard or patio.

The white form, Viola cornuta ‘Alba’ is my favourite of the two with its bright, pure white flowers lighting up a dark, shady corner of my garden. It blends well with woodland style plants. I have it growing next to Pulmonaria ‘Sissinghurst White’, so that when it starts to look quite tired by mid April, the Viola then takes over. At night, the flowers almost glow in the dark, another reason to plant them near a patio.

It’s possible to buy the seed but I would recommend buying as a plant and don’t buy too many, one or two would be sufficient to get you started and it won’t be long before Viola cornuta is happily making itself at home in your garden.

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My latest book – The Crafted Garden

My latest book - The Crafted Garden

My latest book - The Crafted Garden

My Book – The Cut Flower Patch

My Book - The Cut Flower Patch. Available to buy from the RHS online bookshop.

The Cut Flower Patch – Garden Media Guild Practical Book 2014

The Cut Flower Patch - Garden Media Guild Practical Book 2014
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