They are sweet arent they. I grew them from seed this year (blue and yellow mix) and they are blooming inside under lights. I havent had the time to get them out yet (plus there is still the possibility of frost here). I have about 25 of them to put in my shade beds and I should have sowed more of them.

Those violas are beautiful. Te colors are jewel-like and they are really pretty.

I had those like the ones on the right in your first picture...the purple and yellow. I planted them in the fall, and they bloomed all winter and in the spring. (Violas bloom in the winter here, summer's too hot for them, I guess.) I have found a couple of them now that apparently hve grown from seeds dropped.

I was quite tickled about it since it was unexpected.
kay

Rita, when you got your violas last year was that when there was a discussion about violas and violets and which spread and which don't? I was cursing the violets I was digging up by the bucketful in the garden last weekend as they have spread like wildfire. But are violas different? I'm sorry to hear they didn't come back for you. I love the violet planter on the right in your 3rd photo. It almost looks like a class photo with all smiliing faces!

I have known there are annual violas for years but really haven't paid much attention. Last year I thought I had discovered a great thing when I found the supposed perennial violas. Well, they turned out to be pretty annuals. So I just wasn't going to get as many.

Violets are different. I think of violets as the weeds that grow in my lawn that I always pull up and can't stand.

I did find a seedling or two of my violas that must have self seeded but not much.

Wild violets grow like crazy here too. Parts of my lawn are almost all violets and dandelions. I love it, but I'm not a big fan of grass. They are in full bloom right now and lovely.

There is a viola that I've always called "Johnny Jump-ups", very small bloom, purple with yellow falls, that is perennial. In fact some people treat them like weeds because they can spread so much. I used to have them everywhere the first few years I lived here.

I absolutely love violas - they are my favorite year round filler for bare spots and containers. I am fortunate enough to live in a climate that I can get pretty much 10months pleasure out of them plus they reseed but not invasively and pop up in the cutest places. I will buy fresh plants the beginning of October and still have full blooming plants in late May but will pull them out to get some summer annuals in for a change of pace. Their faces are so cheerful .....

Lynne