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jenny_in_se_pa

Viola sororia 'Freckles' seeds!!

jenny_in_se_pa
21 years ago

In early summer, I had purchased 3 of these plants (at least that is what they were labeled as and they were on sale) and I planted all 3 in a round 15" diameter shallow plastic bowl planter. They had pretty much finished their blooms by then but they kept a nice lush growth of foliage. The foliage is slowly starting to droop now that it has gotten cooler and low and behold, what do I find? Seeds!

Now granted, I know for you Viola officiandos, this is par for the course, but this is my first time growing violets in a container as a perennial (after many years of pansies and viola tricolor in containers and growing up with wild violets out in the yard of the house I grew up in). I've never actually seen seeds on a violet before and this was the neatest thing to find! I am not really a seed person but this find made it sortof worth keeping a big bowl of foliage around....lol

Comments (9)

  • Mike Hardman
    21 years ago

    That's what I like to see - somebody without a question; somebody just sharing an observation; somebody sharing their enthisiasm and communicating a simple pleasure. Great stuff, Jennie! Thanks.

  • jenny_in_se_pa
    Original Author
    21 years ago

    Mike - I guess I never envisioned the seeds forming in this manner. I always imagined some sort of roundish seed pod. Now I can see why these plants spread so quickly... :-)

  • clive
    21 years ago

    I call the sororias the cuckoos of the violet world, they tend to pop up in everyone elses pot, being so vigorouse they will soon outgrow other species like odorata and eventualy kill them, so take care, I guess these are the only violets that I have the heart to pull out of a pot and throw away.
    May I reiterate what Mike said that it is refreshing to hear such exuberance for the Violet. Clive Groves

  • jenny_in_se_pa
    Original Author
    21 years ago

    Clive - I happened to find these on sale and since I had created a little shade area on my balcony with some fragile ferns, hosta, lily of the valley, etc., and I wanted some spring blooming flowers, I went for them! To me, violets are always a pleasant surprise in spring and I'm always excited to see them popping up when very little else is growing at that time!

  • rob333 (zone 7b)
    21 years ago

    Hey Jenny,

    Did you plant the seeds? Did they come true to 'Freckles'?

    -Robin

  • jenny_in_se_pa
    Original Author
    21 years ago

    Robin - I let the seeds fall where they wanted. I have some leaves coming up now and I'm not sure if they are from the original plant crowns or from the seeds, but I'll see soon what the blooms look like.

  • Seandkat
    11 years ago

    I love Viola Sororia. I have spent lots of money trying to grow the fragrant french violets and have never gotten anything from them. They never survive past one year.

    These are so nice for little girls to pick and make bunches of. No worries about them hurting the plants. My mother was a violet collector. We had many kinds and colors, including Freckles. I picked them as a child and still love them today.

    I have Freckles in my garden that stated from seed and all the seeds it produced have grown true to Freckles.

    It's a shame so many today see it as a weed. It's the state flower of Wisconsin, Illinois, Rhode Island, and New Jersey.

  • helenaviolet
    11 years ago

    Thankyou for the "state flower" information. V.sororia 'Freckles'is loved and treasured by some of my gardening friends here in Australia. Unfortunately slugs and snails sometimes demolish new growth in Spring so it is a good idea to collect a few seeds incase you need to replace them. I love the sororias generally for their rich green foliage and they make lovely potted specimens.

  • denninmi
    11 years ago

    I just found out there is a variant called 'Dark Freckles' -- I'll have to get that one, I love 'Freckles' to death. The original few I grew from a packet of Thompson and Morgan seeds have multiplied into hundreds.

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