pansies

[Call_Me_Bob]

here are a few cute pansies we have in the yard. though i'd share.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Violas are so cool. I love them.

Hopefully my Viola labradorica will put out blooms this year after recovering from a near fatal wipeout.

Nice pics.

[Call_Me_Bob]

ill be honest with ya, i know nothing about them! but im getting interested. my mum just planted these in the spring, so i took pics. i think i might do some research and get some species!

thanks! i took a spray bottle with me to take pics.. lol i cheated

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Two commonly available species of Viola are Viola cornuta and Viola tricolor. They both come in a ton of different varieties. Places like The Home Depot carries these 2 all the time.

My favorite of the 2 is Viola tricolor.

Occasionally The Home Depot will carry flats of an Australian species of Viola called Viola hederacea.

Another species that I know that some garden centers such as Armstrong Garden Center carries is Viola odorata, which smells nice for a small flowered plant.

Of course I mentioned, Viola labradorica.

There are obviously many other species of Viola, but they're more difficult to find and are rather obscure.

Good luck in your searches, these are cool little plants.

[RosieC]

I love these.

I have a whole load of self-set violas this year. I planted some NoID ones about 4 years ago and every year they have produced a few, this year there are masses of them, including colours I never plannted (but look to be mixtures of ones I did).

This year I planted some pansies to go with them. I'm wondering if the pansies and violas will cross. I know pansies are a sub-set of violas but not sure how closely related they are to the NoID's I have in my garden.

[Call_Me_Bob]

so pansy isnt a generic name for viola?

i think ive seen tricolor at garden centers before. but my mum didnt keep the tags for the ones she planted its quite possible we have tricolor somewhere in the yard, we have so many ( long story, we ended up with them for free) but a bunch of them died... or just have buds now.. but i like the smaller ones, not the frilly floofy ones.

[Paul]

Lovely colors!

[Call_Me_Bob]

thanks paul

[Call_Me_Bob]

the first 2 and the blue edges with white center are my favorites

[RosieC]

Originally Posted by help

so pansy isnt a generic name for viola?

No, the generic name is Viola and pansey is just one type of viola. Not sure at what level pansey comes, whether it is a sub-genus or a species, or even a particular hybrid.

Panseys are bigger flowered than a lot of the other violas and they also seem to me to have bigger leaves (at least comparing the ones I've got). I think they also have a particular shape to the patterning, like the one in your last picture. The colour patterning of your earlier pictures is more want I would associate with other violas than with panseys, but I could be completely wrong as I'm just basing it on what I've seen not any particular knowledge.