Viola flowers

Often in the summer you can find beautiful, bright flowers of different shades in flower beds. They resemble little faces or funny children's dresses. What else is notable about the viola?

The origin and appearance of the viola plant

Viola is a tricolor violet, or pansies, - a herbaceous ornamental plant from the Gesneriaceae family. There are up to 400 species.

The birthplace of the flower is Africa. Distributed in Japan, Andes, North America. According to history, Baron A. Saint-Paul, while walking with his beloved among the stones, found a flower of incredible beauty with blue petals and a yellow core. He sent it to his father, who collected rare plants. This was in 1892, and in 1893 the viola was shown for the first time at an exhibition.

What does it look like

According to another legend, the girl Anyuta fell in love with a rich guy who promised to marry her and did not keep his word. The girl died of grief, and flowers, called pansies, grew on her grave.

Viola plant flower description

Viola has drooping, hairy leaves on short stalks, oval or round. The color of the flowers helps to distinguish it from the classic violets: simple, five-leafed, most often three shades are combined in their petals. One peduncle is capable of dissolving 5-7 flowers. The colors are varied: lilac, blue, pink. They can be monochromatic and multi-colored (there are colored spots or stripes on the petals). Depending on the variety, the edges of the petals are smooth or wavy. Viola height 18-30 cm.

Viola - perennial or annual flowers

There are annual and perennial varieties. Perennials bloom mainly in May, sometimes earlier. Most often they are grown as biennials.

For your information! There are some differences in the maintenance and care of an annual or perennial specimen.

Types and varieties of viola

The most popular varieties:

Viola Valentino

What are ampelous plants and ampelous annual flowers

Common view. Subspecies - morning. Viola Valentino flowers are small on elongated stems. There are white, purple, blue, lavender.

Viola Wittroca

The most popular type. Grows up to 30 cm in height. The flowers are irregular in shape, there are veins or spots on the petals, they are rarely monochromatic. Popular garden variety - Terry Lace, Swiss Giants.

Important! Wittrock's viola ampelous litter was recently bred. Their lashes grow up to 40 cm, and flowers up to 5 cm. They are grown in hanging pots or to create a flowering pillow.

Viola Da Gamba (horned viola)

Flowers are small lilac and lilac shades. There are also varieties with yellow, orange, red color. The winter hardiness of this species depends on the variety: the species winter well, but the hybrid ones may die.

The main difference between the species is a 10-15 cm spur on the back of the flower.

Note! Viola Horned is easily cross-pollinated, and the resulting plants can have a completely different appearance.

Viola Davis

The leaves are wavy and curved. The flowers are bright pink, double on short stems. They grow slowly. Species peculiarities of flowers appear at the second and third flowering.

Viola grandiflorum

It reaches a height of no more than 30 cm.The leaves have stipules. Flowers up to 7 cm in diameter form on long peduncles. They vary in color and shape. There are monochromatic, two- or three-color with stripes or spots.

Wittrock

Growing viola from seeds

The life span of a flower depends on the time of sowing. There are several ways to plant seeds:

for winter. Sowing is carried out in September, so that young sprouts have time to get stronger before the cold weather and can overwinter. Viola will bloom in April;
in the spring in open ground. The seeds are sown at the end of May, they will bloom around August - September, overwinter under the snow and will continue to delight the eye next year;
spring seedlings. It is believed that viola sown in spring will be able to bloom only next year. To prevent this from happening, seeds for seedlings are sown in February - March, and flowers may appear as early as May. Flowering lasts all summer.

Planting seeds for seedlings

Viola ampelous or pansies - growing and care

Any convenient pots, drawers or containers are suitable as a container. There must be enough moisture in the soil. The store soil is selected according to this criterion. You can make the soil yourself by mixing soil, peat and humus in proportions of 2: 2: 1.

For your information! The soil must contain peat, as it retains the heat and moisture necessary for seed germination.

5-7 days before sowing, fertilizer is added to the soil, universal for flowers is suitable.

Planting can be done in two ways:

shallow furrows are made in the soil (0.5 cm deep). The distance between the seeds must be maintained 1-2 cm. To create a greenhouse effect, the containers are covered with glass or polyethylene;
the soil is watered with warm water. The seeds are sown at a distance of 1-2 cm and create a greenhouse effect.

Important! For germination, seedlings are left in a dark place.

Sprouts appear in 7-10 days, at the same time they remove the bag or glass from the pot. Small seedlings are placed in a cool place with diffused light. The air temperature should be around 10 ° C.

Seedling

Mineral fertilizers are added every two weeks. Moisten the soil as needed. When watering, two factors are taken into account: drying out of the upper layer and waterlogging of the lower one should not be allowed. Although the plant loves moisture, it dies if it is in excess.

You can transplant the sprout into a convenient pot and leave it in the house on the windowsill, or you can plant it in open ground in the country.

Planting viola seedlings in open ground

When the first leaves are formed, the plant is ready for planting in open ground. Two weeks before the pick, the sprouts are fertilized. Also, the seedlings are hardened by regularly opening the window and leaving the containers on the closed balcony.

In the second week, the seedlings are taken out into the street, leaving first in the shade, then in partial shade, gradually increasing the time. The day before planting, the sprouts should spend a day outside.

Planting viola seedlings in open ground

Bells flowers - description of the plant and species

Before planting seedlings, the soil is fertilized; ammonium nitrate or superphosphate is suitable. If the soil is heavy and clayey, it is dug up with the addition of peat, sand and mineral fertilizers.

Important! Viola cannot be fertilized with organic fertilizers.

At the landing site, holes are made at a distance of 15-20 cm from each other. Their size should be slightly larger than the earthen ball of seedlings. You can use a spatula, small rake, or hoe as a tool to create holes.

Choosing the best place

The place is chosen in partial shade, young trees with a thin crown or a high flower bed are suitable. It is necessary that during the sun the flowers remain in the shade.

Note! Viola loves coolness, but she needs a lot of sun. At the same time, there should not be too much of it, otherwise there is a risk of burns.

Viola planting scheme in a flower bed

When planting sprouts, carefully fix the stem so that it does not collapse. If the root system is slightly damaged during transplantation, it's okay, the plant will not die from this.

The planted shoots must be loosened and watered every day. Seedlings are fertilized with mineral fertilizers twice a month.

Step-by-step planting process:

Make holes at a distance of 15-20 cm from each other.
Add vermicompost to them and mix slightly with the ground.
Dip the seedlings into the hole, cover the voids with earth and carefully compact it.
Water and mulch the soil with sawdust or dry grass.

Disembarkation

Viola care

Viola is a flower that is not particularly susceptible to pests and diseases. Due to possible infections, leaves begin to turn yellow and become stained, white bloom or rot appears. Why is this happening? Basically, diseases manifest themselves from improper care, in particular, lack or excess of moisture.

Proper care helps the seedlings get used to the new environment and begin flowering sooner.

Watering mode

It is necessary to maintain optimal soil moisture: drying out or waterlogging is unacceptable.

Important! After watering, it is necessary to carefully loosen the soil (but only if it is not mulched).

Weeds must not be allowed to grow, which have a detrimental effect on the plant.

Watering

How to feed viola for abundant flowering

Mineral fertilizers are used as top dressing (agriculture, luxury fertika).

Features of care during flowering

In the dim sun, the flowers will be larger than in the shade. Faded peduncles should be cut off so that the plant grows further and retains its decorative effect. Do not forget about regular watering, as without it, flowering can stop altogether.

Features of care during the rest period

After flowering, a dormant period begins. At this time, most of the processes in the plant slows down or stops completely. At this stage, the stems of the plant are cut, leaving about 5 cm above the ground, and fed.

Before pruning, the seeds are collected: they are formed in small boxes in place of flowers. They are collected, dried indoors and stored in the refrigerator.

Note! If you do not collect the seeds, the site will be overgrown with viola recklessly worse than weeds either in the same fall or next spring. But you can turn the situation in the other direction and use the self-seeding of the plant as reproduction, removing excess shoots.

Preparing for winter

Viola-annuals are simply removed from the soil before the cold weather, and perennials are covered with dry grass or spruce branches. In this form, they are able to survive even severe and long frosts.

Winter

It takes a lot of attention and time to grow viola, but the result of careful maintenance will be a beautiful flowering, well worth the effort.