English Sweet Violet is a native plant with wonderfully fragrant violet-blue flowers. It has been cultivated for many centuries, the Romans made a wine from the flowers and the Ancient Britons used them in cosmetics and today the flowers can be used in drinks, salads, puddings, crystallised for cake decoration or potpourri.
Culpeper writing in 1649 said it was "a fine, pleasing plant" and it should be used to treat coughs and swellings.
Sweet Violet was the most popular scent in Victorian and Edwardian England and it’s exquisitely scented tiny blooms were also used in bridal bouquets as it was thought the plant symbolised faithfulness and love – and would keep evil spirits at bay.
To dream of violets was a lucky sign signalling good fortune was on your way.
Flowers appear in early February and can last to the end of March. Its leaves are a bright green and heart shaped.
Cultivation- Sweet violets are very easy to grow.
- It is a hardy perennial and if planted in a sheltered spot will keep its leaves all year.
- Sweet violets prefer partial shade (but they do grow in full sun).
- They like rich fertile soil although it must be well-drained.
- They grow between 6-12 in. (15-30 cm)
- Use them for naturalising in a shady woodland garden or shrub border or under roses bushes for fragrant ground cover.
- They are easy to propagate from runners after they have finished flowering in the spring - they will spread slowly and not over run your garden.(although they have been known to spread quite quickly if the situation suits them!)
Enjoy your garden!
