i just purchased a flat of these cute little faces and am hoping that maybe they will re-seed in the garden eventually and possibly even live over instead of dying out this summer. now that i have them, i can't bear to think they'll die when it gets hot. maybe an id would give me an idea whether they stand a chance of living in florida........! i won't get my hopes up. they are usually treated as winter annuals here.
It may be Orange Duet http://www.emediawire.com/prfiles/2005/11/10/309366/violaOrangeDuet.jpg
Every large scale seed company has viola that look similar in color. I have seen photos in my catalogs that call it Sorbet Purple Duet also.
I love viola for the winter garden. I just wish they offered more varieties. Seems they only grow the same 5-6 colors every year.
If you have the time check out the photos on this site http://ivygarth.com/images/Annuals.htm you have to go to the Annuals catalog & scroll down to Viola and click on the 'button' that says image.
On the right in the photo below is a nice bed of viola.
thanks, dale. hey, am i seeing things or didn't you used to be daleagardener?
i'll check out the links.
Same person, nearly the same name.
gotcha!
I had some pansies "over-summer" and bloom in the shade.
that gives me some hope then! thanks. you're a little cooler than i am in summer?
I suppose, but I don't imagine by much. Does "OVEN" about cover your summer temperature? We're right on the edge of 9a.
We usually pull all our pansies and johnny jump-ups up once it start warming up in the spring, but we missed some this year. They were planted in a wheelbarrow and I'm sure they stayed pretty dry, but were in shade most of the day. They bloomed all summer and some of the seeds have obviously made babies, since I've got more now than I did.
yeah, OVEN pretty much cover it! lol i think i'll ditch my pansies when summer comes but i may try to summer over the violas. these might be johnnies or are they all called johnnies? anyway, i sure wouldn't mind if a few spring up here and there.
They look like the pansies we just bought except ours are yellow where yours are coral, but our johnnies are very similar. The flower is just smaller.
Johnny-jump-ups are on my list to try to 'over-desert' when we snowbird so this is good news ^_^
mine are in full sun but this is winter florida sun. they wouldn't last two minutes in summer sun.
I find alot of them die as soon as they re-seed themselves.
This is the sleepiest forum at Dave's.
violas just aren't pushy
Hope this helps... Dale. Can't post pictures until things bloom.
Making some progress on Springtime here in Oregon.
Another pretty one..
And some more...
I'm still here ^_^ and will post pics this summer too!
Loved your pictures and I do love violas...have some that overwintered here in MA. and it was great to see them in flower past week!
Am trying to grow some from seed but no luck so far.
Been thinking that maybe I should have just spread the seed out after snow was gone. How do you reseed in zone 5??
I've got a the first little viola bloom in my yard! They seem to reseed themselves fairly easily but I'm planting more for this year. (zone 5A )
just a note about my mystery violas....they have re-seeded all over the garden and are still blooming their little heads off. the parent plants in the pots have been moved to a shady location and i hope to summer them over but the seedlings have found a safe haven of sorts underneath rose bushes, daylilies, etc. and seem to be loving their "wild" state! lol ps. when i say re-seeded, i mean there are hundreds of them!
Way to go trackin, am trying to get a viola patch going. Will move them to a shady location. Will put under hostas and other plants for shade. Have my garden at the church and people walk by and are amazed to see these little flowers so soon after all the snow and cold we had! Have tried to start them in the house with no luck. I will put seed out next time.
it's been a lesson of sorts for me. i'm kind of a neat freak in the garden and really don't like things coming up willy-nilly but now that the violas are everywhere, it's taught me some patience and given me a new and more flexible attitude. i've also become an expert at eyeing what is a viola baby and what is a weed! LOL
I've been known to use violas as living mulch - keep down the weeds and look good doing it, but then, I'm not a neat freak anywhere.
i like that idea of living mulch!
