- Common names: sweet violet, English violet
- Botanical name: Viola odorata
- Family: Violet (Violaceae)
- Type: Rhizomatous perennial
- Flowering season: February to March
- Planting season: September to April
- Sowing season: Spring or autumn
- Height: 10-15cm (4-6in)
- Spread: 20-30cm (8-12in)
- Aspect: Semi-shade
- Hardiness: H6
- Difficulty: Easy to average
In the bleak chill of mid-February, the purple flowers of sweet violets (Viola odorata) unfurl, filling the air with one of the most incredible scents in the plant world. Humble in appearance, the little flowers, nestled amongst heart-shaped leaves, on 10-centimetre stems, are easy to miss. A native wildflower, they can often be spotted around hedgerows and woodland edges. If there are sufficient of them, the smell will stop you in your tracks, and, if there is only a small clump, there is no indignity in getting onto all fours to inhale the heavenly perfume, which is floral, cool, powdery, and reminiscent of orris.
This aroma used to be so treasured in Britain and France that violet sellers were a common sight on street corners at this time of year. People bought little posies of the species, V. odorata, for buttonholes, and long-stemmed hybrids for the vase. During the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, cut violets were in such high demand that sweeping fields of purple scented the air in parts of the South East and the West Country, as well as around Paris and in the south of France. In 1881, six million bunches of violets were sold in the French capital, and Virginia Woolf's writings contain several mentions of violet sellers on the streets of London. Now, sadly, that once booming industry has not so much dwindled as almost entirely died. Walk into a florist's today and ask for sweet violets, and you will usually be met with a quizzical look. This is rather ironic considering the importance of Valentine's Day to the cut flower industry.
St Valentine is usually associated with red roses, but roses don't flower until summer, and the Italian saint's true flower is in fact the violet, which blooms around Valentine's Day. The legend goes that Valentine was a priest, who wed couples in secret, after Roman Emperor Claudius II put a ban on marriage for young soldiers, wanting them fully focused on war. When Valentine was found out, he was imprisoned. There were violets growing just outside his cell, which he crushed to make ink; as well as writing love letters to the jailer's daughter, he wrote prose on the sanctity of romance and marriage, until his execution on 14 February AD 269.
Another icon of romance, Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, also claims the violet (as well as the rose) as one of her sacred flowers. V. odorata is native to most of Europe, including Greece, where it was very popular in ancient times. Around 400 BC, sweet violets were sold as cut flowers in the markets of Athens. They are also a symbol of the city, because, in myth, nymphs clutching bunches of violets led the city's founder to the site to build upon, and because the sky over the coastal metropolis is often purple at dawn and dusk.
Also native to Western Asia, violets were likewise cultivated in Mesopotamia for cut flowers, as well as for medicine and food. The flowers were crystallised with gum arabic to decorate puddings, used to flavour drinking sherbet, and made into confectionary and lozenges. Today, Parma Violets are the only popular sweets to uphold the latter ancient tradition; they take their name from plants that look and smell similar to V. odorata, but are derived from V. alba Besser. Parma violets were sold in great quantities alongside V. odorata hybrids, during the heyday of cut violets in Paris and London. Both are well worth growing for their phenomenal scent, which you won't be able to stop taking great gulps of in winter and spring.
Which violets to grow
The species, Viola odorata, is the most widely available of the sweet violets, and, being hardy and exuding delicious scent, it is wonderful in every way. The once extensive range of V. odorata hybrids is now dismally small. If you can find them, some of the best purple varieties include 'Queen Charlotte' (early flowering, floriferous, and highly scented), 'The Czar' (a long-stemmed historic form with a good scent), and 'Baronne Alice de Rothschild' (which has large flowers atop long stems and blooms early). There are also white and pink hybrids, but the species variations (V. odorata 'Alba' and 'Rubra') are the most readily available. Suppliers include the Devon Violet Nursery and Shire Plants.
Parma violets are also superb plants for scent, if you have a greenhouse. They are too tender to grow outside in many parts of the UK.
How to grow violets
Found around woodland edges and hedgerows, violets thrive in humus-rich soil that is moisture retentive and well-drained. Semi-shade is the ideal light level; they will grow happily in sun, if the soil never dries out; violets grown in shade often have longer stems, which makes them better for cutting. If you have an open fire, they appreciate an annual or bi-annual mulch with chimney soot to keep them healthy, after flowering and again in late summer.
Lift and divide established clumps of violets every 2 to 4 years in summer or early autumn, to ensure a good show of flowers and to make new plants. Violets will also spread naturally by runner shoots, which can be removed and replanted elsewhere in the garden in late spring.
How to sow violets
Viola odorata can be grown from seed in spring or early autumn. Keep the seed in the fridge; then sow in well-drained trays or modules of soil-based compost and top with a very thin layer of compost, before placing in an unheated greenhouse or cold frame. They may not germinate until spring. Spring sowing involves stratification via a period of cold that mimics winter: place in the cold (in the fridge or in an open cold frame outdoors), for 1 to 2 months, and then in a warmer spot (around 10°C), such as a greenhouse or windowsill, until the seedlings are ready to be planted out.
If you have ants in your garden, they will disperse the seed of established violets, thus doing all the work for you.
Violet pests and diseases
Sweet violets are susceptible to pansy leaf spot and powdery mildew, so check that plants you are buying do not have leaves with dark blotches or a powdery white coating. Potential pests include red spider mite and violet gall midge (affected parts should be removed and destroyed); but the main enemies are usually slugs and snails, which seedlings should be shielded from, with your preferred arsenal.
