9i8 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



VIOLA. 



a reddish one, and one or two double 

 and variegated forms. V. herbacea is 

 less frequently seen than our common 

 Periwinkles, but is more worthy of culture 

 on rocks, as it is not rampant in habit. It 

 is a native of Hungary, flowers in spring 

 and early summer, and its stems die down 

 every year. V. acutiloba is a distinct and 

 elegant kind bearing its delicate mauve 

 blossoms in autumn and winter. It is 

 suitable for sunny banks and slopes and 

 for warm borders. 



VIOLA ( Violet}. A beautiful and well- 

 known family, some of which are among 

 the most beautiful ornaments which be- 

 deck the alpine turf. Even the common 

 Violet may almost be claimed as an alpine 

 plant, for it wanders along hedgerow and 

 hillside, along copses and thin woods, all 

 the way to Sweden. From the Violet 

 our world of wild flowers derives won- 

 drous beauty and delicate fragrance ; no 

 family has given us anything more precious 

 than the garden Pansies and the various 

 kinds of large, showy, sweet-scented 

 Violets. Far above the faint blue carpets 

 of the various scentless wild Violets in our 

 woods and heaths, our thickets and bogs 

 above the miniature Pansies that find 

 their home among our lowland field-weeds ; 

 far above the larger Pansy-like Violas 

 (varieties of V. lutea) which flower so 

 richly in the mountain pastures of northern 

 England and even on the tops of stone 

 walls ; above the large, free-growing 

 Violets of the American heaths and 

 thickets, we have true alpine Violets, 

 such as the yellow two-flowered Violet 

 ( V. biftora), and large blue Violets such 

 as V. calcarata and V. cornuta. It 

 would be difficult to exaggerate the 

 beauty of these alpine Violets. They 

 grow in a turf of high alpine plants not 

 more than an inch or so in height. The 

 leaves do not show above this densely- 

 matted turf, but the flowers start up, 

 waving everywhere thousands of little 

 banners. Violets are of the easiest 

 culture ; even the highest alpine kinds 

 thrive with little care, and V. cornuta and 

 V. calcarata of the Alps and Pyrenees 

 thrive even more freely than in their 

 native uplands, the foliage and the 

 stems being stronger. Some of the many 

 strong varieties of the Sweet Violet 

 might be naturalised with advantage. 

 Slow-growing compact kinds, like the 

 American Bird's-foot Violet, enjoy, from 

 their stature and their comparative slow- 

 ness of growth, a position in the rock- 

 garden or in the choice border, and in 

 such a position they are of easy culture 

 in moist sandy soil. Violets of all kinds 



are easily increased by cuttings from 

 stout short runners. All runners that 

 are wiry and hard should be rejected, 

 also those from plants grown in pots or 

 under glass. The cuttings should be taken 

 early in April if they are to bloom next 

 year. They should be put under hand- 

 lights on a shady border, and kept close 

 until they begin to grow, when the lights 

 may be tilted a little, and ventilation in- 

 creased until at last the lights may be 

 dispensed with. By September the plants 

 will be ready for transplanting, and may 

 be placed in beds 4 ft. wide, three rows 

 I ft. apart being in one bed. This space 

 will afford room to hoe between the rows 

 while they are growing. They will soon 

 spread and fill the beds, but they cannot 

 remain more than two or three years in 

 the same place without deteriorating. If 

 longer than two years in the same place, 

 they must receive rich dressings of rotten 

 manure, or copious applications of manure 

 water. Another less troublesome mode 

 of propagation is to get a few large plants 

 as soon as they have done blooming, and 

 divide them into as many pieces as 

 possible, each piece having a little bit of 

 root attached to it. Little pieces without 

 roots may be treated like cuttings. 



The following are among the most de- 

 sirable kinds for general cultivation : 



V. bifiora (Two-flowered Yellow Violet}. 

 This bright little Violet is a lovely ornament on 

 the Alps, where it carpets chinks between the 

 moist rocks. It even crawls under great 

 boulders and rocks, and lines shallow caves 

 with its fresh verdure and its little golden 

 stars, and is useful in rock-gardens where rude 

 steps of stone give winding pathways. It will 

 run through every chink between the steps. 

 Europe, N. Asia and America. 



V. calcarata (Spurred Violei}.T:\\\s 

 resembles the well-known V. cornuta in flower 

 and spur, but, instead of forming leafy tufts, it 

 spreads by underground runners. It is a pretty 

 plant on the Alps, usually found in high 

 situations, amidst dwarf flowers, and is so 

 plentiful that its large purple flowers make 

 sheets of colour, and it is as charming in the 

 rock-garden as in its native wilds. There are 

 white, pale lilac, and yellow varieties, the last 

 (flava) being the same as V. Zoysi. 



V. cornuta (Horned Pansy}. A mountain 

 Pansy, with sweet-scented pale blue or mauve 

 flowers of great beauty. For awhile superseded 

 by the many charming tufted Pansies the turn 

 of the Horned Pansy has come again, and of 

 late years many beautiful named varieties with 

 large and finely shaded flowers have been 

 raised, the colours passing through blue and 

 purple to rosy-lilac and white. These come 

 very true from seed, and are frequently treated 

 as annuals. One of the best of the named 

 kinds is Papilio in which the upper petals are 



