66 



THE FLOWER GROWER'S GUIDE. 



PANSIES AND VIOLAS. 



While, for convenience in speaking of them, it may be well to distinguish between 

 the pansy and viola, there is so little real difference in the flowers that it is more con- 

 venient to treat of them and their cultivation under one heading. 



The "Show" pansies, with their refined yet quaint-looking blooms; the "Fancy" 

 varieties, with their large and strikingly-coloured flowers; and the violas, or "tufted" 

 pansies, are all so beautiful that it is needless to praise their qualities. We may thus 

 pass on to tell of their history and cultivation. 



The introduction of the pansy as a florist's flower appears to be due to Mr. Thompson, 



gardener to Lord Gambier at Iver, near 



employer's request, took in hand the improve- 

 ment of the common Viola tricolor dug from 

 the fields. It is sometimes said that other 

 species had a share in the production of Mr. 

 Thompson's Pansies, but his statements give 

 no countenance to this opinion, although many 

 of the earlier flowers figured bear a strong 

 resemblance to some of our modern violas 

 which are admittedly hybrids. Be this as it 

 may, the show pansies were quickly evolved 

 from these early flowers. 



Beautiful as the " show " pansies are, they 

 have fallen back in popularity since the im- 

 provement of the "fancy" varieties, which 

 are understood to have been obtained from pansies introduced from Belgium. More 

 recently still the hardier, more compact, and more profuse flowering " violas," obtained 

 by fertilising some of the pansies with natural species, have grown rapidly in favour 

 and bid fair to be more largely grown than the others. To the florist, however, a 

 show-board of " show " or " fancy " pansies gives the keenest pleasure, and the delight 

 with which he examines a bed of the choicest varieties is unbounded. 



There is no better definition of the properties of the show pansy than that given by 

 the late George Glenny, which is as follows : — 



Form and Texture.— The outline should be a perfect circle, and free of every 



Fig. 32. Show Pansy. 

 References :— A A, belt; B, blotch; C, eye; 

 B I), ground colour (white or yellow). 



