March 24, 2017 – A cheap thrill – Potted violets from your garden

         

          Often I am amazed at something so simple and so inexpensive that gives one a “cheap thrill”.  It took me less than 3 minutes to accomplish it.

          The common violet that has waltzed through these last weeks of late winter into early spring without being damaged by the killing freezes is a perfect example of a tough little plant.  It is a sweet little plant with over 2000 years of cultivation history. Not all gardeners notice their subtle beauty. 

Violets pop up in unusual places in semi-shade through the spraying of the seed capsule catapulting seed or via underground stolon.  Often many consider them a “weed”.  I don’t. I consider them a little treat that you don’t have to pander to. If you’ve got too many, pull a few out.  Need more, go to the trouble of collecting seed or simply dig one or two up and plunk them where you want more.

          Violets were the first plant I dealt with as a young child in my Mom’s flower garden.  In early spring I would be down on all fours as I would weed them under her direction and then was allowed to pick my tiny bouquet of the flowers with a few of the heart shaped leaves to hold them upright in a tiny vessel.  I still delight in the fleeting fragrance of them as well as their heart shaped leaves. [You show me a plant that has heart shaped leaves and it gets added to my collection.]

          A violet specimen had encroached into the main stream of the garden path between the shed where the birdseed is and the white birch tree garden where the bird feeders are hung.  As I noticed it coming to life this spring it really did turn out to be a prime specimen and yesterday after a drenching night rain I saved it from its possible “death” under by husband’s feet who is the one who feeds the birds.

          I unceremoniously grabbed my trowel and poked it under the violet and popped it out of the ground, folded its soggy clay clinging roots into a roundish ball and stuffed the roots of it into a littler ceramic flower pot and brought it into the house.  I rinsed off the muddy leaves and left it on kitchen Island.  When the flowers fade I will take it off to a new home in my garden, where I need violets.

          But, until then I will enjoy a cheap thrill – up close and personal which is also cost free. What can be better than that?