This is the spring perennial. I don’t care if every single person reading this site has already heard of the sweet violet: it is the most beautiful, most delicate and most welcome spring plant. I love seeing it carpeting flower beds at this time of year, with its little heart-shaped leaves and hundreds of shy scented flowers. Perhaps it is because the banks around the home I grew up in were covered in these wild violets, or perhaps it is because you have to get down on your hands and knees to really appreciate this plant (I like a plant that makes you work hard to get to know it), but I have always adored violets.
What makes these shy plants even more valuable is that they don’t ask for anything: just plant them and leave them to get on with it. They will spread quite happily without becoming invasive, and their little childlike flowers are never, ever unwelcome. At least, not in my garden.
Vital stats:
Location:
Any
Light:
Happy in full sun or part shade
When to plant:
Sow seeds in autumn and plant out in spring
What can I expect from this plant?
Height: 10cm
Spread: 10cm
Flowers: February
