VIOLA 'SKIPPY' - SKY BLUE BICOLOUR

Yesterday I went to Tong Garden centre in West Yorkshire for a coffee and a mooch and, of course, with the idea of getting something for my garden.  A few years ago I grew the cherry Prunus avium Stella, Gisella 5, in a very large container.  Then the cherry tree succumbed to a bacterial disease and could not, because of where it had been attacked, be saved.  So then I ended up with an ultra large pot with nothing in it.  This year I have planted in it Buddleia davidii 'Nanho Blue', which I shall try to keep quite small (it's supposed to have a compact habit), and around the edge of the pot I am going to plant my latest acquisitions: Viola 'Skippy' Sky Blue Bicolour. 

Viola Skippy Sky Blue bicolour

Violas are delightfully fragrant and I prefer them to pansies.  In fact, I was chatting with one of the horticulturalists at Tong Garden Centre and he said that one year they had a greenhouse packed with violas and that the fragrance was all too much within an enclosed space. 




Viola (and pansy) flowers are edible too (people eat them with salads, use them as decorations on cakes) but I'm sure I don't need to remind you not to go using them this way after spraying them with dangerous pesticides!




The label says that Viola Skippy Sky Blue bicolour has a mass of colourful flowers displayed throughout the season.  Excellent for mass bedding, containers, window boxes, and rockeries.  They achieve a height of 15-25cm (6-10") and should be planted 20cm apart in any well drained soil in sun or partial shade. 




It's interesting that the label doesn't actually say what season the flowers will be displayed but my experience of violas is that they will flower from spring to late autumn, and there are those that will flower through winter too. 

Buddleia davidii Nanho Blue



My violas in a container, April 2013

Violas in a border, April 2013



Winter-flowering violas in the snow, December 2012