Violet or viola horned: description, planting, care

Violet or viola horned (Viola cornuta) is loved by many gardeners due to its beautiful appearance, early flowering, resistance to cold and a rare disease. Widely used in landscape design.

Description

This perennial plant belongs to the genus Violet, the family of Violet-like. It can reach sizes (in height) up to 26 cm. Flowers have a pleasant aroma, grow in diameter from 2.5 to 5 cm. Petals are quite long, resembling butterfly wings. Grows in small bushes, which, when planted close, form a kind of carpet.

The violet owes its name to the appendix present on the back of the flower, similar to a horn or spur. Some modern hybrids of this species lack such a distinctive horn.

It has been used as a decorative plant in gardening since the end of the 18th century.

Horned violet is a creeping plant that, thanks to a branched rhizome, grows widely. 2-3 plants in the second year can completely cover an area of ​​about 2 square meters. m. Bushes abundantly grow flowers. So on one viola you can count up to 60 buds and blossoming flowers.

The leaves of the plant are dark green, oval, at the edges of some varieties there are rounded denticles. On long stalks there are single flowers, in their middle there is a “eye” of yellow or orange color. There are many colors of the petals themselves, bred through the hybridization method. They can be: lilac, yellow, orange, violet, burgundy, etc. There are also one-color varieties of violets, which are most used in the design of large flower gardens, as well as in landscape design. There are varieties and with a combination of several shades of the same color, such are popular with amateur gardeners.

Another indisputable advantage of horned violets is their long flowering. It begins in May and ends by the end of September. In the spring - the peak of this process, the flowers are the largest and there are a lot of them, by autumn this process gradually subsides.

Feel good and enjoy strong flowering in one place for 5 years, then you need to transplant to another.

Horned violet: varieties

Currently, breeders are actively developing new hybrid varieties of violets. But when planting them, it is important to remember that they survive the winter much worse and need to be well covered for this period of time. And also some of them are biennial plants, not five-year-olds. The most common are the following varieties.

This is just a small list of varieties of violets. There are a great many of them.

Features of cultivation and care

Horned violet - perennial, hybrid varieties can be biennial or annual (if planted in open soil seedlings). This plant is unpretentious to the growing conditions, but if you take into account some of its preferences and properly cared for, it will be better to bloom and delight the grower.

Priming

It grows in almost any soil, but on loose, light, fertile soil with drainage and a pH of 6.8-7.2, it feels most comfortable. It grows abundantly and blooms at the same time. It is important to mulch the soil. To do this, use: stones, drainage granules, gravel, chips and moss. Due to this, moisture is retained in the soil, weeds grow less and nutrients are washed out of the soil.

Landing place

It grows best in partial shade, near the higher counterparts, which will protect the violet from the midday sun. It is not worth planting in the shade at all: the stem will begin to stretch, and the flowers will become smaller in size and turn pale. In addition, there she is attacked by slugs and snails, which does not add beauty to the plant.

Watering

It should be moderate, it is produced as the soil dries. In hot weather, watered more often. If the gardener is temporarily absent and cannot regularly water the violet, she will tolerate it without dying, but the flowering will become less intense with smaller buds.

With regular spraying (morning and evening) it grows better.

Top dressing

It is carried out in the spring and at the end of August. Mineral and organic fertilizers in weaker concentrations are best suited. It is worth remembering that manure is strictly prohibited. Since it is extremely aggressive on the root system of the flower, damaging it.

Trimming and maintaining a decorative look

Sometimes the plant begins to stretch very long, from which its appearance becomes sloppy. In this case, they are trimmed, giving a compact and more well-groomed appearance. If the purpose of obtaining seeds is absent, it is better to remove wilted inflorescences. So the plant will not spend energy on their ripening and bloom more abundantly and longer. It is also a method of preventing unwanted self-seeding.

Wintering

In general, the violet is quite frost-resistant and can withstand temperatures up to -23 ℃. But it is worth remembering that hybrids are more sensitive to cold and should be covered with peat, fallen leaves or spruce branches. Also, newly planted young flowers also shelter for the cold season.

Landing rejuvenation

Once every several years (3-5) it is worthwhile to carry out the procedure of rejuvenating plants. When it’s worth doing this, you can easily notice: the flowers are smaller and smaller. To do this, dig out the roots and divide into several parts, transplanted to a new place.

Breeding

The horned violet is propagated in several ways.

Horned Seed Violet

It can be grown and seeds. They do this in two ways: immediately sow in the soil or in advance prepared seedlings. Foxbrook cream

Sowing seeds for seedlings

Seeds are planted from February to April. It is important to consider that the sooner you plant them, the faster the plant will bloom. The period from sowing to the appearance of flowers is 10-13 weeks.

Pre-prepare a nutrient mixture of the earth, calcine in the oven to disinfect infections and fungi, and pour with a solution of Fundazole.

It is necessary to make furrows at a distance of 1.5-2 cm from each other, put seeds in them, sprinkle them on top of the ground and spray with water from the spray gun. It is important to clarify the germination of a particular variety of violets before sowing. It can vary from 60% to 95%.

Then the container with the seeds sown is covered with a plastic wrap and periodically watered, it is impossible to allow the complete drying of the soil. The most suitable temperature for maximum germination is +12 ... +18 ℃. When the first sprouts appear (after about 3-5 weeks), the container is moved to warmer conditions (+ 18 ... +22 ℃). It is necessary to remove the film for a while to ventilate. Its duration gradually increases as seedlings grow.

When 2-3 leaves appear on the plant, it is important to pick, planting at intervals of 5-6 cm from each other.

It is possible to plant in the open ground in May, it is obligatory to water regularly to loosen the soil. The first top dressing is carried out after 14 days, mineral fertilizers are better suited.

Sowing seeds in open ground

Directly in the soil can be planted from May 10 to September 10. For a similar method, seeds collected personally are better suited, but you can use purchased ones, then you need to take into account their germination.

Before planting, it is important to loosen the ground and make furrows in which the seeds are placed, fall asleep on top of the soil and watered.

Shoots will appear next spring in the spring, which are important to protect from direct sunlight. If the sprouts are too frequent, they must be planted. In August, plants are transplanted to a permanent place. If ovaries of flowers appear, they are removed so that nutritious juices are not consumed, and the violet survived the winter in a stronger state.

Next spring, the plant will delight the grower with its beautiful flowering.

Vegetative propagation of violets

It is divided into several subspecies.

Bush division

The most suitable period is from early spring to mid-summer.

If you conduct it during this period, the violet will have time to develop the root system and by autumn will be strong enough to survive the winter, if you do the division later, the probability of plant death is high.

The method is carried out in the following way: a bush is dug up, fragments with roots are separated from it. Separated parts are dug up with soil in a shaded, sheltered from strong wind place in moist ground. It is important to prevent the soil from drying out. For the plant to take root, usually 2-3 weeks is enough. Next spring, they can be transplanted to their intended place.

Branch propagation

One of the easiest ways to reproduce. It is necessary to choose several long shoots, bend it, press it to the ground in several places with plastic or iron brackets (you can use hairpins for stabbing hair), sprinkle, cover the places of fixing the attachment with earth and regularly water it. After about 1 month, roots are formed on the stems buried in the soil and should be separated from the general plant.

Cuttings

It is held from early June to late July. Shoots are cut into cuttings 5 ​​cm long with 2-3 knots and 3-4 leaves on each. In a container prepared in advance with moist soil, they are stuck to a depth of about 1-1.5 cm at an acute angle. The container is covered with a film and placed in a warm place protected from bright sunlight. Once a day, polyethylene is removed for ventilation. After about 1 month, the growth of cuttings begins, which indicates their rooting. Now they can be transplanted into the open ground in the shade. In a permanent place they move to the next spring.

Growing problems

Violet, like many plants, is susceptible to various diseases and pest attacks. The table below shows the most common ones.

Horned violet is not only a beautiful and unpretentious flower, but it has also been used in cooking with success. Fragrant flowers give salads, desserts, yogurts a refined unusual taste, beautiful appearance. They are sugared, frozen in ice cubes, decorating them with various treats.