Countdown to Spring: Violets

In the late 1800s in England, violets were the flowers to give.  What's not to love?  They're pretty and fragrant.  The flowers are edible and perhaps contain medicinal value (more study is needed). Viola covers a lot of wild and cultivated varieties, including pansies and johnny-jump-ups, but I let the wild ones take over my lawn.  In suburban lawns, these delicate-looking yet hardy flowers are considered weeds, but, as I mentioned in my last post, I grow weeds for bees. The photo below is one particularly fabulous year for violets in my lawn.

I wish someone would invent scratch and sniff for screens!