There have been times this month when I thought my sister's violas were never going to come into flower. Other varieties in our garden did not share this problem. Tiny wild violets in our lawn and borders emerged in sunny weather. In fact they spread so easily into our veg. beds that I am tempted to treat them as weeds. Seed heads from last year's pansies chucked towards the hedge germinated among the daffodil leaves in our front border and now look as decent as shop-bought ones. A reasonably priced tray of traditional pansies from the superstore with their smiling 'faces' established themselves in the border by the back patio and now bask in early morning sun. But my sister's violas, a packet of seed from the Netherlands have taken a long long time.
My husband started them in the house in our back 'den' on propagator trays, not heated in this case, but covered. They had a good germination rate and he pricked them out into pots and put them in our unheated greenhouse. They seemed to stay there for weeks and weeks. Eventually he moved them out on to staging by the greenhouse to harden off.
At last, this week, we have noted the first tightly furled purple flower buds. This is encouraging since they will be going to a warmer coastal climate very soon. My sister is going to need plenty of pots.
Would I do this again for our own benefit? I am not sure. It is so convenient to drive to the superstore for a splash of colour and instant results. I am more used to growing vegetables from seed than flowers. My husband, with his patience and nursery background has done this sort of thing before. Just as the test of home grown veg. is in the eating, so the test of home-grown bedding plants is going to be in the flowering. We will wait and see.
