Wild violets differ from indoor and garden violets in a variety of shapes, sizes, colors of flowers and leaves. Growing in the wild, wild-growing violets are more unpretentious, often content with the lack of fertile soil and bright lighting. In Europe, wild violets are most often found in the south and west of Siberia, as well as in the Balkans. Some species are endemic exclusively to North America.
Field violet: photo and description
It is found throughout Europe, in the south of Siberia; as alien – in North America.
Annual or biennial with ascending or erect, sometimes branched shoots 5-30 cm high. Leaves – from round-oval to oblong-lanceolate, crenate, sessile or with short petioles, stipules deeply pinnately separate.
Pay attention to the photo of the field violet: the flowers of the plant are located in the axils of the leaves, alternately, on long peduncles.
Corolla with a diameter of 6-16 mm, concave, the petals are light yellow, the upper petals can be almost white or with a lilac tint. Flowering from May to late autumn. Propagated by seeds.
According to the description, the field violet is similar to the tricolor violet, but its petals are painted in only two colors.
Growing conditions. In nature, it grows in open places along roads, in fields, gardens, and fallow lands as a weed.
Use: Field violet is not cultivated in culture. In folk medicine, it is used as an anti-inflammatory and disinfectant, in the treatment of dermatitis, eczema, diathesis, and colds.
Wild Violet Altai
Perennial with triangular stems up to 20 cm high. Leaves on long petioles, leaf blade rounded or oblong.
Flowers solitary, up to 3 cm in diameter, blue-violet with a yellow spot, white or cream with blue stripes on the lower petals. The spur is invisible. It blooms profusely from the end of April for 40-45 days, again from August until snow.
Growing conditions. Altai violet prefers bright places with nutritious, well-drained soil. In the middle lane winters without shelter.
Use: Cultivated in rock gardens.
This species was used in crosses to create Wittrock violets.
Violet yellow and her photo
The plant is 10-20 cm high, has erect or ascending, more often unbranched stems.
The leaves are yellow-green, rarely crenate along the edge, lanceolate or oblong-ovate. Stipules palmately or pinnatipartite, with 2-4 pairs of segments. The flowers are bright yellow, with purple shading on the lower petal, fragrant, 2.5-4 cm in diameter.
As you can see in the photo, the yellow violet has a purple, long spur. Flowering in June – July, plentiful.
Growing conditions. Grows on fertile, moist calcareous
Yellow violet is most often used in rock gardens.
Wild-growing hill violet
In most temperate regions of Eurasia – from Central Europe to China and Japan. It grows in light forests, under the canopy of shrubs, as well as on open slopes and limestone outcrops.
Wild-growing hill violet is a perennial plant 5-15 cm high, forming a branched rhizome with rosettes of leaves at the ends. Leaf blades are heart-shaped, rounded, slightly pubescent with light hairs.
The flowers are quite large, with a pleasant aroma, bluish or light purple, rising above the rosette of leaves on long pubescent peduncles.
Flowering in April – May. In June, fruits are formed – velvety pubescent spherical boxes.
Growing conditions. It grows in light or semi-shady places, on nutritious, structural non-acidic soil. Propagated by seeds, cuttings and division of curtains.
Use: Can be used in rock gardens, mixborders, as well as in the design of natural style gardens – near shrubs and under the canopy of trees.
Rare incised violet and her photo
Incised violet is a rare, endemic Siberian species; it is almost impossible to meet this plant in other areas.
A perennial stemless plant with a short non-branched rhizome, turning into a taproot. Forms neat bushes 6-15 cm high from oval leaves, incised to about half of the leaf plate into 5-7 oblong lobes.
Look at the photo: this rare type of violet has bright purple flowers of a rather elegant shape, a bit reminiscent of a cyclamen flower, raised above the leaves.
Growing conditions. In nature, the incised violet is found on the sandy banks of rivers and lakes, rocky slopes, saline meadows and the edges of pine forests. This species perfectly reproduces by seeds that germinate in the light at a temperature of 22-30 ° C.
Flowering begins in the year of sowing, on the 40-60th day after seed germination. The excellent winter hardiness of this plant, resistance to diseases and pests, simple seed propagation, life span (up to 9 years), the ability to maintain the population by self-sowing and, of course, high decorativeness make it very promising for widespread cultivation in culture.
Usage. This rare violet is most often used in rock gardens, rockeries and mixborders.
wild Aetolian violet
Perennial, forming curtains 5-10 (rarely up to 15) cm high. The leaves are small, oval. The flowers are yellow, the lower petal with an orange tint. It blooms in May and can bloom for almost the entire summer.
Growing conditions. Aetolian violet prefers a sunny location, loose, stony, moderately nutritious soils. Frost-resistant.
Usage: Rock gardens, rockeries.
Dog violet: photo and description
Dog violet grows throughout the European part of Russia, in the Caucasus, Siberia and the Far East, in short grass meadows, under the canopy of sparse small-leaved forests, among shrubs, on the edges.
Perennial plant 5-15 cm tall, glabrous or short-pubescent, with a small rhizome, single or numerous round erect stems.
Pay attention to the photo: dog violet has ovate or oblong-ovate leaves, heart-shaped at the base, up to 7 cm long, on long petioles.
The flowers are small, axillary, up to 2.5 cm in diameter, bluish, whitish, lilac in the throat, sometimes white, with a spur, odorless. According to the description, the dog violet resembles the field violet, but most often it has a single color.
It blooms in May-June, sometimes again at the end of summer. The fruit is an oblong-ovoid capsule. Forms turf. Propagated by seeds and division of sods.
Growing conditions. Grows in full sun or partial shade on moderately moist soils.
Usage: Used in rock gardens and for decoration of semi-shady areas.
Wild violet stopiform
Synonyms: bird-legged violet.
Perennial 5-8 cm high, with thick rhizomes and leaves dissected into 5-7 narrow lobes. Flowers solitary, velvety purple, lilac, blue or bicolor.
Flowering in late spring – early summer.
Growing conditions. The stop-shaped wild violet is difficult to grow: it requires sunny sites with good drainage, but at the same time does not tolerate drying out. The soils are acidic, a mixture of peat and sand.
Use: Cultivated in greenhouses for alpine plants.
wild violet hairy
Synonyms. Violet pubescent, violet short hairy.
In nature, hairy violet is found quite widely – from Europe to the Caucasus, Central Asia, Western Siberia and Altai, in sparse coniferous and mixed forests on the edges, glades, slopes, among shrubs, on clearings and rocky outcrops.
Perennial stemless plant 5-15 cm high, with a short thick rhizome and rosettes of leaves, rather large, heart-shaped at the base, on long petioles, densely pubescent on both sides with delicate white hairs.
Numerous medium-sized (10-12 mm long), odorless lilac-lilac flowers appear from the leaf axils in May. However, the flowering of this violet is short-lived – by June the flowers disappear, giving way to inconspicuous fruits – three-leaved round fluffy boxes. But for a long time we will be pleased with curtains of delicate, soft to the touch light green leaves.
Growing conditions. Likes loose humus, mostly calcareous soils. It grows both in partial shade and in open areas. Propagated mostly by seeds.
Use: hairy violet in culture can be cultivated in rockeries, rock gardens, low mixborders, and also used to decorate forest areas.
Rare hand-shaped violet
The rare hand-shaped violet is distributed exclusively in North America.
Spreading perennial 10-15 cm high. Leaf plates are deeply dissected. Flowers on short stems, flat, lavender. Flowering in late spring.
Growing conditions. Requires dry, well-drained soils, light areas. Frost-resistant. Easily propagated by self-seeding.
Use: Cultivated in rockeries.
Reichenbach wild violet
Short-rhizomatous perennial, forming compact bushes up to 35 cm high with overwintering leaves. Blooms throughout May, very abundant.
Growing conditions. Reichenbach’s wild violet reproduces only by seeds, it can produce mass self-sowing. Grows well on alkaline drained soils, is not damaged by diseases, and can suffer from severe spring frosts.
Use: A very promising plant for shady rockeries. Violets for waterlogged areas.
northern european marsh violet
Northern European look. In Russia, it grows in the forest zones of the Non-Chernozem zone.
Perennial from 7 to 20 cm high. At the ends of thin creeping rhizomes there are rosettes of leaves with long (up to 15 cm) petioles and wide heart-shaped or kidney-shaped leaf plates.
The flowers are dark purple, 20-30 mm long, raised above the leaves on long peduncles. The color of the flowers is dark purple. Flowering in April – May, seeds ripen in June.
Growing conditions. North European marsh violet prefers waterlogged areas, swampy meadows, edges of damp forests, peat bogs.
Usage: Almost never used in culture. Can be used to decorate low wet shores of reservoirs and waterlogged areas.
wild marsh violet
Distribution: Europe, Asia, North America, in swamps, peat bogs, damp, swampy meadows from lowlands to foothills.
Marsh violet is a perennial plant 5-12 cm high, with a thin creeping rhizome, rounded kidney-shaped leaves and ovate-lanceolate, pointed stipules.
Flowers on long stalks, petals obovate, light purple or pink-violet, with a short blunt spur.
Outwardly, it is very similar to fragrant violet (V. odorata), but its flowers are odorless. Flowering from April to June.
Growing conditions. Wild diseased violet grows in bright places, on damp, acidic, nutrient-poor, more often peat soils.
Uses: Cultivation in natural style gardens, on damp soils or low banks of reservoirs is possible.
Frost-resistant violet two-flowered
Distributed in subalpine-arctic and suboceanic climatic zones, in the highlands of Europe, Asia and North America. It grows in rock crevices, on wet screes, in mountain forests, in wet meadows, near water bodies.
The plant is 8-20 cm high, the stem is ascending, ascending, the leaves are serrate, heart-shaped or broad-reniform, long-petiolate, stipules are small, lanceolate.
Peduncles erect, with 1-3 drooping dark yellow flowers with small red strokes on the lower petal, about 1.5 cm in diameter, with a small spur. Blooms in May.
Growing conditions. Two-flowered violet is a frost-resistant species, loving acidic, humus-rich, moist soils. Shade-loving. Propagated by seeds or division of the rhizome.
Use: Can be cultivated on low banks of water bodies, damp, shady gardens.
Wild oak (mountain) violet
It grows in temperate zones of Europe and Asia. In Russia – throughout the European part, as well as in the Ciscaucasia and in the south of Eastern Siberia.
Shoots are single or few, up to 25 cm high, do not form turf. The leaves are large, heart-shaped. The flowers are light blue, with a spur, similar to the flowers of dog violets.
Growing conditions. In nature, it grows in forests, thickets of shrubs, in glades and edges.
Use: Almost never cultivated in culture.
Wild violet peach-leaved (pond)
Occasionally found in all European regions of Russia, except for the southeastern, as well as in a number of regions of Siberia.
A perennial plant that forms loose bushes from erect or ascending shoots with alternately arranged leaves of an elongated-oval or triangular-elongated-lanceolate form, on long petioles.
In the axils of the upper leaves in May – June, long peduncles are formed with single, small (up to 1.5 cm in diameter) milky-white flowers with a faint purple tint. Propagated by seeds.
Growing conditions. Peach-leaved (pond) violet grows in damp meadows, on the outskirts of swamps, on forest edges.
Use: Not cultivated in culture.
Forest violet and her photo
Temperate and suboceanic climatic zones of Europe and Asia. It occurs in forest clearings, in thickets of shrubs, in deciduous and coniferous forests.
Forest violet is a perennial with ascending, branched at the base shoots 5-15 cm high. Basal leaves on long petioles, rounded heart-shaped, pointed, with sparse short hairs on the upper side. Stipules narrow-lanceolate.
As you can see in the photo, the forest violet has light purple flowers with a dark purple spur. Flowering in April – May.
Growing conditions. It grows in light and semi-shady places, on moderately moist, nutrient-rich, humus soils. Propagated only by seeds.
Use: Can be used in the design of shady areas, as well as in nature gardens and mixborders.
Violet amazing (with photo and description)
Photos of amazing violets and other types of wild violets are widely presented on this page. The description of the amazing violet differs from other species, first of all, in size.
It is a perennial plant 10-30 cm high. In spring it forms a rosette of rounded heart-shaped or kidney-shaped leaves with numerous axillary, barren, fragrant honey-bearing light purple flowers.
In late spring – early summer, trihedral stems are formed with 2-3 leaves at the top and 1-2 indehiscent (cleistogamous) fertile flowers. Flowering – April – May.
Growing conditions. Shade-tolerant plant growing under the canopy of broad-leaved or spruce forests. Needs moderately moist, loose, slightly acidic soils.
Use: In shady areas, under the canopy of shrubs and trees, including conifers.
A photo of an amazing violet is presented above.
wild violet rivinius
Perennial herb from 10 to 45 cm high, with powerful branched rhizome and erect or ascending shoots. The leaves are quite large, rounded or reniform, heart-shaped at the base.
The leaf plate has a crenate edge and is covered with sparse short hairs. The flowers are located in the axils of the upper leaves and have a long, straight or slightly curved spur. The corolla diameter is up to 25 mm, the color is light purple with a white throat.
Flowering from April to June. Propagated by seeds, which are naturally dispersed by ants.
Growing conditions. In nature, the rivinius violet grows in shady damp forests, is found on the edges and clearings.
Use: Can be used to decorate shady areas under the canopy of trees and shrubs.
Shadow Violet Selkirk
Perennial 10-15 cm high. Stemless plant with thin, short rhizomes and a dense rosette of numerous, ovate or heart-shaped, rather large leaves on long petioles.
The flowers are small, up to 18 mm long, rising on the same level with the leaves on peduncles strongly curved in the upper part. The color of the corolla is pale purple. Flowering in April – May.
Growing conditions. The shadow violet selkirk is called because of the place of growth. This plant prefers shady, birch-spruce forests, peaty soils. It reproduces well by self-seeding.
Usage: Can be cultivated in shady wooded areas, where under the canopy of trees it forms wide clumps.
meadow violet langsdorff
Perennial or juvenile herbaceous plant 20-30 cm tall (up to 40 cm in cultivation), with a creeping rhizome. Leaves broadly ovate or reniform, on long petioles.
The flowers are purple, large, 2.8-4 cm in diameter. It blooms in May – June, for 3-4 weeks.
Growing conditions. Meadow violet langsdorf is photophilous, cold-resistant. Grows well in moderately moist or marshy soils. Propagated by seeds, when sown in spring or before winter – in September – October. Gives abundant self-seeding, can weed. Plants live for 3-4 years, then die off, being replaced by new ones grown from seeds.
Usage: Can be used to decorate open spaces in gardens and parks, on lawns.
Wild violet rock
Synonyms. Sand violet (V. arenaria).
Wild-growing violet rocky is a perennial that forms a loose bush up to 10 cm high from recumbent or rising shoots.
The leaves are small, rounded, heart-shaped at the base and obtuse at the top, hard, with long petioles, arranged alternately on the shoots. From the leaf axils, long peduncles emerge with medium-sized (12-17 mm long) flowers with a small spur.
The flowers and spur are painted in lilac or purple color, they have no smell. The whole plant is pubescent with numerous, very short hairs. Blooms in April – June. The fruit is an ovoid capsule, the seeds ripen in July.
Growing conditions. Under natural conditions, it grows on dry slopes, fields, wastelands and in light pine forests. Prefers sandy, rocky or calcareous soil.
Use: Rarely used in culture. It can be cultivated in natural style gardens, planting in curtains under a sparse canopy of trees, on dry edges, lawns and in rockeries.
wild violet patrena
Synonyms. Violet primulifolia (V. primulifolia).
Perennial herbaceous plant up to 15 cm tall, with a short rhizome. The leaves are oblong, on long petioles. The flowers are white, 2-2.2 cm in diameter. Blooms in the first half of June for about 2-3 weeks.
Growing conditions. Violet Patrena loves fertile soils, open wet places. Propagated by seeds. Can produce abundant self-seeding.
Use: Forms beautiful snow-white curtains on the lawn in parks.
Rare Purple Violet
A rare purple violet grows exclusively in the Caucasus.
A profusely flowering perennial plant 5-6 cm high. The leaves are deeply notched at the base. On a bush, up to 20 flowers bloom at the same time, with a faint smell. Flowering twice a year – in spring and autumn, a total of up to 65 days a year.
Growing conditions. Propagated by seeds, blooms in the year of sowing.
Usage: For flowerbeds, borders, rock gardens, lawns.
Violet dissected (pinnate)
A typically Asian species that grows in the steppes, on rocky slopes, screes, rocks, as well as on forest edges in some regions of Siberia, Altai, Central Asia, China, Mongolia, and the Far East.
Looking at a violet dissected (feathery) not at the time of flowering, it is difficult to imagine that there is a violet in front of you. In fact, the numerous long-petiolate leaves of this perennial stemless plant, deeply pinnately dissected into 8-9 lobes, are more reminiscent of the leaves of the Chinese delphinium, geranium or buttercup.
And only medium-sized light purple flowers with a small spur give out its belonging to the viola. Moreover, even during the period of mass flowering, in June, the flowers are not above the leaves, as in many other types of violets, but modestly look out, as it were, from the depths of the bush.
Growing conditions. Moderately fertile, well-drained soil, full sun or partial shade.
Usage: This plant can be a great addition to the range of alpine and ornamental plants cultivated in home gardens in central Russia.