Watering and feeding
The preferred way to water violets is to place them in a saucer, which should be filled with water first. It is best to use soft water. You can also take the rain version, standing from the tap, melted snow, or even well water, but it must be warm.
The plant should be allowed to absorb moisture, but do not keep the pot in water all the time, as this will cause root rot and the violet will die.
You can water from above, from below, use wicks or sprinkler systems. However, about once a month, the soil should be moistened from above to wash away the accumulated salts after fertilization - especially for clay pots.
If watering is done from above, then always check that moisture does not get into the outlets. The soil must be dry before re-watering. The biggest mistake novice growers make is keeping the soil too wet for a long time. The pot must have a good drainage system.
It is worth feeding violets every two weeks with a weak liquid fertilizer. If too much foliage appears, then you need to reduce the amount of nitrogen. Each time top dressing is applied along with watering, the solution should be four times weaker than the proportion indicated on the package.
Lack of fertilization is one of the reasons why the violet will not bloom. It is better to use formulations with a low urea content, since the roots burn strongly from it.
General information
Fragrant violet is a perennial herb that grows up to 15 centimeters high and has blue-violet inflorescences. The strong creeping rhizome produces many rosettes that take root and give life to new plants. In this way, the violet covers the ground with a beautiful green carpet strewn with small fragrant flowers. The plant lives in the Northern Hemisphere, in latitudes with a temperate climate.
Violet prefers forest edges and clearings, as well as mountain slopes overgrown with forest. It is easily cultivated in gardens and parks, but if you stop caring for it, it also easily runs wild. The plant loves sunny areas or light shade, fertile and loose soils. Poor drought tolerance. It blooms actively from April to early May, blooms again at the end of summer. The fruit is a capsule with a parietal arrangement of seeds, ripens in June.
Phenologists note the violet's ability to predict rain, it reacts sensitively to moisture, which can damage delicate pistils and stamens. Hiding them, the plant folds the petals of the inflorescences and droops during precipitation, then recovers rather quickly.
Peculiarities
This culture is in demand from the very beginning. The reason is simple: almost everyone likes flowers of a pleasant purple color. At "Water" purple paint is diluted with white-pink and green notes. Thanks to them, the plants turn out to be more romantic and even a little more mysterious. The variety was bred by the famous breeder T. Dadoyan.
In the development process, in addition to the non-standard colors, it was possible to make the petals as curled as possible, the leaves are the same. Therefore, the flower has become more elegant than many other varieties. Flowers of "Water" belong to the terry group. They reach a large size. The perimeter of the petals is decorated with a powerful fringe.
The petals turn a deep blue or even purple. Pale pink inclusions are added to them in random order. The petals at the tips are also pinkish. At the very edge there is a greenish ruffle curving into a spiral. The appearance of a flower changes when the buds bloom - that is why neither photos, nor videos, nor verbal stories can reflect all the charm of the "Water".
But here it is important to make a digression: this variety belongs to the number of violets only in everyday life.In fact, he is one of the genus Saintpaulia - completely different plants that do not come from Europe, but from the east of Africa.
Saintpaulias are truly remarkable for their extraordinary beauty, even eclipsing the classic European violets. The opening of the buds is very slow, while the saturation of the colors increases gradually. From light, almost blue, it becomes more and more saturated and finally reaches blue.
Some part of the bouquet begins to resemble balls during development. Rays of pink color depart from their base. When they open, the pink areas change shape. At the last moment, the petals turn more and more green. "Water" violets form strong flower stalks, each of them has from 3 to 5 buds.
The description indicates that fully blooming flowers have a diameter of 4-5 cm. At this size, they can live 25 or 30 days. In this case, light leaves on the back have a reddish tint. The edges of the foliage are slightly wavy; when the violet matures, the leaves darken. The rosettes are large and uniformly shaped.
Flowering features
The buds are solitary, on thin long peduncles that form in the leaf axils. Like most violets, the fragrant flower has a division of the flower into a lower and upper segment, at the bottom there are three petals, the central one is wider and larger than the others, at the top there are two equal ones.
The color of the fragrant violet is royal lilac, sometimes lighter or darker, depending on lighting and conditions. The peculiarity of the flowers of this variety is an unusually bright and strong aroma.
Flowering occurs in April-May for 20-25 days, sometimes re-flowering occurs in late summer. Each bud lasts for almost the entire flowering period. The flowers themselves are very sensitive to precipitation and before the rain they usually fall and close the petals tightly.
Fragrant violet flower.
In landscape design, it is widely used in different variations:
- for distillation - taken for the winter in a pot and in the spring they get very early flowering;
- spring flower beds - planted in combination with other early flowering flowers;
- as a ground cover plant - in places where it is necessary to completely cover the soil;
- in the alpine hills - the flower grows and can grow on the hill as a beautiful waterfall;
- on curbs - as well as for flower beds, this variety is perfect;
- often grown in pots, because the plant grows well in such conditions.
Distinctive features for bred varieties
The main feature of the varieties under consideration is uniqueness. All flowers have corrugated edges.
In terms of care, the plants are unpretentious. Care includes watering, feeding, creating a favorable humid climate.
Important: Watering should be carried out as the soil dries up, using settled water. Grow at an air humidity of 50%, and a temperature of 20-22 degrees
Violets AV propagate by cuttings.
Of the diseases, the danger is:
- gray rot;
- powdery mildew;
- leaf spot.
Breeder's violets Fialkovod are incredibly beautiful and interesting flowers. They have a variety of colors and flower shapes. In care, they are not capricious, so even an inexperienced florist can choose them for breeding, observing elementary agrotechnical rules.
No less remarkable are the varieties of violets bred by breeders Evgeny Arkhipov, Elena Korshunova, Boris and Tatyana Makuni, Natalya Puminova, Konstantin Morev, Tatyana Pugacheva, Natalya Skornyakova, Elena Lebetskaya, Svetlana Repkina and Tatyana Dadoyan, on which you can learn about our website.
