Viola 'Androse Gem'
Viola 'Androse Gem'• Click here to visit our Main Plant List page for current availability of this plant
• perennial viola
• flowering season: spring and again in fall; where summers are not too hot they will flower all summer
• height: 4 to 6 inches
• Light requirements: strong light but partial shade during the hottest part of the afternoon
• Soil requirements: average to rich
• Water requirments: average
• Growth habit: grows as a clump
• How to propagate: divide in early to mid-spring; rarely sets seeds
• Leaf type: small, round light green leaves
• Ways to use it: it is happy near the front edge of a flower garden, or to edge a path; also grows well in a container to be placed where you can enjoy it up close
• Special characteristics: by mid-summer a plant may grow tall and flop open; if this happens, cutting it back by half to two-thirds is a good idea
• Other points of interests: this is a hybrid of several species that were chosen for their long flowering season and for their long life
We offer several of these long-lived perennial Violas in a range of colors. They have long been appreciated by gardeners in the U.K. however are not well known in the U.S. Although they closely resemble pansies, they are much better, by the facts that they are truly perennial and often have a sweet, strong fragrance. A trait of theirs is to grow as a clump of rooted shoots. It is very easy to produce additional new plants by digging up an older plant and gently pulling apart these rooted stems and replanting several from what had been one plant. Each of these little pieces will grow into a thick clump of rooted shoots of their own. They do not set seeds and then die like a pansy does.
We offer both large-flowered ones and small-flowered ones. In hot parts of the country the larger-flowered violas do not last long, and the smaller-flowered violas are the ones to grow because they can survive well with heat. The large-flowered ones are best left to the parts of North America where summer temperatures cool off at night. This one, 'Androse Gem,' has smaller flowers. Many of the violas here are scented, although this one is unscented. Mature plants are cold hardy to USDA Zone 4. If the top of a plant freezes during a severe winter, the plant can recover from the underground rooted stems.