'Smile & Say Viola'- Spring Flowers

Violas are a firm favourite with gardeners due to their hardiness and abundance of velvety blooms, which appear to have an endlessly long flowering season. I’ve always loved to use them in my jewellery, as they come in a rich array of vibrant colours, and they evoke the vitality of a spring day.

For as long as I can remember we had these in our garden. My mom use to tell me they reminded her of little faces looking up towards the sunshine. That image has never left my mind, as you can imagine as a child hearing that sparked my curious imagination. Every time I see them now they remind me of a bunch of happy smiling faces.

Violas are five-petaled flowers (pansies have three and are larger in form) and are either found growing in damp areas in the wild, such as the meadow violet or common blue violet. The most familiar are the cultivated varieties found in nurseries and garden centres, and consist of hybrids of sweet violets or viola odorata. They come in a pleasing rainbow of colours; I’m often seduced by the soft pink and purple selections. If you’re a novice gardener, you can pick up trays of violas at your local garden centre, and they’re generally inexpensive, easy to grow and reward you with a beautiful display of billowy blooms from spring up until autumn.