As I’ve mentioned before, I love violets.
And I thought I knew them well. Then I discovered, as with many things in life, I didn’t know them at all. Every year, I saw them and said, “I like them.” I didn’t look any closer. I didn’t make them a part of my life. Not since I was a child, when I made violet syrup, have I given them the attention they deserve. Not until this year, that is.
I have been out to admire and photograph them every day since they started blooming, and I have learned many things. First, I learned that violets spread quickly. I had known it, but I had never witnessed it. Last spring, I couldn’t have imagined how they’d come to dominate the yard. They moved up the hill as if scattered by the very hand of God.
I also learned that violets are difficult to photograph. Each violet is a character, and usually an unphotogenic one. I guess that’s something the violet and I have in common. I’m not photogenic either. My face looks best animated. Catch it at any one moment and it’s not always so pretty. I had to take dozens of violet photos just to capture a few decent ones. And I discovered, as I clicked away, that I had four types of violets in my yard (big whites, little whites, dog violets, and common blues). Now, let me introduce some of them to you.
First, the friendliest of all, the laughing violet. The full sun, which did me no favors as I was snapping photos, just made her smile more.
The delicate, innocent, tiny white violet. She doesn't know what fear is.
The scared violet. He's even afraid of the camera.
Here, the everyman of violets. He's an ordinary, likable guy, but maybe just a tad depressed. Maybe he had his heart broken...
...and maybe it was by someone like this flirty girl, another common blue.
I am sorry to say that when I linked to my first violet post (see first sentence), I found that I had failed to keep a promise. I may have to do something about that. We’ll see. In the meantime, the violets are still blooming. They are in their decline now, fading, petals slightly tattered, but they haven’t quite lost their charm. Like people, who may lose their looks as they age, these violets still have stories to tell, and I will be there to listen and learn.
I thought I caught a whiff of scent coming from the violets this spring and I thought, “At last! After years of hearing about the scent of the violet, I have finally smelled it!” But they say common violets have no scent. Hmm. I don’t know what I smelled, then. Anyway, I do want to know what a violet smells like, so I’m thinking about buying some viola odorata (sweet violet) seeds.
I did! I did smell violet! I became convinced yesterday that I had been mistaken about the smell. But yesterday was cold and rainy, and maybe the wetness kept me from smelling the fragrance. Today is sunny and dry. Some of the big white violets are whiter and shaped just a little bit differently than the others. Today, I put my nose right up to a couple of them, and unless I’m completely imagining things, they’ve got scent. Woohoo!
Some of the blues have scent, too, and the little white ones are really strong. I also may have found yet another type of violet in the yard. I may have to post more pictures!