Right now, it's hard to even think of cutting the lawn — not that we do that very often anyway. But the hundreds of Sweet Violet flowers carpeting the ground will have to die back before I can bring myself to cut their little heads off! The light, sweet odor of the flowers is pervasive in the garden (at least it is when the strong winds we've been having for days isn't blowing the scent to Amsterdam), making it feel like spring is really well on the way. The bumblebees are loving the bounty too, lurching from flower to flower. I'll have to try to get a picture or two so we can add them to the insect list; I'm pretty sure they're all Buff-tailed Bumblebees I've seen so far.
Sweet Violets are native here in Britain, as well as across much of Europe and Asia. And they're widely introduced in North America and Australia now as well, thanks to their beauty and hardiness. As you'd expect with a long-established plant, it's been widely used in herbal medicine since the Middle Ages, and is well-tied to some ancient legends. Supposedly, violets were among the blooms Persephone was gathering when the Greek god Hades abducted her, and the flower was a symbol of ancient Athens as well. It's nice to have a little tie between our garden and that lovely country!
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