Violas in a bright January

“The sweetness of the Violets deep blue eyes,
Kissed by the breath of Heaven Seems color’d by its skies”

~~ Lord Byron

Pots of violas in January

Is there any flower more cheery than the small bright faces of the viola or pansy? What is the difference, you ask? The pansies are larger than the delicate, usually one-color violas and though botanists might have more details, concerning technical terms like ‘blotches’, that is the general consensus. Both are flowering plants in the violet family and there are four to five hundred cultivars, including our small yellow native relative, Viola pedunculata, the California Golden violet.