Since today is Valentine’s Day, I am republishing an updated version of a piece about violets I wrote for my original blog in 2016.

Sweet violets are the flowers I hold closest to me. I love how they are hidden behind their leaves and unassuming. People complain about them as “weeds” or take them for granted but they have the strongest sweetest fragrance. They are edible too. Their history intrigues me. If I had to name a favorite flower, it would be the violet. It happens to be at the peak of bloom in many parts of the world on Valentine’s Day, including here in Lisbon where I live.

I’ve been obsessed since as a kid I watched Eliza sell violets on the street from a basket full of the gathered and bundled bunches in My Fair Lady.  It used to be that every florist had a greenhouse filled with violets as they were all the rage for cut flowers from Victorian times into the mid 20th century. I remember the strange, dark, florist of my childhood had a dilapidated greenhouse in the back and I’ve often imagined they grew violets there at one point.

The variety is Viola odorata and earlier it was the Parma Violet (an old-fashioned, sort of double-petaled violet). As they grow so profusely in many areas, florists gathered and sold them, cut and bunched together with leaves around the edge. The strong, sweet fragrance, more intense as the violets are fresh and as they get warm from body heat as you hold the bouquet, offered an antidote to smelly city streets. During certain times, it was quite fashionable to be seen carrying violets around. “It is estimated that at the beginning of the 1880’s, circa six million violet bunches were sold every year in Paris. Other countries like England, Belgium, Germany, Austria, and even Russia were dependent on the French violets from Paris and Southern France” (source, History and Cultivation of Parma Violets (Viola, Violaceae) in the United Kingdom and France in the Nineteenth Century).

It’s so unusual to see bunches of violets sold as cut flowers anymore. In the US, almost unheard of. Years ago, I was able to secure one of the last shipments from the US’s lone commercial grower. When the box of violets arrived (with the longest stems I’d ever seen!). I nearly cried. They were so, so beautiful. It was around Valentine’s day. I’d put the word out to some of my customers that we would have fresh violets. Within the day they arrived, sweet grannies and older ladies arrived, almost crying when they picked up the violets! Saying they hadn’t seen fresh cut violet bouquets since their childhood. It’s one of my favorite shop memories for sure.

When I first moved to Lisbon in 2015, I was thrilled to see they were still sold at flower shops here. I was told by a few flower shop owners that an older gentlemen foraged them and sold them to florists. I created these photos in 2018 and sadly the years following, it became almost impossible to find them at flower shops in Lisbon. If you know anything about Portuguese or Portugal you know the word, saudade which encapsulates the feeling of nostalgia, longing, and melancholy. I think that’s the word that encompasses my feeling about the disappearance of violet bouquets. I am constantly trying to convince floral consumers that the value of cut flowers is not at all how long they last but consumers continue to be unconvinced.

These nostalgic little bunches only last about two or three days, hence the reason the’ve faded from the commercial floral industry. But to me, their fleeting nature makes them even more beautiful. I remember the day I found them in Lisbon, happily carrying them home in the rain sniffing them as I walked! 

How to harvest and care for fresh cut violets:

1. Harvest in the morning or late at night. Immediately placing them in cold water.
2. Re-cut the stems with a very sharp florist’s knife and place into fresh cold water.
3. They like to be lightly misted.
4. Keep cool and away from sunlight and heaters.
5. They will last 2-3 days after cut.
 
To grow violets:
 
1. They love shady, woodland areas but can handle more sun too.
2. Violets bloom in the winter and spring as they love the colder weather.
3. Cut back after blooming.
 

Vase by Sofia Albuquerque. Photos originally created for Gardenista.

More violet resources:
 
The American Violet Society

History and Cultivation of Parma Violets (Viola, Violaceae) in the United Kingdom and France in the Nineteenth Century

My piece about violets for Gardenista

The Guardian: A Celebration of Sweet Violets

A documentary about sweet violets in Rhinebeck, NY