Violas

J planted these two tubs yesterday, so I photo'd them before heading to work this morning - I reckoned I would have little further opportunity for a blip, and I was right.

I've noticed that there is a mystery macro challenge going on, but too late to participate. No mystery about these plants, except .....

We had a discussion yesterday about whether these were pansies or violas. The colouration is very similar to the little wild pansies I remember from the hedgerows when I was a lot younger. Googling, it turns out that the wild pansy's latin name is viola tricolour, so we were both right. Lots of alternative names for the smaller wild plant, including hearts ease. The wild plant was associated with thought in the language of flowers, which is where the name pansy comes from (pensée in french), with Shakespeare making that connection directly in a Midsummer Night's Dream when Oberon speaks to Puck.

So there you go !