Hardy to Zone 2, Johnny jump ups look much more delicate than they are.

Farmer’s Market Series

The Minneapolis Farmer’s Market opened this week. The growing season is just getting underway so there isn’t much to choose from as far as edible produce, but bedding plants were everywhere.

The violas in the picture at left caught my eye. Viola tricolor is the botanical name, but it’s more commonly known as Johnny jump ups, heartsease, or wild pansy. Violas used to be called pansies until garden pansies were developed from violas.

In Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, placing the juice of heartsease on the lids of sleeping eyelids is said to cause a man or woman to fall madly for the next person they see. This explains one of their common names, “heartsease,” because of their use in love potions.

In herbal medicine violas are used to treat epilepsy, asthma, skin diseases, and eczema. They also have expectorant properties and are used to treat bronchitis and whopping cough.

The flowers make yellow, green, and blue-green dyes.

I like them because they smell heavenly without being overly sweet, like so many other spring flowers.

Johnny jump ups are true perennials grown as annuals. They are prolific reseeders and have escaped cultivation into the wild all over North America. They are native to Europe and western Asia.

You can start them from seed indoors about 10 weeks before setting them out in late March to early April, depending on your location. They are commonly available as a bedding plant; once you plant them in your yard or garden, they’ll come up all over your property for years. You can also collect the seed and scatter it yourself.

They grow best in light shade, which prolongs their blooming season into summer. When they fade, cut them back to three inches high or so and they’ll bloom again in fall when cooler weather arrives.

I’ve written that garden pansies can be coated with sugar and used to decorate cakes; violas can be used the same way and because of their smaller size, are more charming to me.

Also because of their small size, they make excellent pressed flowers to decorate stationery or to frame as wall art.

And their roots smell faintly of ripe peaches.