Heartthrob ushers in a whole new color scheme for violets as groundcover or decorative plants for the front of a shaded border. With classic lavender violet flowers, this new beauty adds the drama of a deep burgundy heart-shaped blotch on each leaf. A great new garden texture plant among the violets--since after the flowers are gone, this one keeps adding color all season long!
Experienced gardeners have a strong love-hate relationship with violets, and it all depends on where they are planted. Of course, everybody loves the flowers. Just keep the wild ones out of your regular flower garden, and use them under trees, in front of shrubs, and other places for patches of color and borders of groundcover-like greenery after the flowers are gone. Because they seed and spread rapidly, and if they spread throughout your other perennials, in a year or two, you'll have a big job pulling them all out and cleaning everything up. (This is much less of a problem with the hybrids than the wild violets many people collect from the woodland.)
But just look at those flowers! Who can resist? Plant yours where you want them to spread, and you'll love them forever.
