Viola cornuta Sorbet Peach Melba F1 Hybrid - Horned pansy

Viola cornuta 'Sorbet Peach Melba' F1 Hybrid, also known as the hybrid horned violet, produces compact plants that form small clumps covered with an abundance of small flowers in stunning colours, in a mixture of pink and yellow, speckled with reddish-brown. This biennial plant is easy to grow, tolerates heat and is cold-resistant, and blooms for a very long period. It will bring a cheerful and refined touch to borders, balconies, or terraces. It should be grown in humus-rich and moist soil, in full sun or partial shade.

Belonging to the violet family, the horned violet, which grows spontaneously in the Pyrenees, is a low perennial plant that has given rise to numerous hybrids and cultivars. Often crossed with Viola tricolor (wild pansy), their most famous descendants are the horticultural pansies. The 'Sorbet Peach Melba' F1 Hybrid variety, from which it originates, is a herbaceous spreading plant that reaches a height of 15cm (6in) in flower, with dark green, ovate, and serrated evergreen leaves, forming a spreading tufted habit. Depending on the sowing date, this plant is covered in flowers from spring to autumn. Its compound flowers with 5 petals resemble those of small pansies, but their petals are arranged differently. The top two petals are upright, pale yellow tinged with old rose, while the other three are downward-facing, in a bright yellow colour with a reddish-brown spot centered towards the petal edge. The base of these three petals is adorned with red 'whiskers'. The plant spreads quite rapidly thanks to its rhizomes and also self-seeds very easily in the garden, not always true to type.

Horned violets are intended for the flowering of low beds, borders, but also pots and balconies, where they will be associated with other spring and summer flowering plants. (Forget-me-nots, Dwarf Narcissus, Daisies, Primroses, Botanical Tulips, summer and autumn asters, etc.). The flowers of horned violets are edible, so do not hesitate to decorate your plates with one or two flowers, or even to add a few to your salads to give them a touch of colour.