Time to make wild violet jelly
7 years ago
The grandkids and I "harvest" violets from the yard every spring
It's a beautiful jelly and very easy.
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Comments (12)
7 years ago
7 years agoRelated Discussions
wild violets in the garden
Comments (77)Kippy, the plant in your photo is a whole other beast, the Kenilworth ivy (Cymbalaria muralis), which is in the Scrophulariaceae, or snapdragon, family and not a violet. They don't get very out of hand here in Livermore due to the heat, adverse soil conditions, and dryness and have to content themselves with trying to appropriate watered flower pots. I remember a stone or cement wall at the train station in Irvington, New York (on the Hudson River), that was beautifully covered with this species -- it is a classic wall plant and totally adapted to growing in crevices. I was glad for this posting last year as it alerted me that the innocuous-looking little blue violet that arrived with a pot of iris was probably not so innocent after all. I removed a good-sized patch that had already sprung up, finding, as Molineaux says, that its root system is scary-huge and tenacious. Another close call....See MoreAfrican Violets gone wild!!
Comments (5)African Violets grow as very well-defined rosettes on one short stem. (This is what is meant by rosette, from Wikipedia.) In all african violets, there is a dormant growth bud at the base of every single leaf, and that bud that can grow into a second rosette. When the plant gets to a certain size, one or more of them will do just that. When an a additional rosette grows to be the same size as the main one, it will push the "parent" rosette to one side to form a single plant with 2 rosettes. Picture a single rosette plant as a tostada, facing upwards. A plant with two rosettes will be like two tacos pushed against each other. Where they meet, the leaves/taco shell does point straight up. You can leave your african violets like that for a long time, if you want. It doesn't hurt them; they still share a root system and nutrients. But if you really want to restore the symmetrical circular rosette, you can look underneath the leaves and see where the stems come together. You should also be able to figure out which is the main stem and which is the "branch." You can take some skinny medical scissors or a very narrow knife and cut off the "branch," if you can clearly make out where it is. Make sure the one you cut is really the branch. When you pull the branching rosette off and separate it from the first one, you will be able to see that it looks like a second african violet plant. You can set that in a bowl of water (facing upwards as much as possible) and it will grow roots - much quicker than a single leaf cutting grows roots - and then you can plant it. On the original plant, there will probably be some bare stem at the base now; it will resemble a "trunk" underneath the rosette of leaves sort of like a palm tree. To restore the original look, you can take that plant out of the pot, scrape some of the dirt off from the bottom of the roots (its ok if you disturb some of the roots), set the plant back in the pot, and put fresh dirt under the leaves on top of the roots. It's tough get the dirt in and can end up breaking leaves, so it's best to let it dry out a bit and get somewhat wilty. A freshly-watered plant is very brittle. African violets will continually produce branching rosettes if they get to a certain size. You can potentially end up with 2, 3, 4, etc rosettes on one plant. If you leave them there, they will gradually get far enough apart that you will clearly be able to see the well-defined rosettes again - there will just be two instead of one - so when you lift, scrape and bury the plant like I described, you will have two pretty symmetrical african violets in a single pot....See Moreviolet Jelly, Candy and Syrup
Comments (11)I've tinkered with the violet jelly recipe that is posted all over the Net, so I can share my experiences. Sorry I don't have anything for syrup or candy, though. The recipe I started with is: Violet Jelly (Source: www.prairielandherbs.com) 2 heaping cups of fresh violet petals 2 cups boiling wter 1/4 cup well-strained, clear lemon juice 4 cups sugar 3 oz liquid pectin (Certo) NOTE: Look for fully opened flowers, not partially opened buds, for better color and more intense flavor. The violets you want are the wild violets. Please choose violets that have NOT been sprayed. ) Wash petals well, drain and place in heat-proof glass or nonreactive bowl. Pour boiling water over petals and let steep from 30 minutes to 24 hours. It usually takes about two hours for violets. Strain through a fine sieve, reserving the clear, purplish liquid or infusion. If not using immediately, refrigerate up to 24 hours. Place jars and lids on rack in pan or stockpot deep enough to cover them with about two inches of water, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer, keeping the jars hot until ready to fill. To make the jelly, stir lemon juice and sugar into reserved infusion in a two-quart nonreactive or stainless steel pan. Bring to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down. Add the liquid pectin and continue to boil two minutes, skimming any foam that may rise to the surface. Ladle quickly into jars to within about 1/8 inch from the top; clean each rim and threads of the jar as it's filled, and place flat lid and ring on each before filling the next. Place the jars in a hot-water canning bath and boil for 10 minutes (or the appropriate time for your area). After canning, carefully check to make sure the lids have all sealed. Sealed jars will last up to one year in a cool, dark place. Put any unsealed jelly in the refrigerator. it should keep about three weeks. Makes four or five half-pint jars. Things I tried: Steeping overnight (worked best). Blenderizing the violets to get more flavor (didn't work - too hard to strain out all the little bits of flower petals). Decreasing the sugar - 4 cups was too sweet. I did get a good set from 3 cups and it was still plenty sweet enough for me. Using Pomona pectin (it was cloudy and for the first time, I noticed a chalky texture. I did use honey in that batch instead of sugar, which probably accounted for the cloudiness and perhaps the weird texture. Plus the honey overpowered the flavor of the violets). BWB for 5 minutes instead of 10. That worked great - using sterilized jars. Fresh lemon juice tasted better than bottled. I also threw in a bag of seeds that I had saved, so the set was a bit firmer but still soft, which I didn't mind. Hope that helps....See MoreChemical Free Weed Control? - Wild Violet, Plantain, Wild Strawb
Comments (4)We have a wicked infestation of wild violet. Monterey makes an organic herbicidal soap that kills what's above ground but they'll come back. Our next attempt to get the violets out of our beds will be to cover the area with heavy black plastic for a week or two. Then we will remove the plastic to till the area and manually rake out the foliage and roots. I expect we will need to till multiple times to clear out all the roots. After this process we will put in our perennials, mulch heavily, and be vigilant for violets poking up through the mulch. I really don't mind them in the yard...just not in my garden beds....See More- 7 years agolast modified: 7 years ago
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