Greeting Cards - Heartsease - Viola tricolor
Hardy Perennial. Flowers: Spring

Simple and sweet, the blooms of our native Heartsease will brighten up any dull corner of the garden with their purple, yellow and white colourings. Rising from a mound of foliage, the flowers bob on top of short stems, creating a colourful show in Spring. Not a fussy type, Heartsease will grow almost anywhere, setting seed freely to come back year after year. For many centuries, Heartsease has been used for medicinal purposes, as a laxative and diuretic; externally it was used to soothe skin complaints such as excema. It was also used to make love potions, and this association with love is reflected in a host of common names - Heartsease, Love-in-Idleness, Love-Lies-Bleeding. In Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night's Dream, it was the juice of this plant that Oberon squeezed into Titania’s eyes.