We have white ones in our yard, as well as purple ones. But our white ones are slightly different. They have little dark lines on the lowest petal.

My mother used to call them "Confederate violets" because at a distance, they look gray. I saw a clump of them in the side yard and moved them to a flowerbed - now they're all over the flowerbed, and once in a while I still see one in the yard.

first open. It's my favorite floral fragrance. The real thing. Not perfumes--they use chemicals because genuine violet flower oil is thousands of dollars an ounce, but oh so heavenly.

Of violets in my area, northern Rockies, along with the purple and white we also have three or four kinds of yellow violets. I love having a patch of them, the smell is like no other. I wish I could smell like that regularly.

They can turn a regular garden salad into something really special.