Botanically speaking, violas, pansies, and almost all violets are perennials belonging to the genus Viola.

However, violas and pansies are usually treated as annuals, invaluable for winter and spring bloom in mild-winter areas, for spring-through-summer color in colder climates.

Typically used for mass color in borders and edgings, as covers for spring-flowering bulbs, in containers. Violets are more often used as woodland or rock garden plants.

Violas and ­pansies take sun or partial shade; violets grow in part or full shade (except as noted), but most are natives of deciduous forests and bloom best with at least some sun during the flowering season.

Viola x wittrockiana

Perennial grown as a cool-season annual. Erect and bushy to 6-10 in. high and 9-12 in. wide. Many strains with 2-4-in. flowers in white, blue, mahogany red, rose, yellow, apricot, purple; also bicolors and multicolor blends. Most have dark blotches on the lower three petals; such flowers are often said to resemble faces. Shiny green leaves are oval to heart shaped, slightly lobed, 1 1/2 in. or longer.