Viola, Colchicums - History of Icelandics 2

(Click on photos once or twice to enlarge them.)
I have a few old fashioned violas that come up from seed every year; they are biennial. The do poorly in the heat of the summer but do very well in the cool moist
springs and autumns here in Michigan. These have been surviving in my backyard for almost forty years now. Any plant that can survive my dog pack is welcome and encouraged to stay. These are the first flowers for this fall. We have always called this variety "Johnny Jump-Ups" and it breeds true. They are related, obviously, to the large hybrid Pansies.

Iceland: Its Scenes and Sagas, London, 1863, Sabine Baring-Gould

"The Icelandic Dog has already been briefly described in the introduction: Its head is just like that of a fox; it is small, has sharp eyes, short legs, a profusion of hair, a ruff around the neck, a tail curled over the back, and is generally of a white, dappled or tawny colour."

(From The Iceland Dog 874 - 1956, Mark Watson )

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Ultima Thule; or, A Summer in Iceland, London and Edinburgh, 1875, Richard F. Burton

" - - - The common sort is a little "pariah" not unlike the Pomeranian; stunted, short-backed, and sharp-snouted, with ruffed neck and bushy tail or rather brush, curling and recurling. The colour is mostly brown-black, some are light-brown, deep-black, white and piebald."

(From The Iceland Dog 874 - 1956, Mark Watson )

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By Fell and Fjord, or Scenes and Studies in Iceland, Edinburgh and London, 1882, E.J. Oswald

"At Bessastadir I was presented with my Icelandic Dog Kari. He was pure white, with the exception of his black cheeks and nose and pricked black ears, which stood up like two sharp points of rock out of a snow-drift." - - - - - - - A sweeter nature than Kari never ran upon four legs: nothing would make him bite or fight; he was friends with the whole world - - - . I never knew a dog who understood language so well, or who tried so hard to talk. - - - There were many words that we tried to conceal by spelling them; but in two or three days Kari would learn the alias of anything that concerned him, and excite himself as before. - - - The well-bred ones are very gentle and intelligent, but shy unless encouraged, and terribly noisy, barking as they run, and shrieking at the smallest hurt. - - - There are long-haired and short-haired varieties but even the latter have fine thick coats. They are mostly black or white, or fawn, in colour: they are very fleet and hardy, and most companionable creatures."

(From The Iceland Dog 874 - 1956, Mark Watson )