Pansy violetsPansies have served as an integral part to the landscape of Japan in winter and spring. I started growing pansies last November. After their full blossom in a comparatively warm autumn last year, their rigor has amazed me since then. As the natural world is gradually waking up from dormancy and responding slowly to the call of spring, these tiny monkey-faced flowers are already, again, in full bloom.

The impression that the name of viola, a species that pansy derived from, gives to me is romantic and therefore connotes fragility. However, they are very winter-hardy.

A couple of days ago, I came across the following sentence in Katherine Mansfield's shorty story, 'An Indiscreet Journey': '[p]olicemen are as thick as violets everywhere'.

I would not have paid serious attention to this descriptive detail if I hadn't had pansies in the garden. It is perhaps too cruel to associate these herbal flowers with policemen and the masculinity that their profession represents, but the density of the blossoms and the watchful faces of the flowers were made surprisingly sensible.