How to Grow and Care for Johnny-Jump-Ups

Johnny-jump-ups are one of my favorite flowers because they pop up everywhere, placing them among the easiest blooms to grow. They’re determined to flourish.

Here’s an example: One year, I grew a container of these purple, yellow, and white flowers (Viola tricolor) next to my garden.

By the end of the summer, some of the flowers in the original container had gone to seed. With the help of the wind, they’d blown over into the raised beds. They grew so quickly that I swear I saw flowers within a few days of sprouting.

It was probably a little longer than that, but not by much. We do have endlessly long days of sun during Alaska summers!

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Do you want to plant your own sweet-faced Johnnies? You’re in luck, because we’re about to discuss everything you need to know to grow these pretty and surprisingly hardy flowers.

Johnny-jump-ups are members of the Violaceaefamily, which includes 25 genera.

Only three of these are really worth noting for the home gardener, however: Hybanthus, Rinorea, and Viola. The majority of the flowers in the Violaceaefamily are members of these three genera.

Native to Australia and other warm regions,Hybanthus flowers are shaped like a pendant or spade, and they have similar colors and whiskers to Johnny-jump-ups.

Rinorea plants are actually trees that can grow up to 20 feet tall, and contribute to the understory of tropical rainforests like those in South Africa, Indonesia, and the Pacific Islands.

Their blooms are tiny, cream-colored, and bell-shaped.

The Viola genus is my favorite of the three. Unlike its more distant