Penny Purple Picotee: From Wild Viola to Wearable Art

CATCH THE NATURE exists on one idea: that nature is the best artist alive. From real flowers to abstract art, inspired by nature. We draw on the colors, markings and textures of real flowers, transforming their natural details into abstract patterns designed to be worn. You can see the whole approach at catchthenature.store. Penny Purple Picotee is one of those flowers.

The Flower

Viola cornuta 'Penny Purple Picotee' belongs to the Penny series — a different breeding line from our other violas, valued for genuine fragrance and unusually wide heat tolerance. Each bloom carries a creamy white face traced in fine black striping around a yellow eye, edged in a fine violet-purple 'picotee' trim. It's one of the first violas to flower in spring, often before the last frost fully clears.

A Name With Real Roots

"Picotee" is a real horticultural term, not a made-up name. It comes from the French picoté, meaning dotted or pricked, and has described flowers with a fine contrasting edge on their petals since 19th-century English carnation and sweet pea breeding. The wider viola and pansy family carries its own old folk name too: "heartsease," used in English herbal tradition long before modern garden hybrids existed, given to the flower for its supposed power to ease a troubled heart.

From Bloom to Fabric

From real flowers to abstract art, inspired by nature. We draw on the colors, markings and textures of real flowers, transforming their natural details into abstract patterns designed to be worn.

The Piece

Penny Purple Picotee is available as high-waist leggings and a matching long-sleeve crop top, both cut from recycled, four-way-stretch fabric. If the story of this bloom means something to you, the print is here: Penny Purple Picotee Leggings, or browse the full Viola Collection at catchthenature.store.