I love violets in the garden. Violets are one of the 1st plants I remember planting as a kid. When we went mushroom hunting with my Dad in a place we called Bob’s Wood, sometimes we would just come back with a clump or two of woodland violets to plant. That was okay with me, I wasn’t all that wild about the morel mushrooms anyway. I was more interested in just walking through the woods, looking at the plants, and digging up some violets.
In fact, I am pretty sure that the violets in my garden are some I transplanted from those we transplanted to our house after one of our mushroom hunting trips. That makes these in my garden a highly desired passalong plant and not a weed. Can you believe it? Some people think woodland violets are weeds!
I go nuts on Saturdays when I am driving around running errands, listening to a call in program on gardening. People call in and ask how to kill the violets in their yard. And the retired extension agent tells them it will be tough to do, and then proceeds to run through a litany of chemicals that will do the trick and not kill the grass. I always answer back “why would you want to kill the violets!” One of these days I’m going to call in…
One of my favorite violets is the variegated leaf violet, Viola mandshurica ‘Fuji Dawn’. I grew some from seed several years ago. They lasted a few years and then one spring they didn’t come back, probably because it got too cold in the winter. They are really only hardy to zone 6 and I am in zone 5, so I knew they wouldn’t last forever, if even a year, but I tried anyway.
I will try again this spring, and look for a more protected area in the garden.
I am totally with you about the violets! I love it when they show up in my lawn. And I can’t understand launching chemical warfare on something so pretty.
I was watching a gardening show once where the question of how not to kill the grass came up, and the host suggested dampening a sponge with herbicide, and rubbing each and every violet leaf with the sponge. Why bother??
I love violets, too, and it’s sad that so many people think of them as weeds. How lovely that you have a few blooming again for fall.
It just happens that violets are one of my favorite flowers, and I don’t understand people who try to destroy them. Those people should be punished by spending their precious time polishing violet leaves one by one. That ought to keep them busy enough so they’ll those beautiful little flowers alone.
We don’t have wild violets in Houston .I do grow violas and pansies here in the winter, though. I think I like the violas the best.
I am glad others agree with me! Save the violets!
I’d enjoy seeing a few violets again – they were welcome in many places in my Illinois garden, too.
In Texas I’ll be happy to see some of Violets’ close relatives – today I planted blue and purple pansies [the kind with faces] in the hanging baskets on the veranda. They’re called ‘winter annuals’ here.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
The mandshurica Fuji dawn is a real beauty. Thanks for letting us know about this viola.