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I don’t know where they came from. I don’t think I ever planted them and at first I spent a great deal of time pulling them out like weeds. However, over the past 8 or 9 years I have let these little “nuisances” have their own way and I have discovered that these Common Violets make a wonder ground cover.
The artist in me loves the purple of them against the hard, shiny green leaf and they spread by dropping their seeds and go from there. The Common Violet is very hardy and of course is a perennial. As I said I have no idea how and when they arrived in my garden, but they have won out and they are here to stay. Each year there are more and more of them and they are a welcomed sight at the end of March when they start coming up in the darndest places. This year they have filled up the whole area under the roses bushes in front of the Garden Cottage taking away the starkness of the bare stalks of those thorny bushes that have yet to develop leaves and eventually fill the whole area with their wild looking roses.
Though the Common Violet prefers shade, because our zone 6 climate in our area of Kentucky gives us lots of April showers they seem to thrive and thrive.
You can grow seedling indoors as long as you maintain the temperature at 70 ° Fahrenheit in order to allow them to sprout.
After they have sprouted it is a good idea to put them in a container or window box as they will be very attractive there and once they have stopped blooming you can remove them and then transplant them in those bare spots around your garden where they will take hold and multiply next year and every year after that.
Each March and early April you can divide your Common Violets and replant them in other places such as along shaded fences, under your berry bushes or around your shrubs and just watch them flourish and increase each year.
Common Violets are subject to fungal infection whether they are currently growing in your garden or even if you buy some at your local nursery. The common sign of fungal infection is leaf spot which is dark brown spots on yellowing leaves. Cut out immediately and destroy them. Do not drop onto the ground or throw in your compost pile.
As I said I have no idea how these little beauties entered my garden, but I do enjoy seeing them each spring and they are all over the place now and I welcome them.
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Author Bio Box: Arlene Wright Correll
 For more gardening or cooking information click http://www.learn-america.com/
To see Arlene’s Gardens and to read her gardening diaries or click on Arlene’s Books where you can download or buy her gardening & cook books. Arlene says, “All my royalties from the sale of my books go to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and I thank you for visiting my site.”
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