An Invasive Plant to Avoid

Do you remember when you were a child and you had to help in your mother’s garden. I do and it seems she always had a plant that you loved maybe because of the color or shape of the flower and thought when I have “my own place” I will have that plant.

Sad to say I did just that, the plant I choose that my mother had growing in a container. I always wondered why when her others were growing in the soil, but as a child I never asked. But years later I found out why when mine out grew the container I had it in and violets started showing up all over my yard.  Maybe the only nice thing I can say about this violet is it blooms late winter, early spring with just the flowers and no leaves when most things are still dormant. After the violet colored flowers fade, the heart-shaped leaves start to appear and stay and multiply and grow larger each day until late fall early winter when they die back, only to return the next winter with many more.

These violet are all over my yard, sun or shade-makes no difference to them they will grow and multiply.  You pull them out thinking you have got all parts of the rhizome, only to turn your back and they are back again!

This plant has to be on the most invasive plant list; maybe even in the top group, if not I am going to start a campaign to have it added.  Maybe the only way I can get rid of them is to move, but knowing how much of pest they are they probably will find a way to follow me.

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