I didn't let them, they do as they like. I have erradicated most of them, not with herbacides but with constant digging of their tuber coliforms whathave you. yanking them up does no good, gota dig . always to affraid to use anything that kills anything in my garden except stuff to kill snails, cuz they aren't plants, they are slime. i would be affraid to let them take hold anywhere, no mater how far away from your garden they are, KEEP THEM MOWED....DON"T LET THEM SEED. Bad enough they spread so fast underground they multiply that by seeding.

I do nothing to them. I have them everywhere! They are in my hostas,as I write this. I consider them a gift from God,and they are so cheerful this time of year! You can't pay for all this beauty,so enjoy them. They aren't so aggressive that they could overtake a hosta,in my garden,and soon the hostas will completely block them out. I have two different types,dark purple,and light blue. I also have a ton of Trilliums,and I let them come up wherever they appear,and just garden around them. Right now the Trillums are starting to bloom. Phil

Unlike Phil, I am not a fan of wild violets. They are the bane of my existence. We do not have a lawn w/ grass. In the summer we have a massive expanse of wild violets. In the winter we have a mud patch with weeds. I hate wild violets.

While I try to keep them out of the hosta beds it is full of them right now. This weekend I will start the battle of going in and digging them out. In some places I just law down newspaper and cover this with mulch. They eventually die from lack of sunlight. I do not do this throughout the garden, however, because the newspaper is a haven for slugs and earwigs. I would not let them go to seed on purpose if I were you.

I do not use many chemicals on the lawn or garden but would pay big bucks for a herbicide that killed wild violets (and the weed/grass that creeps into my veggie and herb gardens).

Yes KILL KILL KILL, ok as far as im concerned they take up water and fertizer and i have some small hosta that would dwarf them right now if i hadn't dug em all up. plus i don't have any dedicated hosta beds, I have everything with everything else and VIOLET's aren't in my everything list of garden welcome or lawn welcome plant (it's A WEED) here they get huge up to 2 ft tall and one clump can be a 3ft radius, so they cut out sunlight as well as water for my younger later developing plants. Here Gerbera dasies are perennials and violets get mature before them so they tend to just destroy them. So no i will never be a fan of wild violets.There are some that supposedly are nice violets, but these are not them.

Thanks everyone, for your replies!

GGG and coralb--this is how I've felt about them up until now. Seems no matter how much I dig or spray, they keep multiplying. Mine don't get over 3-5 inches tall, though, and I would totally be on board with KILL KILL KILL if they got as big as yours, grumps! I will be careful not to let them overtake everything, as I do want to plant other companion plants.

Phil and mosswitch--I will have to say that this is more what I am thinking now. After 5 years of fighting these things, which have also been here years and years and years, I surrender! I've read plenty of other accounts where gardeners have learned to live in harmony with them, and besides, I have too much other stuff to do to prepare for a wedding in September than constantly be out there fussing over violets. Good to know the giant fritillary butterfly caterpillar likes them--whatever that is--I'll have to google it!!

Thanks again all of you!!!
Karen

I actually should have said the Great Spangled Fritillary.

Here is a link that might be useful: Butterfly

The radio guy (Neil Sperry) said that the reason the broadleaf weed killers don't work is because the hose end sprayer sprays big drops and they just roll off the slick surface. You need to add a little dish detergent to your herbicide and apply it with a pump up sprayer. The pump up sprayer will give you the finer drops and the detergent will act as a spreader/sticker.

I haven't tried it.

Bkay

the one on the pink flowers lives here, even though i kill off one of his sorces the wild wooly weedy waskely violet

Beautiful butterfly, Moss! So glad I'll be helping her thrive!!

Thanks for the tip, Bkay--I may use it on something else I consider Pure Evil....Creeping Charlie!

Grumpy, glad to hear it--maybe there are plenty of other food sources around for her to live. I think you're probably wild wooly weedy and waskely enough without the violets... ;)
Karen

I'd rather fight garlic mustard. It's much more invasive. Besides, I like violets. I leave them be, unless there's a reason not to.

Don't know about garlic mustard, Nina--is it edible?

Garlic mustard on Wikipedia

"Garlic mustard was introduced in North America as a culinary herb in the 1860s and is an invasive species in much of North America and is listed as a noxious or restricted plant as of 2006 in the US states of Alabama, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Oregon, Vermont, West Virginia and Washington. Like most invasive plants, once it has an introduction into a new location, it persists and spreads into undisturbed plant communities. In many areas of its introduction in Eastern North America, it has become the dominant under-story species in woodland and flood plain environments, where eradication is difficult."

{{gwi:958297}}

Thanks, Don! I don't think I've ever seen that plant.

Karen,

Be GLAD that you only have wild violets to contend with and NOT Garlic Mustard!

I have violets in the woods and they have crept into one of my "wild" lawns along with other native/wild plants. They have crept into one of my Hosta beds, but can be fairly easy to dig out and they haven't gotten ahead of me.

If you ever see Garlic Mustard, get rid of it BEFORE it flowers. You need to get every bit of root pieces out too. Once it flowers it will produce seed a hundred-fold and eventually forms huge colonies. Roundup works but several applications are needed.

I am presently at battle with a huge area of GM in my East woods area. It's the worst part of my Spring chores:(

Julie

Be grateful you don't have Virginia waterleaf. Makes garlic mustard look like a rank amateur.

Here is a link that might be useful: virginia waterleaf

Julie and Moss,

Wow! I may have to go check, just to be sure....I do have some untamed areas still....
Karen

I do have virginia waterleaf. It is no problem. Garlic mustard is truly invasive. It seems to thrive in sun or shade and spreads itself willy nilly. I have been digging it out forever. Plants that are pulled from the garden will still set seed, weeks after they have been yanked from the soil. If a teensy, tiny bit of root is left, the plant will still manage to set seed, but down low, close to the soil.
I've battled mint, vinca, lamiastrum and twitch grass. All are fairly benevolent compared to garlic mustard.
From Wikipedia. "A single plant can produce hundreds of seeds, which scatter as much as several meters from the parent plant. Depending upon conditions, garlic mustard flowers either self-fertilize or are cross-pollinated by a variety of insects. Self-fertilized seeds are genetically identical to the parent plant, enhancing its ability to colonize an area where that genotype is suited to thrive...
"Garlic Mustard produces allelochemicals which suppress mycorrhizal fungi that most plants, including native forest trees, require for optimum growth."

Possibly your climate keeps Virginia waterleaf from being invasive. Down here, it spreads very aggressively, both by seed and rhizome, turns up in every corner of the garden and makes such a tight mat that nothing can grow through it. Every piece of root left makes a new plant. I spend half my time just digging it out, and you can't just pull it, you have to hack it out with a pick or mattock. Sometimes you have to dig a whole perennial and separate the rhizomes from its' roots with brute force. I understand it is endangered in some Eastern states, well they can have all of mine. Just come and get it!

I'll take the violets any day, thank you!

I love Garlic and kinda like mustard, but the combo in plant form does blow, If only it tasted good. What we need is a little worm that likes invasive plants. Oh say like the one that eats hibiscus leaves in a matter of days and i don't mean one leaf, i mean the entire plant.Tiny little green guy, think a moth win he grow up, has a vorasious appitite and only eats hibiscus and only Hardies not tropicals. If you could just find one that only eats invasives, Ya got a money maker.

Mosswitch,
I find it incredible that Virginia Waterleaf is invasive, but as you said above, it must be a climate thing...or maybe a zone thing. I found ONE V. Waterleaf growing on my property a few years ago, and haven't seen one since then.

Garlic Mustard can be pulled out easily ONLY if the ground is VERY wet, and only the younger plants will come out easily. The more mature plants...especially the ones that have sprouted from a root mass that was left intact from the previous year(s)...need to be dug out.

Thanks, Ninamarie for the more detailed description than the one I gave. What's most frustrating is that Garlic Mustard needs to be dealt with around the same time all the other important Spring chores need to be done...like dividing and transplanting all my favorite perennials....grrrr:(

Julie

I guess there are different types of violets and different environments to support them. Here, they stay small and don't seem to spread much. I actually transplant them to shady beds.

I purchased a Labrador violet 2 years ago expecting a quiet little shade ground cover. This one has seeded and is appearing about the garden. Still, not invasive.

Violas spread themselves by seeding and are also welcome. We inherited them when we bought this property and consider them a wonderful spring plant which blooms before most other plants have emerged. Sometimes in the middle of winter if we get a warm spell.

I also love my violets and let them be. They are so pretty right now and it appears they can even survive our two galloping gardeners that seem to have destroyed everything I have planted out back except for the big stuff. Some hostas are bravely coming back, but I am not hopeful that they will make it through another year of wild frolicking.

i have made peace with the violets - it's the only reason my lawn is green.

garlic mustard is the devil..........but it's nothing compared to wild strawberries, CREEPING CHARLIE (aka spawn o' satan) and redbud/boxwood seedlings.

EEK

I really don't mind them and they are so plentiful that I pull them on a daily basis and feed to my chickens.
Don't tell anyone, but I pull unwanted hosta seedlings......my chickens tell me that they like them too.

I don't have them in my hosta beds. (yet) But my lawn and large sun garden are FULL of them! I leave them alone in the lawn, no one has enough time to dig those up! But I just wish I could get rid of the ones the garden. It seems the more I dig, the more come back!

chris

Chris, I always fought with them before too--but my question to myself is finally, "why do I want them out?" If they are green and won't choke out the things I intentionally plant, why not leave them? I've heard enough positive comments from folks who are letting them be to convince me to do the same.

C'mon--join the dark side!
Karen

Violets are so charming and pretty but they are a royal pain in my garden! Every color you can imagine and they love to come up anywhere and anyplace including in the middle of a hosta. I learned the hard way to go easy trying to remove them from around hostas, accidentally pulled off a couple of eyes instead of the violets. Also, I have seen slugs on violets so that's enough reason to keep them away from my hostas, don't need to attract that crowd.
However I do confess to letting some violets grow around a Japanese Maple, after all they are pretty and charming ;-)

I have violets, also the Labrador kind, have to watch out that they only grow where I want them.
Thanks for mentioning garlic mustard, did not know about that before. I have that too and now pull all plants I can find, which is easy right now with all the rain we have. It seems to grow fast from a tiny plant to a bigger one.
Bernd

Berndyz, in my experience, the plants that I have pulled still manage to set seed. I've never seen anything like this. Contain or burn the pulled plants so that seeds won't spread after your efforts.

ninamarie, we have yard waste pickup by the town. I collect all plants I do not want to compost plus other yard debris into paper bags and put those at the curb once a week. The town then recycles those, hopefully hot enough to destroy any seeds. I was never able to get their compost, might be full of garlic mustard seeds anyway.
Bernd

After years of desperately trying to grow healthy grass (St. Augustine and then Bermuda) in my yard, I noticed the violets creeping in. Green all year, needs no mowing, no disease so far, grows anywhere? It's hard to imagine why people don't welcome this stuff as a BLESSING. I'm happy.

I may have missed the reference and if so I apologize. I find toads love to use the cover of violets to keep cool and safe, and you know what toads mean to hostas: less slugs. Aha!

I have some old lilacs that I don't prune and they have lots of violets under them. I find I can contain them with a shuffle-hoe easily each spring. I note many of you are in Zone 6 or higher. In Arkansas (Z6) my wild violets grew larger and more aggresively than here in north-central IL.

Les

Here in zone 5 it is a battle against wild violets and garlic mustard, with garlic mustard most prolific in the wild behind my garden. I fight all weeds. Bernd

QUESTION, PLEASE? I have wild violets but was wanting to add a few Columbine and a Bleeding Heart to the flower bed. Would they stand a chance?

Hi! I notice most of this thread is 9 years old and i wonder if you folks are still here, reading this discussion makes me happy.

I was researching if i could transplant iris, black eyed Susan, bergamot, and coneflowers into my damp sunny front yard violet patch and expect them to thrive, and I'm going to try it!

@Hu of 5 months ago, that would be really pretty, columbine with violets. IDK if it would work but I will try it too after the hardy stuff establishes!

My goal is to make a privacy screen so I feel less exposed in my front yard. I want it dense with always something blooming. Right now I have a big forsythia on one end, hollies on the other, and a 100yo rose bush in the middle. I want to be able to put a hammock between the apple trees without my neighbors leering at me.

Zone 6 NE KY!

welcome to the forums... you might get more help in the perennial forum ....

and start your own post.. so answers come directly to you ...

ken

Wild violets are the bane of my existence. I rip out garbage cans of them. They will choke out other plants. Get rid of them or they will take over your yard

Sigh ... I got too ambitious with my pictures and Houzz rebelled.

We have violets in several of our beds and in our yard. They are permitted to stay unless they are in the way (they get evicted if they are growing where we want a peony or something). We have them growing among perennials just fine.

Here they are mixed with some purple columbine at the base of a mountain laurel:

This is a heucherella that happily lives among them:

It's on the far right ...

I don't recall if we have them around our bleeding hearts, but I can check.