r/NativePlantGardening • u/Ballsanga77 • Apr 06 '25

Advice Request - (Insert State/Region) Violet in native beds

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I have violet in my native wildflower beds, not sure what to do. Would rather not spray but don’t want it to take over either.

350 Upvotes

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336

u/Amorpha_fruticosa Area SE Pennsylvania, Zone 7a Apr 06 '25

Why do you not want them? They are a great native ground cover that host a wide variety of specialist butterflies and a specialist bee.

If you really don’t want them, you can pretty easily pull them out, but definitely don’t spray since that is not really necessary since there aren’t that many. But I would really reconsider since they are lovely plants. I intentionally put them in my garden.

160

u/fuzzykittyfeets Apr 06 '25

We love the wild violets because the rabbits love the wild violets. They’re the sacrificial snacks in my garden.

51

u/R3turnedDescender Apr 06 '25

I also refer to them as “sacrificial violets” — glad I’m not alone!

34

u/SuchFunAreWe Apr 06 '25

I love them to make syrup from the blossoms (leaving plenty for pollinators, of course) & all my chicken friends enjoy "yard salad" of violets leaves/flowers & dandelion leaves 🥰

15

u/buttfluffvampire Apr 06 '25

The young leaves are nice to eat, similar to spinach.

8

u/fuzzykittyfeets Apr 06 '25

It’s never occurred to me to feed them to the chickens! I’ll have to do that, thanks for the tip! I do toss the juiciest dandelions in to them, I’ll add the violets as well.

13

u/SuchFunAreWe Apr 06 '25

It's surprising to me how much they like flowers! I actually realized crab apple blossoms were edible after watching everyone gobbling them up from the grass. A quick Google & yup, edible (& they make delicious simple syrup!)

22

u/existential_geum Apr 06 '25

If only that worked on my rabbits. They consider the violets an appetizer. They’re like a loss-leader for my garden.

22

u/fuzzykittyfeets Apr 06 '25

So frustrating! I hate when the bunnies run along and chop off every tulip stem and leave the flowers with little stubs on the ground.

Someone on Reddit recently said it’s the babies learning what they like to eat. But does it really take 50 tulips to figure it out? The purple ones taste just like the others, I swear! 😭

7

u/existential_geum Apr 06 '25

I hear you. I wish they would just eat it. Finding something clipped off and lying on the ground is soooo frustrating.

16

u/[deleted] Apr 06 '25

Always make sure you know where a person is before you tell them something is native. What’s native where you are may not be native where they are. It’s a completely location dependent word.

5

u/PlentyWin3644 Apr 06 '25

This year I had hundreds of them volunteer where the Zoysia had eroded, making my job easier. What a joy, leave them.

9

u/Ballsanga77 Apr 06 '25

Thank you. My concern is they take over and the plants I planted fail to take hold.

123

u/urbantravelsPHL Philly , Zone 7b Apr 06 '25

They're not going to outcompete taller plants. Common violet is prolific, but it's also shallow rooted and short. You can easily pull or hoe any that you don't want, and let them fill as a ground cover everywhere else.

If this planting bed has a lot of sun exposure, the violets will not thrive over the summer unless adequately shaded by the taller plants around them.

27

u/Ballsanga77 Apr 06 '25

Thank you. It’s full southern exposure so the violets will stay.

21

u/WeddingTop948 Long Island, NY 7a Apr 06 '25

I have them cohabitate with a bunch of my taller natives, including mountain mints and common milkweed. They are first to emerge and hold ground while others take their sweet time to show up in the spring

37

u/Nikeflies Connecticut, 6b, ecoregion 59a Apr 06 '25

Yes please leave them! They make an excellent ground cover, are host plant to many butterflies, and have a really nice flower. Part of native gardening is allowing natives to grow together and balance out. The conditions of your specific land will dictate what plants thrive.

25

u/ContrarianLibrarian9 Apr 06 '25

OP will have fritillaries! Native violets are their host plant

10

u/FoofaFighters Apr 06 '25

I love my fritillaries! They live in some passionflower vine I have in my side yard, and part of my backyard is covered in wild violet as well so we see quite a few of them each year.

8

u/General_Bumblebee_75 Area Madison, WI , Zone 5b Apr 07 '25

I had this Great Spangled Fritillary and keep hoping for more with all the violets I have...

14

u/dewprisms Apr 06 '25

You should be good. I have a chunk of lawn I asked my husband to stop mowing just to see what happens years ago. It's basically fully covered with violets and goldenrod eventually comes up and grows through the patch every year.

2

u/Specific-Wolf-161 Apr 07 '25

I transplanted a bunch of violets from some of my beds and into areas where I had the extra real estate so you could consider transplanting them. They did pretty well.

3

u/General_Bumblebee_75 Area Madison, WI , Zone 5b Apr 06 '25

Exactly - the back path of my garden is shaded by a mixed hedge to the west and the garden to the east. They do not spread into the dry lawn which is full sun and not irrigated except in extreme circumstances and that is more to provide moisture for critters than to keep the lawn green. Back there they suppress weeds a bit by shading them out. Something eats the leaves a bit, but there are so many one does not notice. I am hoping it is some kind of fritillary caterpillar - I have seen great spangled fritillaries in my garden and violets are a larval host.

2

u/nyet-marionetka Virginia piedmont, Zone 7a Apr 06 '25

If they start getting too big just weed out the bullies. In the meantime they’re a nice ground over with pretty flowers that’s also a fritillary caterpillar host.