Common Blue Violets in my gardens

Hi,

I really like this plant but I noticed it's really starting to take over a few of my gardens. I've started pulling them out where they're growing close to or on top of other plants but I'm wondering if I need to do that.

I know they're extremely invasive but will they harm other perennials?

I pull my violets out also. I only let a couple stay in the flower bed. My moms yard has no grass anymore. It's all violets. It's ironic, her name is Violet. They can become a real problem.

They're trying to take over here too! I've done some reading and it seems like they're really hard to kill. They have a "coating" on the leaf which prevents stuff from getting in and they seed at least twice a year!! I've wondered if anyone has taken a different tact with them. Like, could they be "killed with kindness"? Since it takes massive doses of herbicide to kill them, often without much success, could they be "burned out" through over-feeding with good stuff? I guess either approach is going to do some harm to the surrounding area, but in the end which is least harmful with the most impact on the invader? Fertilizer runoff isn't much problem for me. The way my yard lays it's a checkerboard of small patches of woods and manicured lawns for about a mile before it would hit a wet weather ditch that runs another two miles before it hits permanent running water. I think any over kill on my part would be well gone before entering a waterway.

Just wondering out loud, as it were. Anybody else ever thought about something like that?

edit:My biggest problem are is over and near my drainfield. I wonder how this attributes to the problem or if it does since they're pretty shallow.

This message was edited May 24, 2009 12:01 AM

A co-worker of mine had a mission one summer to get rid of the thousands of violets in his yard. He tried everything over he years, nothing worked. He finally resorted to digging each one up by hand. On Monday mornings, after his weekend of digging, he would come to work with a yard waste bag of violet plants to show us. It was unbelievable. This went on for weeks. I think it turned into a compulsion with him, but he did it. His story and that of my mother's violet problem is why I dig up any that appear in my yard.

Is it possible to blanket the area and starve them out? You could try over fertilizing them and burn them out, but all that fertilizer isn't good for the environment. Maybe contact your county extension service. They may be able to help you get rid of this invasive plant.

Diana

I also forgot to mention last night I have one MAJOR road block to getting these things out of the yard - my girlfriend!! She thinks they're cute and pretty! Which I'm not disputing. I just try to remind her of Gizmo in Gremlins! Yeah - he was cute also!

Never thought about the extension agent. I guess I could check out the web site. Which I just happen to have in my favorites: http://www.ext.vt.edu/

I think the big problem with over fertilizing is the runoff. How far can it realistically travel? Like I said I'm a pretty good distance from an open waterway. Which would last longer in/on the ground? Fertilizer or herbicide? The burning out would really work well for me because in the worst area of infestation I have it's pretty much violets or some other noxious invader! I couldn't get a grass seed to the ground if I tried!!

BTW - I'm thinking violets are something I want to keep away from my new compost bin?

If they're mainly in one area, maybe you could cover them and deprive them from light and water. There are some heavy duty landscape fabrics out there. You'd have to leave it on for several months until they were dried out and crunchy. Or bury them with copious amount of mulch. They have rhizomes that don't like to be buried.

Good luck.

I was actually thinking about the mulch think earlier today. Actually I was thinking about the compost I'm making in my newly constructed bin :-) Although that won't be ready for a few months at best and I'm thinking the best time to try to tackle these things and actually make a dent will be during the summer drought. It might just come down to a few seasons of crawling and yanking!