Little Purple Flowers In Lawn

[EVP MAN]

My front lawn is loaded with little purple flowers this year. I think they may be violets. Any ideas as to how I can get rid of these?

Rich From PA ............ Zone 5-6

[Brooklyn1]

Tweezers... or wait ten days.

[despen]

Discussed about a year ago to death.

They're violets and there is not much you can really do to them. I pulled a bunch by hand but you've really got to stick your fingers into the dirt and get the rhizome.

I've got a lot less this year after 2 years of hand removal.

[David Hare-Scott]

Why?

D

[EVP MAN]

Why......... Because soon I won't have any grass. All of a sudden these violets are taking over the whole front lawn. There are thousands of them out there! Hand pulling these would be next to impossible!

Rich

[despen]

Don't bother explaining why. This happens every time the discussion of any weed comes up.

Last time around the consensus was that Weed-B-Gone has some effect. Apply it now.

Maybe I weakened the suckers with the Weed-B-Gone but I really think hand pulling is the best you can do. Of course anything you can do to thicken the lawn is good too.

This year those damn shotweeds are going crazy. I'm trying to get to them before it's too late.

[Nad R]

Bag your lawn clippings and compost especially in the spring. Early spring mow the yard short and add grass seed which will make it harder for weeds to multiply. Mowing without bagging will spread the unwanted flowers. In early summer let the grass grow tall, it will help snuff out the smaller unwanted plants and the grass will go to seed and then mow the yard without bagging, this will help in spreading free grass seed. Weeds tend to go to seed before the grass goes to seed.

My initial guess it is purple clover which is beneficial to your lawn in the long run.

[Ig.Gardener]

I know this is not the answer you were hoping for, especially if you're trying to get a perfect grass lawn, but you could just enjoy them while they're there. Butterflies LOVE them!

[Billy]

Dans mes bras. Bravo.

"Nothing is more the child of art than a garden." - Sir Walter Scott

[Peppermint Patootie]

Violets don't last long. Enjoy them while they're there.

PP

[despen]

They last all summer.

Sure the flowers bloom mostly in the spring but the dark green leaves are visible year round.

Of course if you have a few acres of lawn that you only see from a distance, it's no problem. But if you're trying to grow something you view frequently from close up they can be a problem.

What I don't get is how they spread. Of all the little plants I pulled out, only one so far has had a seed pod. So if they spread by seeds I don't see how.

I'd expect they spread by rhizome. But the rhizome looks like it's an inch to an inch and a half long. I'd expect to see them in adjacent clumps, about an inch apart, but that's not how they grow. They're pretty much spread out everywhere.

Is there a thinner part to the rhizome that you don't see when you pull the plant?

[prairiegal50]

That?s the problem. Everyone wants a perfect lawn. Nature isn?t perfect but no one seems to get that.