I withdrew from blogging for a while to garden. Wild violet patrol has been my mission and freelance gig. Wild violets – a.k.a. Viola papilionacea (or one of the several other species) or Sweet Aunt Vi – seem more like garden volunteers than weeds, to me, because they are relentlessly pretty and carefree. But eradication is the client's goal.

Wild violets are indeed all but impossible, to weed out entirely, because their hearty, fibrous roots generate a hidden array of seed-bearing capsules. If any of Violet's root is left below, she pushes her way into the garden again, with gusto, soon or next season (growing job security).  



Image: Carpet of wild violets, by Calliope/Muffet, via Flickr.com

Throwing caution to the winds, I rescued a few specimens and re-planted them in an ad hoc, non-Zen rock garden I keep outside the back door (officially the fire escape) at the boundary line of the property. I situated the violets in a vacant spot at the end of a line of bamboo that is only just beginning to sprout through and around the rocks. 

This is a non-scientific experiment, for fun and a splash of color. My violets might take hold, but they are unlikely to invade anyone else's garden because the surrounding cement will create a rhizome barrier. 

I hope a violet-bamboo rhizome war doesn't erupt.