Can anyone give a name and effective treatment for this annoying
(but pretty)
weed that is slowly invading my lawn. It is small, leaves about 1cm
accross and
spade shaped. The roots appear to spread in the same way as
buttercup. The
flowers are blue and during Summer there are lots of them. I would
particularly
like to know how to selectivly KILL them as lawn weedkillers don't
seem to have
any effect. I have pulled a bit and scanned it he

http://pageperso.aol.fr/Penphill/weed.jpg

Count yourself as lucky. You have dog violets in your lawn. Cherish
them.

Franz

Thanks all
What a lot of varying replies...but.
Yes. Now I have a name I have found a good image on Google and it is Dog Violet
as you say. However, whilst I don't mind it growing on the bankings around the
house and elsewhere - it doesn't need cherishing, it grows quite well enough
without any help- I don't want it creeping into the lawn, which is about 600
sq m and where it has more than just a toehold.I am not a classicist but for me
a lawn should be just a piece of garden consisting of grass only. (If possible)
like a strawberry bed is for strawberries and a potato patch for potatoes etc.
I have used a liquid selective weedkiller on the lawn that gets rid of
Dandilions, Buttercups, Docks, Plantains, Celandines and most of the other
common weeds but it doesn't seem to affect my Dog violets one bit. I really
dont feel hand weeding will be effective. Will anything selective work?

Phil