Pen Phill wrote:
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?

I'm absolutely sure that the herbicide you've used _must_ knock out
dog violets if it can get rid of tap-rooters such as dandelions and
docks. I feel a bit like a murderer as I say this, but it's _your_
garden, after all: it's probably only a matter of repeating the dose,
maybe a couple of extra times, and doing it at the right time of year
and in the right weather conditions.

I'd say you'll probably have to wait until spring now, as you should
hit them when they're growing well: trust what it says on the bottle.

Mike.