http://hortparadise.unl.edu/Newsrele...ildViolets.htm
Violets produce two different types of flowers: chasmogamous and
cleistogamous. Chasmogamous flowers are borne on long stalks and range in
color from light blue to deep purple. These flowers are the familiar, showy
flowers normally associated with violets, however, in some species they are
sterile and do not produce viable seed. The second type, cleistogamous
flowers, do produce viable seed but are self-fertilized without opening.
These flowers have no petals and are not showy. They are held underneath
the foliage and sometimes slightly beneath the top layers of soil or mulch.
Homeowners, who often wonder why their wild violet problem keeps getting
worse when they never see any flowers producing seed, seldom notice
cleistogamous flowers!
Established colonies of wild violets are very drought tolerant, due to
fleshy underground stems called rhizomes that store water and allow the
plants to survive dry conditions. The rhizomes also allow the plants to
spread, forming colonies. These extensive perennial root systems are one
reason the weeds can be so difficult to control.
"I Love Lucy" wrote in message
link.net...
"Philip Lewis" wrote in message
...
I look forward to seeing them in the spring.
I like the as well and encourage them wherever i find them,
transplating them to where i'd like them the most.
Personally, if I were you, I'd dig up a few of the specked and whites
ones and mail them to me... I mean put them in a pot to give them the
best conditions they can. Once they fill the pot, scatter them around
the yard. It might be that the speckled ones are a hybrid of the
purple and white varieties, in which case vegetative division is your
most certain option. I don't know if the rhizomes can be cut to split
the plant.
I think I will try that because I tried to find a little info on the net
and gathering the seeds at the right time and preserving them correctly
until fall might be tricky. I didn't find anything about rhizomes, but
I'll be doing well to get my neighbor some of those lily of the valley
ones in the fall that are growing in the crack of my sidewalk. I wish one
of those would mutate into something interesting. And I've got a Queen
Elizabeth rose from years ago that died back to the rootstock and puts out
those dark red blooms. The thing has gone absolutely nuts; if I don't
tack it to a trellis or the house, it will be up to the roof by next year.
We've been converting the entire front yard to a flower bed... if the
violets can work with the sedum to make a natural groundcover, i'd be
happy. (but then, I hate grass. 
(we just bought 33 6packs of
violets at $.60 each... woo hoo! course, now I have to plant them.)
These I can't remember if I've seen in seed catalogs. I'm sure they
aren't that unusual, but I've found five plants out there and want to
preserve them, if possible. I've let some unusual mutants slip through my
fingers, one was a viola that was pale yellow with a pale blue border.
Another was a totally weird dandelion. Can't think what plant to compare
it to and don't care for dandelions, but it might have cured something.
It had a short stem, compact leaves, was long and thick in one flower if
you can call it that.
We only have purple ones, though... I'm only half kidding about
mailing the colors other than purple.
(I'd send postage and such via paypal of course...)
I just got a notice from paypal thanking me for my order for a computer to
the tune of $1175 USD, to be shipped to some guy in Palm Bay, Florida with
an unconfirmed address (better not name him or give the street address).
Problem is I cancelled my paypal account several months back for this very
reason. I tried to log in and was blocked, so I don't know what is with
that, reported it, an exercise in futility, and will check my charge card
and bank account to make sure somebody hasn't stolen my id.
I also asked paypal for my password and haven't heard back.
Oh, and thanks for the idea to pot them.
ooo.. the confererate
violet is pretty:
http://images.google.com/images?q=violet+confederate
--
May no harm befall you,
flip
Ich habe keine Ahnung was das bedeutet, oder vielleicht doch?
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