"Nicole" wrote in message
...
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.

Lots of big words in that one, but very informative. I have no desire
to control them as I like them. I'll keep that in mind because the
dandelions are so bad I can't dig them all out so was going to have the
Chem lawn people spray a couple of times. I don't want them to kill any
of my violets though. That could be a problem. Luckily most of them
are on a narrow side of the house which we can just leave alone with the
spraying.

Thanks for all that good info. I'm not real confident in my ability to
pot the freckled ones and get them to propagate. It's hard to decide
whether to leave them where they are, try to pot them, or move them all
together so they'll be more likely to form a colony of just that
variety.

So they do have rhizomes like lily of the valley. That is good to know.
They spread out faster though in pockets all over the yard so some of it
must be from seed. Lily of the valley doesn't do that.