The Blue Violet, also called the Common Blue Violet, is a herbaceous perennial plant without a stem. It originated from eastern North America. If you're thinking of the Purple Violet, Hooded Violet, Common Meadow Violet, Woolly Blue Violet and the Wood Violet, they are all one and the same. However, there are many different varieties of the Blue Violet, and they tend to have different colours, all based on how close to each other they are grown within the area.

Appearance

These types of violets are very often seen growing in lawns, giving flowers that are a dark to medium violet colour. In some species, white or white-and-violet mixes occur. You can identify these flowers from their wide, heart-shaped leaves. The flowers and leaves are on separate stems that rise up from the roots. The flowers and leaves are quite close together, so the flowers do not stand up too far above the leaves. The lowest petal will not have a spur. The root system of this plant is made up of board, horizontally branched rhizomes, which is why the roots of these plants often tend to grow into vegetative colonies.

Uses

Its brilliant colour make this plant a no-brainer in most lawns and gardens, but it has also been used in the past for medicine and for food. The Cherokee used the flower to treat headaches and colds. The flowers and young leaves of these plants are edible, and people add them to salads in small quantities. They have a bland taste. Some sources suggest that the roots are also edible.

Flowering

Flowers of this plant tend to be a dark or medium violet colour, but some species might have a bit of white mixed into the flower colour as well. The inner throat of each flower tends to be white as well. Darker veins start growing outward from these, along the petals, turning into a deeper violet as they grow further outward. The flowers do not have a noticeable scent.

Flowers tend to bloom somewhere around mid or late spring, and this blooming period lasts from around one to one and a half months. In the summer, flowers without petals make seeds which are thereafter flung outward by a mechanical ejection method from the seed capsules.

Cultivation

These plants prefer partial sun, with only a light amount of shade. They can thrive in average to moist conditions. If there is plenty of water available, they can handle being exposed to full sun.

The soil in which they are planted has to be very rich in silt and can be loam soil or clay loam soil. They need more than the usual amount of organic matter required by other plants.

Care Tips

The leaves turning yellow are not signs of poor health in this plant. They just tend to turn slightly yellow when facing full sun with dry conditions. It is a normal reaction so you need not be alarmed. You can make sure that this plant, although a wildflower, will fit in nicely in a lawn by not mowing it too often or cutting too low.