Just Wild About Violets

By Phran Novelli

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Those lovely little violets that grow wild around here are adorable for making tiny posies as most of us did when we were kids. But besides collecting their flowers, you can also cultivate our violets to create a very nice groundcover instead of just a bunch here or there.

With their pretty purple flowers in spring and heart shaped leaves all summer in neat little mounds, I wonder why more people don't let them thrive.

They've always been one of my mom's favorite flowers and I love them too, so for the past few years I've been encouraging violets to fill in on the edges of my beds by weeding around them and also weeding them out of our lawn and replanting them where I want more of these easy-care natives - such as around trees and between stepping stones.

Although this year's searing heat did scorch the leaves in sunnier spots, I found that fresh foliage had formed below what had browned, so a quick clean up left my violet plants refreshed and green again at summer's end.