Three possibilities:

Viola bicolor (field pansy) is a native plant that looks roughly similar to Johnny-jump up.

Viola tricolor, which I believe is the same species as garden Johnny-jump-up, grows wild in Alabama as a (non-native) garden escape.

Viola arvensis (European field pansy) is a another non-native plant. This one has tiny, yellowish flowers. It has not been reported in Alabama (at least according to the USDA's Plants Database), but it is in most the surrounding states, so I think it's a possibility.

Here is a link that might be useful: Viola bicolor

Thanks for the info and the link. I have lots of others I'm going to look up there.

I think it has a darker color than the bicolor. I expect it is the tricolor, garden escapee. But it's so tiny. I remember planting Johnny-Jump-Ups as a kid and the flowers were about an inch or so. This one is barely 1/2" and the plant is only about 3-4" tall. Of course, although I've seen many patches of them in the last few weeks, I couldn't find a single one today.

The wildflowers are just amazing. I thought when we moved in last summer that our sloped area was all grass -- junky grass at that -- but it's not! Sure glad we decided not to mow the area.

There are at least a dozen varieties of wildflowers out there. So, I will be taking the grass out a clump at a time rather than en masse so I can replant with flowers, native and non-native.

Karen