My favorite flowering groundcovers for shade: Ajuga reptans CARPET BUGLE Campanula portenschlagiana DALMATIAN BELLFLOWER Campanula poscharskyana SERBIAN BELLFLOWER Eomecon chionantha SNOW POPPY Satureja douglasii YERBA BUENA Saxifraga stolonifera STRAWBERRY SAXIFRAGE Trachelospermum asiaticum CONFEDERATE JASMINE Vinca minor DWARF TRAILING PERIWINKLE Viola hederacea AUSTRALIAN VIOLET (may not be suitable for Sacramento) Joe

Where is this question coming from? Are you looking for such a plant, or trying to,avoid such a plant? And how specific are you about the definition of "roots"? Both Liatris and certain violets will multiply by bulbs to creat a huge colony, but they will be contiguous in a single group. Though they also send out seeds which fall locally to spread the colony more rapidly. Martha

It seems that this format with the large graphic is the one that takes me to the most recent post, duh!? Anyway, Can you tell me how to get back to that page that has those three buttons on it? I messed with the buttons the other day by trying to change settings. I stumbled across this thread in a forum called Design ... It shows a lovely want to display violets. I posted a message on their thread to invite them all over here. There were probably 20 names I did not recognize who are growers of AVs. ( I "found" them by doing a search for the purpose of trying to get back to AnneCeclia's post on how to find the three buttons to change settings to not have to reset them to be able to go to the end of a thread. I typed in "Ann" and "African Violets") Below are two comment, the first is from Emily who works for Houzz and the second from Halbanes, who has two forty year old vintage violets! (1) African Violets - Do I dare? Emily HurleyMarch 7, 2014 I have always loved African Violets and my mother used to have several in her kitchen. (2) Excerpted from a post by Halbanes remember your violet is a living thing and it manages to survive because you do look after it and care about it, despite your benign neglect. Read this wonderful book, "The Secret Life of Plants," for more insight about plants. Out of print, but found in old book stores; maybe Amazon, ebay books, or other used book sites. Joanne

It is a bad idea only if you are one of those that think certain plants need to be murdered with poisons. When you ask the inter net "How do wild violets spread" you get a ton of information about how to kill them and none about how they got where they are. Like most other flowers these do supply some beneficial insects, as well as many butterflies, with a food source. By killing off these plants you cut down on food available to these insects which could mean there will be fewer of them in the future. We not only are killing off the insects that help pollinate the plants that produce the foods we eat but we are killing them off at a fairly rapid pace. We may die of starvation before climate change has an adverse affect on us. kimmq is kimmsr