Hi! I notice most of this thread is 9 years old and i wonder if you folks are still here, reading this discussion makes me happy. I was researching if i could transplant iris, black eyed Susan, bergamot, and coneflowers into my damp sunny front yard violet patch and expect them to thrive, and I'm going to try it! @Hu of 5 months ago, that would be really pretty, columbine with violets. IDK if it would work but I will try it too after the hardy stuff establishes! My goal is to make a privacy screen so I feel less exposed in my front yard. I want it dense with always something blooming. Right now I have a big forsythia on one end, hollies on the other, and a 100yo rose bush in the middle. I want to be able to put a hammock between the apple trees without my neighbors leering at me. Zone 6 NE KY!

Your wild violets do look like they could be Viola sororia -- but because of the fairly distant genetic relationship between violets like that and pansies, in spite of them being members of the same genus, you will never have to worry about them hybridizing. You may have some reseeding from your pansies, but they aren't usually terribly prolific if they do. Violas would be more successful at that, and Johnny-jump-ups can be as weedy as Viola sororia. The wild violets may be difficult to eradicate, however, and if you choose to grow tastier edible flowers that bloom during the heat of summer, you might find yourself trying to remove them later. Good luck with your edible garden plans! Stefan

Hi ! What ever you do, your local wild violets will always be taller than viola odorata 'königin Charlotte', moreover if they are sororia. I'm not good at inches (sorry, we don't use it in Europe ;oP) but 2 (5 cm) is ok, not a shame for an odorata in a yard. It can become bigger in a pot with good compost. All the best - Thierry :-)

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