Growing up on a farm during a time when the farm chemicals (herbicides and pesticides) were frequently applied to any "weed", I never really remember seeing a wild violet. The only violets I knew of, were the fancy African Violets that my grandmother grew in her living room.
Vintage Bunny Candy Container checking out the Violets! |
I guess I secretly always loved violets, even though many people consider them to be pesky weeds. On the farm most anything that was not edible by livestock or people was considered a weed. So the Violets and the Milkweed were sprayed and chopped into oblivion. Of course now, many years later, we are starting to see the error of this misguided thinking.
I still remember my father's warning about violets and milkweed many years ago, which of course I ignored. Now that I have my own garden they both can grow almost anywhere they want. Violets make a wonderful ground cover under the trees and shrubs and when the rabbits eat them they just grow back as though nothing ever happened. So while the other plants come and go, my violet's are always there for me each spring.