Monday, May 3, 2010

Viological Inventory of My Yard

When I finally got going yesterday morning, I decided I'd take advantage of the sunshine (lots of rain is in the forecast) and get at least some of the lawn mowed. As I trudged along behind my electric mower, thinking it really felt more like July than early May, I found myself dodging patches of violets. I just can't bring myself to cutting down these cheery little flowers. Finally, the heat and humidity got to be too much (my kitchen thermometer, which, admittedly, isn't the most accurate thing in the world, was hovering a little too close to 100*F for my taste), I decided to grab the camera and do a photo inventory of the various violets scattered about in the grass.

Without further ado, here they are, some wild, some feral, and some domestic:


























5 comments:

  1. The violets are so very sweet! I particularly like the ones that mix yellow and purple. We have all sorts of unmowed bits of our yard, too, for violets, tulips, and grape hyacinth. I think the squirrels add to my errant bulb problem, as every year we seem to acquire a few new stray flowers that belong in the garden but sprout in the yard instead.

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  2. My plan is to let the violets take over completely and drive out the grass so I never have to mow. It's getting close to that, but unfortunately, enough blades of grass still stick up between the violet leaves that I still do have to mow. But not very often. And now I have Birdseye Speedwell, too, which has the prettiest blue flowers and crowds out grass. Do you call those pansy-like violas Johnny Jump-ups? They do seem to jump up in places where no one ever planted them. I wish a few would jump up in my lawn.

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  3. Jackie - what a great idea. In the past there have been whole sections of my yard covered with the wild blue and white violets, but they don't seem to be quite so numerous this year. Maybe it's still early.

    And yes, they are Johnny Jump-ups! My grandmother called them that, so of course I do, too.

    Good luck with your violet take-over project!

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  4. Beautiful photos! You have a wonderful blog here. I have visited the Adirondacks several times, including some multi-day canoe trips starting from Long Lake. It is beautiful country.

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  5. Welcome, Kind of Curious. If you've done multi-day paddling trips out of Long Lake, I'm wondering if you've done the 90-miler all along the Raquette River. I've never paddled on Long Lake, but maybe this summer I'll cruise down there and put in my boat - do the north end of the lake, which I hear is quite lovely.

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