Subject: "natural" selection of violets?

From: [email-masked] (teresa m. esch)
Date: Wed, 5 Apr 1995 00:58:50 GMT

I love violets and always have hated cutting the lawn and
having them all disappear :( .  This year for the first time I
have noticed a bunch of really short violets in the yard - 1.5"
tall rather than 4".  Do you suppose this is a kind of natural
selection for shorter flowers that aren't chopped by the
mower?  Or is it just something boring having to do with maybe
violets don't grow as tall in the early spring as they do in
later summer (which is when I usually notice violets).

teresa
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From: [email-masked] (Gerald W. Roe)
Date: 5 Apr 1995 05:54:02 GMT

I'll go out on a limb and suggest that it could be either. There
is a way to find out: don't mow them and see if they grow taller.
-- 
Trans-Pacific Nursery        Rare and Exotic Plants
Email catalog available      Timber Press books discounted

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From: [email-masked] (Robert C. Vaiden)
Date: 5 Apr 1995 16:08:43 GMT

I love violets-they get mowed in much of the yard, but I mow
around them in some areas (and have vast numbers of them in
my wildflower gardens!).  I'm not sure I've notice any change
in behavior in the mowed violets-just that the only leaves left
are the short ones......Now the UNmowed ones exhibit some
behavior....very aggressive behavior!  THese unmowed patches
have spread, and there is nothing else growing within them-
even Creeping Charlie does poorly there (ha!...maybe I'll
just let violets take over everything-no more weeding!)

Bob Vaiden