How to Identify Wild Violet
Wild violet (Viola sororia) has distinctive heart-shaped leaves on long stalks growing from a central crown. The leaves are thick, glossy, and have a waxy coating that sheds water (and herbicide). Purple to blue-violet flowers appear on individual stems in spring, though the plant also produces hidden self-pollinating flowers at soil level that never open.
Wild violet spreads by thick rhizomes and those hidden self-pollinating flowers, making it doubly persistent. Even if you never see a flower go to seed, the plant is producing seeds underground.
Why It’s So Hard to Kill
Three factors make wild violet one of the most difficult lawn weeds. First, the waxy leaf coating causes herbicide spray to bead up and roll off instead of absorbing. Second, the thick rhizome network stores enough energy to regrow after top-growth is killed. Third, the underground self-pollinating flowers produce seeds even when visible flowers are removed.
Effective treatment requires triclopyr (the strongest broadleaf herbicide for waxy-leaved weeds), a surfactant to break through the leaf coating, and multiple applications across two or more seasons.
