How do violets reproduce

A frequent native plant question I get in addition to "Will the deer eat that? If you take a look into PA's natural areas you will notice our native groundcovers are few and far between. Sure Wintergreen and Partridgeberry are options, as is moss and princess pine if the situation is just right.

But violets, they will work in many landscape conditions. Here we have a highly deer resistant, perennial, native groundcover that flowers purple or pink or polka-dotted in the spring.

It will take full sun and clay soils I know this from personal experience! For those wanting something a little different, some native violet species even have silver leaves Viola walteri 'Silver Gem' Not only are violets edible for us but they are also a plant with high wildlife value, after all, why are we planting natives anyway if not for the value to wildlife?

Viola soraria is the larval host plant for the Great Spangled Fritillary but they are not the only insect that finds them delicious. Violets are notorious for spreading everywhere when they are happy, which may be a good characteristic for a groundcover.

Violets have developed numerous ways to spread. Violets spread by underground rhizomes and may form vegetative colonies.

They also spread by seed. Flowers near the soil surface that never really open, called cleistogamous or non-opening, self-pollinating, shoot seeds out to establish a new colony away from the parent.

Finally, like Trillium and Trout Lily, violets also use seed dispersal by ants myrmecochory. In addition to being aerodynamic, violet seeds have elaiosomes attached to them which are fatty deposits attractive to ants for food.

The ant finds a seed, eats the nutritious coating then buries the seed. No wonder violets do so well in landscapes. Shorten the leaf stems to a length of about one inch using a knife, your fingernails, or sharp snips.

Before we get started with this step, recognize that rooting powder is a very mild irritant. If ingested, it can cause stomach discomfort and it can irritate any mucous membranes it comes into contact with. Gloves and eye protection are always a safe precaution, but not a requirement. Lightly dip each stem into the rooting hormone. Carefully tap off the extra powder from the leaf stem.

Like soy sauce, a little rooting hormone goes a long way. Carefully place the stem of each leaf into the rooting medium. The blade of the leaf should just touch the surface of the rooting medium.

The new plant rosettes will form from this area. Use the plastic plant tags or whatever support you have chosen to act as a stand, ensuring the leaves do not collapse into the soil. You can make one clean cut across the top of each leaf, effectively slicing away the top half of the leaf.

Place the potted and soon-to-be-beautiful African violets into the clamshell containers. Carefully close the lid tight, ensuring that the cuttings and pots all fit inside of the container. It is vital that the container can close tightly, locking up the potted cuttings in a warm and humid environment.

Your ultimate goal at this point is to do your best to mimic the natural habitat Saintpaulia originates from. By placing the plants in a well-drained rooting medium and containing them in a mini-greenhouse with some bright light, you are effectively duplicating their native cloud forests.

After a period of approximately eight weeks, your leaves should be developing into proper violets. Transfer these plants into a one-size-up container with a one part African Violet Mix and one part rooting medium mix, the same as the one we put together for the cuttings.

I love African violets. They remind me of the grandness of Africa. And if you love home propagation , check out these articles next:. Matt Suwak was reared by the bear and the bobcat and the coyote of rural Pennsylvania. This upbringing keeps him permanently affixed to the outdoors where most of his personal time is invested in gardening, bird watching, and hiking.

He presently resides in Philadelphia and works under the sun as a landscaper and gardener, and by moonlight as a writer. He considers folksy adages priceless treasures and is fueled almost entirely by beer and hot sauce.

I love African Violets very much and I really enjoyed your article. I have a plant that I have had for almost 5 years. I know it sounds dumb but is there any way try to re-root it by cutting the stem off? Just a thought. I may have to try to start a plant from a leaf cutting.

Thanks for any info or help you have. Hi Ruby, thanks for reading! To re-pot an African violet with a neck, remove the plant from its container. Awesome post! This was exactly my question as well — re how to deal with neck of my mature and beautiful African violet. I appreciate and will try what you suggested! Many thanks! To my delight, a new plant grew up from the stem about a month later. Thank you for such a great article.

When the baby leaves appear do you cut the larger one? Thank you. Matt, thank you for the propagation information. Could you please elaborate? Sorry if this was confusing! As described in the article, inversion is a method of watering that involves setting a pot with holes in the bottom into a container of water to allow it to be absorbed from the bottom up. As an addicted propagator of African Violets, I enjoyed your article. I am entertained by the fact that one leaf will produce as many as three or four new plants.

But what confuses me is the varieties that do not grow from the center crown into a circular manner, but rather as other plants do … Read more ». They are kind of a strange roundish, oval or even heart shape. But they wrap around their stem, almost forming a kind of funnel or incomplete bowl.

The edges will be serrated. The flowers of wild violet are dark purple, with 5 petals. The inner-throat of the flower is white. Two petals are on top, two on the side, and a final petal at the bottom.

The flowers will bloom for weeks. Once the temperatures get hot, above 80 F 27 C the flowers generally fade and disappear. There is an additional self-pollinating flower cleistogamous that will produce seeds. The seeds are thrown from the flower when the pod is breached from seed maturation or other forces acting upon it.

The roots of this flower are shallow rhizomes, which are thick and spread horizontally. This allows another means for the flower to reproduce, as it can form a large grouping if left unchecked from competition or herbicides.

Violets can be propagated by seed or division. The seeds of wild violets are thrown from the plant when mature. This can be a difficult seed to germinate, so it is best to let mother nature do it for you. But, if you are dead set on germinating the seeds yourself, then OK. Soak the seed for 24 hours in warm water, then winter sow the seeds in seed starting mix or potting soil. Alternatively, you can stratify them in the refrigerator using a moist paper towel inside a zip-lock bag, or use moist sand.

For root division, or just digging up random violet plants — it is best to do this in the fall. Plants generally do not survive transplanting when blooming or making seeds. It is therefore recommended to only divide or transplant established flowers when the plant is approaching or is dormant.

Since this is an early Spring blooming flower, it should not be dug up in Spring, as all of the plants energy is going into producing the flower. Hence, it is common to find them along forest roads, open woods, and in lawns.