Violets
Violets have grown in every place I’ve lived. They usually are just there, and they like to spread. They are short, seem to like the shade, and their blossoms compete with their beautiful leaves.
This next pic is not from my yard. A former massage therapist was also an herbalist and she had these drying in her shop one day. I forgot to ask her what she uses them for.
Vinca vine
Vinca vine is another thing that grows rampantly as a ground cover here. My grandma had some in her yard that grew under the rose of sharon tree. We had it on our back lot in the city. It’s a pain to get oak leaves out of it when you’re raking, but it’s not a problem here.
Voles
There are probably hundreds? thousands? of these little critters that live in the grassy fields here. They are probably the raptors’ most frequent meal. I remember when we first moved to this house and mowed out back for the first time. The grass was literally crawling with them! Kind of freaked me out. But they moved on from the fields that get mowed. I rarely see them now. The last time was when I moved a large pile of leaf and pine litter from the driveway. They got carried out back in the wheelbarrow with the rest of the litter. They occasionally find their way into the house, but it’s a bad move for them, as Dotty makes short work of them. There are plenty of other places for them to live. The next pics are not of actual voles that were in the yard but this is what they look like:
Do you have any natural plants that grow in your yard that you didn’t plant?
Do you think voles are cute or icky?
Tao Talk 
I never heard of a vole! We don’t have them in Ireland!
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Lucky you :)
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I love violets.
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They are lovely aren’t they.
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I love wild lawn violets, which is probably a clear indicator I’m not much of a fan of meticulously manicured lawns. I have vinca growing here as well.
For a long time we had a delightfully strange women who lived in the house across the alley from us. She didn’t speak much English and with her heavy accent it was very difficult for me to understand her. But she had one of the greenest thumbs I’ve ever known. Sometimes she’d toss seeds over our back gate and near our garage and wonderful flowers would pop up. I’m sure she wasn’t actually doing this totally randomly and that I had somehow given her permission without quite understanding what she was saying, but I will absolutely say it was a total delight. She was like some flower fairy, although guised in a sturdy no-nonsense Eastern European body.
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Deborah, what a perfectly lovely encounter between you two. Sometimes words aren’t all they are cracked up to be.
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Our yard is covered in dandelions and blue and yellow flowers that I don’t know the names of.
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Melissa that sounds absolutely lovely! We saw some blue and yellow groundcover flowers on Tuesday also. My daughter in-law is starting to get interested in identifying flowers with a phone app and taking pictures of them. I love it!
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I tried an app for identifying plants before. I didn’t have much luck with it telling me the right plant when I took a picture.
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Which app were you using?
I think google has an app you can use on your phone. A friend was using hers one day we were at fmg. Not sure if it was telling it was the right plant or not. I have a website I use on my PC (I think it costs money to use the phone app) that seems to be correct:
https://identify.plantnet.org/
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I don’t remember which app I was using. This was a while ago. I just checked the App Store (now) and there are so many of them!🌱
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I never heard of the word voles…but we have what we call field mice but they are a little different. When winter hits we have to prepare because they try to get in our house.
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Maybe the same critter with a different name? I’ve seen teeny tiny mice also which unfortunately are dead by the time I see them. Dotty is a great mouser. We also have deer mice here, which are bigger than the others and quite pretty coloring on them. Also mostly dead when I see them. Yes, they will get in through the tiniest openings. I also have two corners in the atrium the former owner left open to the outside and planted vinca (?) vine in it. I think that’s mostly how they are getting in. I’m sure there was an “energy efficiency” reason he did it, but…
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I looked them up…they are related but Voles are just a fraction larger. In the spring and summer we have non problems…only in the winters. I’m glad you have Dotty! Martha can’t do the same lol.
I’ve read where a mouse can squeeze through a quarter sized opening.
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I think they like to come in when the weather gets cold. One problem here is, even if I shut the atrium off, somebody drilled a hole in one of the slider doors to get cable through (aka a mouse doorway.) I’ve plugged it with paper but of course they can chew through it. I believe they can squeeze through a hole that small. There really isn’t much substance to their bodies.
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I have siliconed some of our holes that were big enough to get through. We also have squirrels
coming through a place in our attic that I have to correct.
Yea they can eat through a lot.
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Violets are my favorite flowers. They grow all over the place in this part of the country. In my yard there are white ones, purple ones, magenta ones, and the kind that are white with a deep blue center. I love them all.
Periwinkle grows wild in the woods next to our house. It’s beautiful when it blooms, and when it isn’t blooming, I still enjoy the foliage. Some people don’t like it because it’s considered invasive, but I think it makes a near-perfect ground cover. I love the fact that it’s evergreen.
As for voles, I know they can be destructive, but I think they’re ridiculously cute.
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I’ve seen the purple and white violets but never the others. Sounds so pretty. Have I misidentified periwinkle for vinca or are those 2 names for the same plant? I can see where it could get invasive but if it’s in a confined space and gets trimmed back it isn’t so bad. I love it out here as there are no fallen leaves to pick out of it.
I like your description of the voles :)
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“Periwinkle” is a colloquial term; “vinca” is the botanical name. I’ve also heard it called “Creeping Myrtle,” but that sounds sort of sinister to me, like something out of a horror movie. 😳
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Ah, OK, thanks for letting me know. Yes it does :)
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Violets are beautiful. And voles are too. I rescued one once – but it bit me! Very sharp teeth!
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Ooh, ouch! I try to watch out for them when I’m mowing. Them and all the others living in the field.
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We have those little wild violets all over our yard. I’ve read they are invasive, but I love them. You can see them between our azaleas in the back yard.https://froggi.smugmug.com/Home-in-Tennessee/2025-TN-Home/2025-04-Around-Home-in-TN/i-D2q5KBM/A
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Nice, Donna! They make a perfect ground cover and look good there.
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I love violets, although I don’t care for their scent.
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I didn’t even know they had a scent. Too low to the ground for me to get lol
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Yes they do, although my most vivid memories of the scent are as a fragrance oil in my soap making.
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Ah, ok. Maybe that’s what my massage therapist was using them for.
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Vinca and violets are two of my favorites…and voles are cuties :-) @samanthabwriter from Balancing Act
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Groovy and awwww :)
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They’re cute, but I wouldn’t want them in the house.
I remember violets everywhere when I was walking to elementary school. We used to pick them sometimes. I don’t see them around here, but I bet they are in all the parks. (K)
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I hear you on the voles. What a wonderful memory of violets <3
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I see voles every once in a while, but they keep to themselves and have never been a problem here. I have violets all over my lawn and they’re lovely. I was always used to the purple ones, but here we also have white ones with purple whiskers, which are interesting.
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The voles here are also secretive. Have never seen the white with purple whiskers violets but now I want to.
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I don’t have a yard, not yet, but maybe sometime soon now that I’m retired and beginning to settle. :) I have to say, I think they are cute. They look a little like mice, and I used to find mice yucky. But when my son was little, we lived in a rural location and he loved all critters. He was always so excited and I got used to critters including mice. :)
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I’ll ask you for advice when I do get a garden. :) I do love the Violets and the vines. They are beautiful!
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Brenda, being a gardener is you learn along the way. I’ll help if I can <3
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Thank you for sharing those memories, Brenda. What is that saying “and a child shall lead them”?
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We have those little purple flowers growing all over our yard yet I never thought of them as violets! I only thought of African violets as violets because my grandmother grew them all the time. I used to have one of hers growing for over ten years until a freezing snap knocked out our power for several days and it was too cold for the plant to survive. At least now I can appreciate the yard violets in a new way! So glad you brought that to my attention!
– Allison
https://lightningflashwriting.blogspot.com/
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Allison, glad you know now about the wild violets. I have an African violet in the house that a friend gave me as a small potted plant. I do know they are very particular on conditions.
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