Lawn Violets

Free-range Lawn Violets

I have a free-range front lawn. I give any plant that wants to risk it a chance to grow in my yard. The one rule is that I mow it as a lawn, so the plants have to be adapted to that. It’s not unlike those spring ephemerals that have to emerge, flower, and store energy for next year in the few weeks between the end of winter and the closing of the tree canopy. So, I get henbit, plantain, crab grass, all types of lawn grasses, bittercress, dandelion, chickweed, clover, whatever. Live and let live (aside from mowing.) A bonus is that there’s something green all summer without watering. Nor do I need to treat with fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides.

Among my favorite spring residents are blue violets. Each spring I get wide swaths of them blooming.  They have been increasing each year. I even mow around them during their peak to give myself extra time to enjoy them–and extra time for them to spread. Foolishness to those who think anything less than a bluegrass monoculture is American. I don’t think I’d survive long in a neighborhood with a homeowner’s association, and neither would my violets.

Tonight’s image was taken with a Nikon D90, and the best value in Nikon macro, the Micro-Nikkor 60mm AF. ISO 3200, 1/200 of a second, f/16. The light is natural light from the setting sun. Post-processing in Aperture was minor.

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One thought on “Free-range Lawn Violets

  1. Pingback: Wild Geranium and a very wild violet |Photomiser

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