Description

One of the earlier native plants to appear in the spring, this violet may look dainty with its white and light purple accent flowers, but in reality it is quite hardy, growing happily in deep shade and colder temperatures. As long as it has some moisture, this plant can be a great groundcover beneath the canopy of trees and shrubs and other taller plants. The flowers and leaves are edible, adding visual appeal to salads or desserts. It contains vitamins A and C and can be added to teas or flowers frozen in ice cube trays can be added to drinks. For something really fancy you can sugar the flowers for cakes! Do not ingest the roots however as they are toxic. If you can catch them when they set seed, watching the seed heads explode to send their seeds quite a distance in hopes of starting new seedlings is quite remarkable.