Invasive or beautiful?

When I was little, my dad was out in the back yard, about to pull up a couple wild violets that had sprung up near the house.

I begged him not to. They were just so pretty. He really wanted to get them out of here before they spread, but because his little girl wanted to keep them, he did.

Well, they spread. Big time.

At the time, I of course had no comprehension of how difficult it would be to get rid of these violets once they spread. My dad must have really worked hard to keep them out of his gardens.

Then we bought the house from my parents and the gardens became mine. I'm not the gardener my dad is, and over time those violets have completely taken over. They have a tough, complex root system that is nearly impossible to dig out, especially when there are so many, so I've just given up.

Yeah, they're invasive.

But at this time of year, when they're blooming, they're also really, really pretty. I wish the flowering lasted longer because then I'm left with just leaves for the rest of the summer and they get big and straggly and not really all that pretty.

This year appears to be a good year for violets around here. (Though not so good for lilacs, which bums me out. I love to fill the house with the scent of lilacs. We didn't get many this year and the ones we got died within a day or two)

The violets, though, are pretty while they last. Sometimes I'm kinda glad I made Dad keep them.