BY JANE BLOODWORTH ROWE
VIRGINIA BEACH — It’s strange what you don’t notice until someone points it out to you.
I was intrigued by a recent social media post from the writer Mary Reid Barrow, who had discovered a patch of wild pansies growing in a median along the North End.
Wild pansies? I’m not sure that I even knew that there was such a thing, and I was so fascinated that I had to drive up to the North End, where she saw them, to see for myself.
I found the tiny flowers hiding in the midst of the spreading chickweed and the spiky, purple blooming vetch growing along the median just south of 70th Street. They were tiny and so unobtrusive that, had I not been alerted to look for them, I might have walked by and never noticed them. Their small size and the way that they hid among the taller plants seemed to add to their charm.
North Carolina Extension identifies these plants as viola bicolor, a native plant that grows best in sandy, sunny locations, which explains its presence near the Oceanfront. Its nickname is the “johnny jump-up violet” although it’s much tinier than the cultivated garden plant that’s commonly referred to as johnny jump-ups.
The North Carolina extension describes this plant as a “winter weed” because it’s one of a series of native annuals that grow during the cold months, bloom in the spring and then die after pollinating.
It does tend to grow in colonies, and although it attracts wildlife and provides nectar for bees, the Extension Service dismisses it as “weedy,” and doesn’t recommend it for home gardens.
Oh well. Isn’t that always the way? If something grows by itself, it’s dismissed as a “weed” and becomes the bane of suburbanites who are on a mission to keep their lawns safe for turfgrass.
Still, I must confess that I’ve always been enamored by these weedy little spring wildflowers that carpet our lawns this time of year.
So, I’m going to write in defense of the wild pansies as well as their cousins, the violets, and the many other little spring bloomers.
The common blue violet is particularly charming and a favorite of mine. Unlike their sun-loving pansies, the deep purple violets pop up unexpectedly in shady areas. They grow as a very low groundcover, and – even after their blooming season is over – this perennial’s broad, heart-shaped leaves spread and help to control invasive weeds and grasses.
I fell in love with violets when, as a kid, I noticed a clump blooming by the side of the road while I was walking to the school bus stop. It made me ecstatic to see them because, in addition to being fetching, they were also one of the first signs of spring, and when spring arrives, can summer vacation be far behind?
Besides, no adult would have ever taken the time to notice them, so they were one of those little secrets that kids find so rewarding to discover.
I recently saw a patch of these tiny little jewels growing at Red Wing Park, where I had gone to see the showy ornamental cherry trees.
Amid all the beautiful plants – both cultivated and native – that are now growing in the park, the violets were growing in a shady area, all alone, unaided by any cultivation and apparently unnoticed by park visitors.
Of course, there are many other spring wildflowers – far too many to mention. The buttercup isn’t native, but it does attract pollinators, and generations of little girls have enjoyed whiling away a spring afternoon making buttercup chains. Even the loathed dandelion, although also nonnative, has its merits.
Some sources, including the James River Association, defend the dandelion plants as noninvasive because they don’t generally displace native plants. They also attract bees, and they are edible and widely used in teas.
If these little spring wildflowers are so pretty, and so useful in attracting pollinators, why do some hate them so much that they spend money and time on poisons to eradicate them?
I don’t know, but I’m reminded of the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who, in defending the humble little rhodora against its critics, said:
“If the eye were meant for seeing, Then Beauty is its own excuse for being.”
The author is a contributor to The Independent News. Her journalism has also appeared in The Virginian-Pilot.
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