Data specific to Violas (Edit)
Flowers: Stemless
Growth habit: Compact/mounding
Spreading/creeping/trailing

General Plant Information (Edit)
Plant Habit: Herb/Forb
Life cycle: Perennial
Sun Requirements: Partial or Dappled Shade
Partial Shade to Full Shade
Water Preferences: Mesic
Maximum recommended zone: Zone 8b
Plant Height: 2-6 inches
Leaves: Semi-evergreen
Flowers: Showy
Flower Color: Blue
Mauve
Purple
Bloom Size: Under 1"
Flower Time: Spring
Late spring or early summer
Wildlife Attractant: Bees
Butterflies
Resistances: Humidity tolerant
Propagation: Seeds: Sow in situ
Start indoors
Can handle transplanting
Propagation: Other methods: Cuttings: Stem
Cuttings: Root
Division
Stolons and runners
Offsets
Pollinators: Various insects

Image
Common names
  • Labrador Violet
  • American Dog Violet
  • Alpine Violet
Botanical names
  • Accepted: Viola labradorica
  • Synonym: Viola adunca var. minor
  • Synonym: Viola conspersa

Photo Gallery
Photo by molanic

Date: 2012-04-16
Viola in flower, in planting.

Date: 2010-06-06
photo credit: John Cameron
Location: my garden, Gent, Belgium
Date: 2009-04-13
Location: In my Northern California garden
Date: 2012-04-10

Photo Courtesy of Prairie Nursery. Used with Permission
  • Uploaded by Joy
Location: My garden in Gent, Belgium
Date: 2013-05-07
Together with Galium odoratum..
Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Date: 2012-03-26
Location: My garden in N E Pa. 
Date: 2015-04-19
Location: Hamilton Square Perennial Garden, Historic City Cemetery, Sacramento CA.
Date: 2016-02-17
Zone 9b.
Location: Hamilton Square Perennial Garden, Historic City Cemetery, Sacramento CA.
Date: 2016-02-17
Zone 9b.
Location: Brownstown Pennsylvania
Date: 2017-04-22
Location: National Botanical Garden, DC, Virginia :) | May, 2022
Date: 2022-05-28
Location: By Photo by and (c)2007 Derek Ramsey (Ram-Man) via Wikimedia Commons
Credit: Photo by and (c)2007 Derek Ramsey (Ram-Man) | Own Picture
Location: Pacific Northwest, zone 8
Date: 2013-04-09

Photo Courtesy of Prairie Nursery. Used with Permission
  • Uploaded by Joy

Photo Courtesy of Prairie Nursery. Used with Permission
  • Uploaded by Joy

Date: 2012-11-07
Courtesy Gardens in the Wood of Grassy Creek
  • Uploaded by vic
Location: my garden, Gent, Belgium
Date: 2008-04-21

Courtesy Crownsville Nursery
  • Uploaded by vic
This plant is tagged in:
Image

Comments:
  • Posted by SongofJoy (Clarksville, TN - Zone 6b) on Dec 17, 2013 5:31 PM concerning plant:
    This delicate plant and flower are edible. The favored habitat is moist woods, swamps, and damp fields. It is attractive to wildlife, such as song birds and small mammals.
  • Posted by Cyclaminist (Minneapolis, Minnesota - Zone 5a) on May 17, 2016 5:26 PM concerning plant:
    The real Viola labradorica is almost never seen in cultivation. The plant usually sold under this name is actually Dog Violet (Viola riviniana 'Purpurea Group'), which is native to Europe. Probably most of the pictures here are not Viola labradorica. Unfortunately, most people are not aware of this, and the Eurasian species is sold as a North American native plant.
  • Posted by Mindy03 (Delta KY) on Mar 12, 2012 1:24 PM concerning plant:
    Honey bees get nectar from this plant.
  • Posted by SongofJoy (Clarksville, TN - Zone 6b) on Jan 15, 2012 3:15 PM concerning plant:
    Labrador Violet is a diminutive violet native from Greenland through New England. It has medium purple-blue, 3/4 inch flowers suffused with dark purple and a white eye. Flowering time is mostly in spring and then sporadically throughout the summer and fall. This particular variety has heart shaped leaves that have a wonderful soft dark purple cast in spring and fall. The leaf and flower colors contrast nicely. This little evergreen violet makes clumps 4 inches tall and 12 inches wide and spreads rapidly by slender rhizomes making it an excellent filler plant for the front of the border. Give it full sun up north and some shade down south and fairly moisture-retentive soil.
  • Posted by SongofJoy (Clarksville, TN - Zone 6b) on Jan 3, 2013 2:31 AM concerning plant:
    This viola is distinguished from other purple violets by the long spur and by the white hairs on the two side petals.

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