Just Say "NO" to the Golf Course Lawn! Long Live the Violets!

Technically a violet is a weed. It's certainly not as elegant or showy as, say, an orchid or an aster, nor does it give off any sweet fragrance, like a rose. Still, I have always considered it to be the first true harbinger of Spring. It reminds me of a gentle organic love-note saying, "Warmer weather is on the way and soon every living thing will bloom again." Violets have, in fact, been my favorite flower since childhood (with buttercups, roses, and tulips vying for second spot).

It pains me to have to close up my house this weekend, as old man winter has his way with us one final time. I'm going to miss the warm breezes that gently waft the gauzy curtains at my windows and the sounds of Robins singing loud and merrily outside in the warm sunshine. I will say, though, I'd have been deeply surprised had old man winter not given at least one more icy whisper over the land before warmer weather prevailed. That is the way of things here where I grew up. It has always been woven into the seasons. Some of the more tender buds, unprepared for a stark chill, will die off in the onslaught. The violets, however, will stand their ground, a lavender cloak shielding them at the ready while their pretty faces offer up a sassy, "Challenge accepted!"

I get irritated when my husband insists on mowing over these violet beauties, but it must be done sooner or later to prevent the lawn from becoming a jungle. I am mollified by the fact that my little beauties will grow back again and again, this dainty little promise ever lurking beneath green blades of sweet grass. And I do firmly put my foot down at spraying them with any kind of weed killer, much to my husband's constant exasperation! There well be NO malicious destruction of violets, dandelions, and buttercups in my yard. I refuse to live on a swath of land that looks like a golf course (which is hilarious, now that I think about it, because this entire neighborhood is built on top of what used to be a golf course)! This weekend Spring officially beings here in the South (and around the United States). It will slip in on a cold night without much fanfare, as most of us are forced to turn up the heat or put a warmer blanket on the bed. Unofficially, though, it started for me the day I spotted that first tiny violet in the yard.