Day 192: Oh, look! A violet Violet! It's a cultivar (Viola riviniana), not a native, but I was so thrilled to see Violets living up to their name when I was at Kevin's for Easter dinner that I nicked one as I was leaving. His garden is full of them, and as I tried to excavate around the roots with my fingertip (lacking any better tool at that particular moment), I discovered why they were so abundant. This species propagates by stolons ("runners"). Once I had managed to detach it from its vegetative network, I had in my hand a single plant with five dark reddish-green leaves, two flowers and a bud, and about 14 inches of complex root system. Confident of its ability to survive, I treated it quite callously, plunking it down on the seat beside me sans soil or even a wet paper towel, and stuck it in the ground, somewhat limp, when I got home half an hour later. By morning, it was as perky as it had been when I pulled it, insulted perhaps, but not doomed. I'm looking forward to a carpet of violet Violets under my big Doug fir.
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