April Purples

     Four kinds of flowering plants, including periwinkles or myrtles, common blue violets, grape hyacinths and ground ivy or gill-over-the-ground, have adapted to lawns in southeastern Pennsylvania, and elsewhere in the United States.  We have all these plants on our lawn.  And these plants have at least two characteristics in common in this part of Pennsylvania- they have pretty purple blooms in April.
     Some of those plants grow and blossom in beautiful, mixed bouquets of themselves, and with other wild blooms on lawns.  The other blossoms include yellow ones on dandelions and Indian strawberries, the pale-blue flowers of veronicas and the pink blossoms of spring beauties, for example.         
     Periwinkles begin to bloom in March, when warming weather permits.  Originally from Central and southern Europe, this species was planted on lawns as a lovely ground cover in flower gardens around rocks, on steep slopes and other places where mowing would be difficult.
     Periwinkle has deep-green, evergreen leaves on ground-trailing vines that spread across flower beds and lawns.  There they help hold down soil and provide shelter for invertebrates and other small creatures, including mice, toads and small snakes.  And American robins, gray catbirds and other kinds of birds find invertebrates to eat under myrtle vines.
     Each lovely myrtle flower has five purple petals that come together at their bases to form a shallow tube.  Several blooms together on their trailing vines make pretty bouquets in themselves.
     A favorite of many people, including me, common blue violets are native to northeastern North America's woodland floors.  I like violets so much that I avoid mowing them when they are in bloom. And this plant is so common on certain lawns that they turn parts of them purple during the latter part of April.
     Each violet blossom peeks out coyly from a sea of their own heart-shaped, dark-green leaves, and short grass on lawns.  And violets' leaves and blooms are eaten by cottontail rabbits and wood chucks that live under shrubbery and backyard sheds on lawns.
     Grape hyacinths are from Eurasia, but have been introduced to North America by people planting their bulbs in flower beds and on lawns.  Each grape hyacinth has several grass-like leaves and clusters of tiny, round, purple blooms that resemble bunches of grapes. 
     Each blossom has an opening on the bottom where its mature seeds fall out.  Those tiny seeds blow around in the wind, which scatters them across grassy lawns, meadows and roadsides.  I've seen parts of green lawns and pastures magically turn purple from multitudes of beautiful grape hyacinth flowers in April.  Such a lovely sight they make in the green background drenched with sunlight.
     Ground ivy is originally from Europe.  It is a small, prostrate vine, with scalloped leaves and lovely, purple flowers, crawling through the short grass of lawns.  This species, a kind of mint with a pungent scent when injured, grows attractive clumps of itself here and there on lawns.  Its presence can be detected by smell when one mows a lawn where ground ivy lives.  And ground ivy is visited by at least a few kinds of small insects that sip nectar from its blossoms, pollinating those blooms in the interesting process.
     These purple, wild flowers beautify lawns, pastures and roadsides with their attractive blooms in April.  And they benefit some kinds of wildlife on those human-made habitats.  Nature's beauties are almost everywhere on Earth.  And every moment of every day, there is something new in nature to experience.  Nature is always dynamic.