This year I started re-doing my yard to be all native plants. There were a couple species that were already native growing here, so I decided to patch till and leave the patches of natives alone. However this method won't work out since I'm not tilling anything until after a couple frosts kill everything off. Pictured is the patch of Violets I've been working on. Is transplanting them all worth it at this point or will they not come back in this spot next spring? It was working well earlier in the year so I'll continue it next spring anyway.

Hi & welcome! Those Violets are definitely perennial. V. sororia is a likely possibility for your location but violets are difficult to ID because there are so many different ones that are separated by slight, subtle differences.

I'm not sure there is a bad time to transplant them except during high heat and dryness. They can survive being mowed, moderate foot traffic, and probably being tilled, but I would move them if you know you want them but not in that spot. Water well after moving, and they they shouldn't need any further attention unless it gets hot and dry again before winter. But know that bits of rhizome that are inadvertently left behind will keep growing.

If you don't mind that these violets are where they are and you just want more elsewhere, it might be easier to gather seeds & scatter them in the new spot.

There are a lot of factors that can go into a decision to till or to not till. What is the effect you hope to achieve by tilling? If the primary goal is to get rid of unwanted plants, I encourage you to ID the unwanted plants and investigate whether or not tilling will get rid of them. For some plants, tilling would create the most beautiful patch of those unwanted plants you could ever imagine.

You can ID unknown plants in Plant ID forum. It's less confusing if you discuss one plant per post. Taking several pics from various angles of bloom, leaf, stem, whole plant, seed pod, can make it easier for others to be sure about what is pictured.
https://garden.org/forums/view...

purpleinopp said:Hi & welcome! Those Violets are definitely perennial. V. sororia is a likely possibility for your location but violets are difficult to ID because there are so many different ones that are separated by slight, subtle differences.

I'm not sure there is a bad time to transplant them except during high heat and dryness. They can survive being mowed, moderate foot traffic, and probably being tilled, but I would move them if you know you want them but not in that spot. Water well after moving, and they they shouldn't need any further attention unless it gets hot and dry again before winter. But know that bits of rhizome that are inadvertently left behind will keep growing.

If you don't mind that these violets are where they are and you just want more elsewhere, it might be easier to gather seeds & scatter them in the new spot.

There are a lot of factors that can go into a decision to till or to not till. What is the effect you hope to achieve by tilling? If the primary goal is to get rid of unwanted plants, I encourage you to ID the unwanted plants and investigate whether or not tilling will get rid of them. For some plants, tilling would create the most beautiful patch of those unwanted plants you could ever imagine.

You can ID unknown plants in Plant ID forum. It's less confusing if you discuss one plant per post. Taking several pics from various angles of bloom, leaf, stem, whole plant, seed pod, can make it easier for others to be sure about what is pictured.
https://garden.org/forums/view...

I'm tilling to get rid of unwanted plants but I'm still figuring out how I want to do it. My yard has several other native species already that I'm keeping track of and pulling weeds away from. There are very large patches of creeping Charlie that compete with the Violets so I'm glad I read your message before tilling those