The following article is taken from the Banksia Bulletin - autumn 2025 edition. Photo by Pauline Reynolds.
If you're interested in gardening or conservation in the Bayside area, there's a good chance that you might be familiar with native violets, also known as ivy-leaf violet.
With beautiful, showy purple and white flowers, and runners that grow and spread easily, it's no wonder that native violets have become a popular Indigenous alternative for grass lawns.
However, these may not be indigenous to Bayside or even Victoria. For a long time now, what many have mistaken for Viola hederacea is in fact a different species, Viola banskii. As there is little research about the differences between these two species, details about the ecological dissimilarities is unclear, meaning the impact to Victoria is still unknown until further research is done.
Bayside Community Nursery has already changed its labels on the violets from Viola hederacea to Viola spp. and will phase out the sale of this species, however it will be available this season while stocks last for private garden use only. Propagation will also cease from this year.
Read Banksia Bulletin to learn more
