Flowering Raspberry vs Early Blue Violet - TreeTime.ca

Flowering Raspberry vs Early Blue Violet

Rubus odoratus

Viola adunca

NOT AVAILABLE THIS SEASON - MIGHT RETURN

NOT AVAILABLE THIS SEASON - MIGHT RETURN

Flowering Raspberry
Early Blue Violet

The Flowering Raspberry is an ornamental shrubby plant that blooms with fragrant light purple flowers throughout the summer and has a large, decorative foliage of bright green leaves. The flowers resemble that of a wildrose, and the foliage turns a bright yellow in the fall. This cultivar produces small red raspberries, similar to that of a thimbleberry, but the fruit is mostly tasteless.

The Flowering Raspberry, also known as Virginia Raspberry or Purple-Flowered Raspberry, makes a great hedge plant and is a good choice for attracting birds to your yard.

Early Blue Violet is a low-growing native perennial wildflower valued for its striking early-spring blooms. The flowers range in color from vibrant blue to deep violet, often marked with pale highlights and fine white hairs. They provide an important early nectar source for pollinators and serve as a host plant for several fritillary butterfly species.

It spreads by both seed and rhizomes, gradually forming small colonies. Its dark green, heart-shaped leaves add ornamental appeal, and the plant shows some resistance to deer browsing. Early Blue Violet is well-suited to naturalization projects and pollinator-friendly gardens, and has also been used in coastal butterfly habitat restoration in the Pacific Northwest.

Flowering Raspberry Quick Facts

Early Blue Violet Quick Facts

Zone: 3a
Zone: 2a
Height: 1.8 m (6 ft)
Height: 0.1 m (0.3 ft)
Spread: 4 m (12 ft)
Spread: 0.2 m (0.5 ft)
Light: any
Light: partial shade, full sun
Moisture: normal
Moisture: dry, normal
Growth rate: fast
Growth rate: fast
Life span: medium
Life span: short
Growth form: low growing, clump-forming
Spreading: seeds - medium, rhizomes - medium
Suckering: high
Maintenance: high
Maintenance: medium


Toxicity: rhizomes, fruit, seed poisonous to humans
Bark: thornless orange
Flowers: purple
Flowers: purple to blue-violet
Bloom time: mid spring to early summer
Berries: red to purple, seedy
Firmness: firm
Flavor: tasteless
Hybrid: no
Hybrid: no
Catkins: no
Catkins: no


Native to: ON, QC, NS
Native to: AB, BC, SK, MB, ON, QC, NS, NB, YT, NT
Other Names: purple-flowered raspberry, virginia raspberry
Other Names: dog violet, hookedspur violet, sand violet, western blue violet