I have heard April rain brings May flowers but recently I discovered Purple Rain brings purple flowers! I was listening to Prince the other day while tending to some yard tasks and noticed numerous lawn weeds with purple flowers had popped up. After closer inspection, I was able to identify these common lawn weeds with purple flowers and figured out how to get rid of them.
Read on to see the different types of weeds with purple flowers and, most importantly, how to get rid of purple flowers on your lawn.
Most Common Lawn Weeds with Purple Flowers (Short Answer)
Creeping Charlie, Creeping Thistle, Purple Deadnettle, Healall, and Forget-Me-Nots can all sneak onto a lawn. High-growing lawn weeds with small purple flowers like Musk Thistle and Black Nightshade can infiltrate your lawn if you’re not careful, and Wild Violet and Morning Glory also produce purple flowers.
A Closer Look at Lawn Weeds with Purple Flowers
A common characteristic of weeds with purple flowers on your lawn is that they tend to creep onto weakened turf. Some of the nastier purple weeds can intertwine with your lawn making it impossible to remove. Other weeds are highly poisonous or can cause skin irritation.
The first step is knowing what the weeds with purple flowers are called, and then how to get rid of them. That’s what I’m going to try and help you with below.
Creeping Charlie (Glechoma hederacea)
What It Does: Fast-spreading and low-growing, these lawn weeds with little purple flowers can quickly smother your turf if left alone. With a matting growth pattern, these weeds propagate by rhizomes, creeping stems, and seeds, allowing them to spread across large areas of your lawn in just one season. Creeping Charlie goes dormant in the middle of the summer before growing again as the temperatures cool.
What It Looks Like: A member of the mint family, Creeping Charlie has tiny, green, heart-shaped leaves with rounded teeth. These weeds have thin green stems that can grow erect or fall flat. They produce tiny purple flowers that bloom from the top leaf axil. The small flowers form a four-lobed head and bloom in late spring or early summer.
How to Get Rid of It: Hand pulling these lawn weeds with small purple flowers can be a hassle. Unless it is the very beginning of an infestation, removing the whole plant will be too difficult. Applying a broadleaf herbicide, during the dormant stage in summer, is your best chance of destroying this weed.
Creeping Thistle (Cirsium arvense)
What It Does: Also known as Canadian thistle, they are aggressive perennial weeds that can invade open areas and can choke out your lawn. It has a fast-growing root system that continuously produces new stems that shoot up and colonize larger areas. These plants produce fluffy, white seed heads in the late summer.
What It Looks Like: Creeping Thistle can grow to be 5ft tall and produces clusters of small purple flowers. The purple flowers turn to seeds in the late summer and resemble giant dandelions. The leaves are lance-shaped, slanted and have spiny-toothed leaf margins. The purple flowers are tear-shaped and bloom in early summer.
How to Get Rid of It: Lawn weeds with purple flowers can be tough to remove. To completely eradicate Creeping Thistle, you will need to apply herbicides through the fall and winter and practice low cutting when the weeds are pre-flower. By preventing seed development and attacking root growth, you can manage these weeds.
Purple Deadnettle (Lamium purpureum)
What It Does: If you see little purple flowers in the grass in early spring then this weed is most likely the culprit. Taking advantage of the lack of competition, this winter annual grows quickly in the cool spring months. They self-seed and die off in the summer heat. This leads to blotches of yellow throughout your lawn.
What It Looks Like: A member of the mint family, the Purple Deadnettle has a square stem and triangular leaves. While this purple weed’s leaves resemble that of nettles. It is not related to the nettle and will not sting you. Purple Deadnettle blooms in April and produces small tubular-shaped purple flowers.
How to Get Rid of It: This annual has a very weak taproot, so hand pulling is very easy. If there is a large area, you can apply a post-emergent or pre-emergent depending on the time of the season.
Healall (Prunella vulgaris)
What It Does: These are dangerous lawn weeds with little purple flowers that can cause serious harm to your turf. Healall grows quickly in the cool, moist environment of spring and quickly outcompetes your turf for nutrients. These weeds thrive in ideal conditions for a healthy lawn and grow below the turf canopy. It is hard to detect these weeds and they can very easily take over your entire lawn. Serious infestations may result in turf removal being needed.
What It Looks Like: Like many lawn weeds with purple flowers, Healall is a member of the mint family. It has puckered leaves and a square stem characteristic of mints. In early to mid-summer, hundreds of tiny pineapple-shaped flowers rise above the turf canopy and open. When the temperature rises, these weeds turn yellow.
How to Get Rid of It: The most important thing to do to reduce the chance of Healall is to prevent it from producing seeds. As soon as you see the flowers opening, you can rake the area to try and weaken the shallow taproots. If it is a small area, you can repeat this a few times and completely remove the weed. You can also use a selective herbicide to target the Healall and not your turf.
Forget-Me-Nots (Myosotis sylvatica)
What It Does: Often grown as a ground cover in garden beds, this wildflower turned weed can invade your lawn and weaken your turf. These weeds self-seed and the seeds can remain viable for many years. They grow very quickly in shady, moist areas.
What It Looks Like: Forget-Me-Nots have round fuzzy leaves and grow a green, hairy, upright stem. They produce pink buds in the summer that bloom into purple flowers growing on many small branches. These branches protrude from the main stem and can produce additional blooms on branching stems. The flowers have five petals and stay open until fall.
How to Get Rid of It: A lawn weed with purple flowers that self-seeds abundantly, Forget-Me-Nots can take over large areas of lawn very quickly. It is best to make sure they never produce seeds by cutting the flower heads when they bloom. The plants can be pulled up easily if the soil is moist.
Musk Thistle (Carduus nutans)
What It Does: This herbaceous lawn weed can grow up to 7ft tall. A single Musk Thistle can produce around 20,000 seeds. These seeds detach easily and do not fall far from the mother plant. These weeds form a matting growth and spread, eliminating any native vegetation and turf. They are considered highly invasive.
What It Looks Like: In the winter and early spring, these common lawn weeds with purple flowers have a rosette arrangement about 18in wide. They produce several main stems that are covered in spiny wings. The leaves are dark green with silver midribs and have a waxy surface. The flowers are about 3 inches wide, deep purple, and droop 90 degrees down from the main stem. The blooms turn white and the seeds drop in fall.
How to Get Rid of It: Preventing Musk Thistle from seeding and removing it at the roots is the best way to control this weed. You can cut the flower heads off as soon as they appear and use a hoe or shovel to sever the stem from the roots. They die off quickly this way and can be controlled easily. Make sure to get rid of all the plant material to prevent seeds from spreading.
Black Nightshade (Solanum nigrum)
What It Does: One of the most dangerous lawn weeds with purple flowers, Black Nightshade is no joke. It is toxic to humans and animals and produces sap that can damage machinery. They can harbor diseases and pests that affect common garden plants as well. It spreads by seed and produces many blooms and pods.
What It Looks Like: Black Nightshade has a thick stem and can grow along a structure or support itself as a bush. The leaves begin spade-shaped but develop into large, round, and purple-tinted leaves. They are covered with glandular hairs and are sticky to the touch. Mature weeds will develop woody stems. The flowers bloom from March through October and are star-shaped. The flowers are purple to white and grow in clusters.
How to Get Rid of It: If there are only a few Black Nightshade plants growing on your lawn, you can remove them by hand. If it is early in the season and the soil is moist, you can pull them out with the root, but be sure to wear gloves. If it is later in the year and they are bigger and thicker, you will need to dig them out. If there is a larger cluster, you can use glyphosate in the fall after fruiting to prevent regrowth or seedlings and to kill off the remaining plants.
Wild Violet (Viola Odorata)
What It Does: This weed produces little purple flowers in the grass in early spring and quickly grows and competes with your turf for nutrients. When you mow these purple flowers, you believe you have prevented the Wild Violets from seeding. However, these weeds produce a second flower that stays below your turf’s canopy and drops seeds you never see. This is one of the hardest weeds to remove.
What It Looks Like: A low-growing weed, wild violet has small, green, heart-shaped leaves. The leaves are smooth, about 3 and a half inches long, and appear glossy. In early spring, small purple flowers pop up, supported by stalks that grow out of the base of the weed. The flowers have 5 petals and a white ring around the center.
How to Get Rid of It: Hand removal of Wild Violet is nearly impossible. So how do you get rid of these purple flowers on your lawn? You will need to use a systematic herbicide to completely kill off this weed. It can take up to 3 applications of a selective herbicide product containing dicamba and triclopyr.
Morning Glory (Ipomeia purpurea)
What It Does: This purple flowering weed is a broad-leafed vine and an annual. It can grow quickly and when it is located incorrectly, can suppress your turf. The vines can grow to 15ft long in a very short amount of time and produce tons of long twisting offshoots. Fortunately, this weed only propagates by seed and not rhizome or stem nodes.
What It Looks Like: Morning Glory produces long thin stems that wrap and twist around everything. The leaves are green, smooth, and heart-shaped. Occasionally they have a third lobe. The leaves alternate along the stem and are 3 to 5in long. Purple flowers bloom from June to November and have a distinct funnel shape.
How to Get Rid of It: These lawn weeds with purple flowers are impossible to remove by hand due to the intricate twisting growth pattern. To successfully remove this weed, you should incorporate the use of a selective herbicide combination. Herbicides that have 2,4-D and dicamba will be the most effective measure of killing Morning Glory without harming your turf. Additionally, you can try using glyphosate to finish off this weed.
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