A lot of your exquisite native flowers have an easy time invading our garden where they enhance the area with their delicate charm.  Most of these wildflowers make this transition from wild to domestic without too much difficulty. However, this is not the case with the Bird's-foot violet (Viola pedata) which resists any attempts to tame them and cultivate them.
It is considered a perennial, but appears to be short-lived even in nature.
Like all violets its preference is cooler weather, growing best during the cool, moist weather of late winter.
Bird's-foot attains a height of 6 inches and produces approximately 20 blooms per plant.  Blooming season is from late March through early May.  Seeds are ripe about 1 month after bloom.

Some of you may know it as the 'mountain pansy' and this violet is pandemic to eastern North America because it loves well drained, acidic soils in full to partial sun environments.  Some say it is difficult to transplant to a garden environment, resulting in poor growth.  It has been claimed this difficulty is because the Bird's-foot violet has an intolerance to rich, organic garden soils as well as excess moisture.
It is considered by many to be an ideal candidate for a rock garden or any other prominent spot in a landscape with excellent drainage and full sun or light shade.  Successful growth has been accomplished in sand or pea gravel with a little compost.
Bird's-foot violet  exists in two primary color forms which is a solid pink lilac lavender color, and bi-color where the superior petals are a deep red-purple and the lateral/interior petals are similar to the concolor variety.  The most beautiful of all, and certainly the least common, is the bicolored form that has two dark violet upper petals and three lighter lavender lower petals.
The violet presents a very diversified flora.  They thrive in a mixture of sand, dust, road salt and full hot baking sun.  When one looks into a patch of Bird's-foot violets there are small groups that range in color from white to fairly dark purple.  Some have long petals and others, perfectly round.  A few have horns protruding between the upper two petals while others have horns neatly tucked away behind the upper two petals.  They exhibit a exhibit a diversification in height and growth qualities from tall and wide to very short and compact.

You can buy these bird's foot violets at a reputable state certified plant nursery.