It finally occurred to me to check "The Sunset Western Garden Book" on Parma violet hardiness: it lists them as good in Sunset zones 4-9, 14-24. I think we fall in there somewhere. Also it says they're V. alba. Monarda, I associate violets with Colette, too; perhaps it was in part just the era and the circles she moved in, but she was also sensitive to plants, scents, and food. This is God's own violet country: we have several native species, and violets grow all over the place. I think our clay soils, mild wet winters, and dry summers all suit them perfectly. I think you may be right that they like a lot of nourishment. I was looking at some of mine this year and thinking I might have to lift them and amend their beds...though this is also due to my not having prepared the soil all that well to begin with. Our clay, well amended with compost, would be fine. I seem to remember reading that violets were grown under glass in hotbeds, that is, with an underlying layer of manure that gave off heat to warm the cold frame as it decomposed, and then fed the plants. My violets don't seem to get any pests or diseases worth noting. I do have to weed the wild violets away from them, though. I'm lucky that there are a couple of nurseries I know of that sell fragrant cultivated violets, though I don't know if 'Rosina' is one of them. I currently have six or seven kinds of cultivated sweet and Parma violets. By the way--I didn't know this until my current researches--there are double hardy forms of V. odorata as well as the mostly double Parmas: my double white 'Reine de Blanche' is a V. odorata cultivar. Lavender Lass, I wonder what your fragrant violets are? The only scented violets I've heard of are the Europeans V. odorata and V. alba. Are there scented American native violets as well, or do you have some naturalized V. odorata in your yard? Is it a typical violet (like the perfume) scent? I don't know whether the American Violet Society is still in existence, but their Internet site is, and it offers considerable information on American native violets, with a key for identification. Suzy, I'm confused too; I never had any formal training in botany (not much informal either) and so many violets are so similar to each other! I discovered the Groves site a while back and it has been piling fuel on the flames of my violet passion. And yes, they do ship to Italy. In this country the Priola nursery has a respectable and growing collection, and I want to buy from them this year. Groves is definitely a possibility for the future. Melissa

Your posting is a little bit embarassing as the picture you shows is not a parma violet but an african violet..so you should refer to the african violet forum I think... If your question is really about parmas, you can find previous posting searching for "parma violets" at the top of our forum Nathalie

Parma violets exotic ?!!! What do you mean exotic ?? I gonna try to make it easy in words: according to me (just a point of view, not a theory), at the begining a "crazy" violet appears with many petals (that's not new at all - you can find other violets making that kind of strange behaviour: viola orientalis, viola mandshurica etc). Normaly, that parma violet should have vanished by itself (don't forget it's mainly steril). But fortunalety someone paid attention to it and men decided to grow it. Tales (Bourbons, Turkey and so on) are just made for taking part of the mistery (there are many), not for being taken as truth. The point is to understand/discover what kind of violet became "crazy" (viola odorata, viola alba, viola suavis ?? Parma violets have been grown for so many years that many changes appeared ('de Toulouse' in France and 'D'udine' in Italy, which are supposed to be the same violet, are different now). Because of that, I guess it's not possible anymore to discover the original violet that became "nuts" ! Moreover, what does it mean "parma violets" ? There are many and the only thing in common is that they make many petals, that's all. We don't know much... All the best - Thierry :-)

Jim, You might be interested: just on the shelves: WILD VIOLETS OF NORTH AMERICA, Baird, V.B. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1942., 1942, , VIOLETS, COLOR PLATES, Pp. xv, 225, 80 full page color plates by F. S. Matthews, 14 text-figs. Orig. gilt-decorated cloth, lg 8vo. First edition. This edition is limited to 1000 numbered copies signed by the author, this being no. 268. Bookseller: Natural History Books, Iowa City, IA Price: US$ 100.00 That's a fair price, assuming it is in reasonable condition. It is a shame it doesn't have the dust jacket, but they are quite rare and would bump the price up. This book is based on the work of her father, Ezra Brainerd, at the Agricultural Station at Vermont. The coloured illustrations are attractive and useful, and the text contains much good information. The hand-written number (of the limited edition) will be at the back, by the way. It was published in 1945, so some of the nomenclature is out of date, but that doesn't stop me liking the book a lot; it is still one of my bibles of north American Viola. If I've tempted you, act quickly - these don't hang around for long... Mike