Hi ! Your white with purple center violet is surely sororia Alice Witter :-) I guess your violets you put on the shadiest spot will appreciate some more sun, that's all :-) The point is not that violets enjoy shade place but wet ground. A part shade place is the best :-) About fragrant violet -> odorata but which one ?? (some cultivar are very strong some others are not) :-) Odorata can be as much invasive as sororia... I don't see any particular problem with having violets in Florida. Many are living there (native I mean), see the link :-) All the best Thierry :-) Here is a link that might be useful: viola in Florida

Tom's pretty much said it all. But I could add: It should be referred to as Viola sororia f. priceana - that is, it is a form not a variety (technically, the distinction between form and variety in general is minor, but in this case I'd go with Cooperrider's assignment of it to the rank of form (forma in Latin) in 1984. And, yes - use seedpods from the cleistogamous flowers to grow more of the same. No need to hand-pollinate, using a bee's probiscis or not (poor bee!). Looking for those seed pods will keep you watching for weeks in the summer. Look right down at soil level, where they will appear first. They will turn up (but still near the soil) shortly before the pods open and shed their seeds. There are also purple colour forms, and there is a purple equivalent of the f. priceana you have found (sold as a cultivar called 'Alice Witter'). White ones as well. And white speckled with blue (that's 'Freckles') and blue speckled with white (that's 'Speckles'). All these colour forms reproduce fairly reliably from cleistogamous seed. Enjoy - as you obviously are!

Update: April 09 Well the snow finally melted and things have started growing again! I took a leap of faith and planted the birdsfoot(feet?) from Viola Valley in the sand under the willow tree and they've come back!! I've counted eight-they're hard to spot at first 'cause the leaves start out as a reddish-purple color. The downy violets, also from Viola Valley, I left in pots and put the whole thing in the ground! There were four of them and I see life in a couple of pots so far. The Canadians(from VV) were put in the rose garden and are all fine. The white sweet(VV) were put under the apple tree, I think, the marker came off the tag(damit!) Of the V. striatas that were so generously given to me I have one left-if you decide to bring one in over the winter AND it gets spider mites DON'T spray it!! I did and it promptly died :-( The Clive Groves crosses(also a donation, thanks man!)are doing quite well in the rose garden and are blooming their fool heads off as we speak. From Canyon Creek the Liannes survived, two outside and one in the kitchen window(yes, it has spider mites but doesn't seem to mind!) Mme Armandine Pages,Fair Oaks,Clive Groves, and Alice de Rothschild spent the winter inside with the jasmine tree-Clive and Alice are well, but the cats made short work of Mme Armandine Pages and Fair Oaks is in recovery. Alice Witter and Priceana are under the willow tree, I thought they were dead but I see new growth popping up from around the sides. The marker wore off of their tags so I don't know who is who! That concludes the saga of my violets. -B

Violets are able to cope with lack of rain for quite a while if you plant them when young, which allows them to develop their roots, which can penetrate quite deeply in search of water. ...Which is one of the reasons why they can be a problem to eliminate from lawns. So I would be tempted to try planting your violets in the soil not in a container. But... ...If the soil gets really dry, even deep down, as it might under a big tree or hedge, that would probably be too much of a challenge for your violets. If you can plant them in good light, not too close to trees, they would stand a better chance. You know your conditions best. But in general, V. odorata type violets such as yours have been grown in California for decades; OK, CA covers a lot of area and climate. The Garibaldis (Ano Nuevo Nurseries) used to grow them commercially in California; maybe they still do; it is a long while since I talked with Don. You'll see mention of John Whittlesey below; he still grows them, up in Oroville. Anyway, you should be able to find a solution. Here's some advice I gave to somebody else in California back in 1999. I know it is more general than a comment on your Barrone Alice de Rothschild, but it may give you a few ideas. Hi Sherry, Thanks for your question (attached). Although many cultivated violets grow in fairly well-watered and not-too-hot garden situations, there are many species of Viola which naturally inhabit hotter and drier locations. Some of these are native to the USA. Be aware, however, that all or most of those suitable for you in LA will naturally lose their leaves in summer. V. beckwithii might be worth trying. It is very attractive in flower and its finely dissected foliage, and it is also nicely scented. It naturally grows at highish elevations - up to 6,000ft in the Great Basin, but comes down at least as low as 3,000ft. That's as regards its native range - in the garden it might still do OK. However, the elevation means it gets plenty of water as the snow melts in the spring - and I don't know how wet it might be in LA in spring. It blooms in spring before withering with the summer heat, spending the hottest times of the year resting as a root well below the soil surface. But don't tidy it up too much - each spring it will send up new shoots through the withered remains of the previous season's stems; if you remove the dead leaves and let the soil fill the stem's hole, the soil can 'pan' (harden) and prevent the violet coming through next spring. It naturally grows amongst sagebrush in gravelly soils. The closest to LA you'll find one of these violets in the wild is Inyo County, CA. Closely related to V.beckwithii are Vv. douglasii (Douglas violet) and trinervata (sagebrush violet). Both of these grow in similar habitats to V.beckwithii and hence would be worth trying. So when trying to find a source for V.beckwithii, ask for these others at the same time. V.douglasii would be worth tracking down since it feels at home in well-drained sunny hillsides and at low altitudes and as far south as San Diego County. It is almost exclusively Californian. V. trinervata is scented like beckwithii, and although it grows in soils which get baked solid in summer, its native range does not extend further south than Oregon, so it might just object to cultivation in LA. In semi-desert of Utah, Nevada, and California Viola purpurea (pine violet) occurs, and in several forms (a source of much confusion for the botanist). If you can get hold of any form(s) of this, it is worth a try in your LA garden. Despite its name, it is usually yellow flowered. Saving the best until last... V.pedunculata (California golden violet, Johnny-jump-up) would be worth tracking down since it can make a glorious show on well-drained low sunny hillsides - not perhaps up to the California poppy in dazzle-factor, but nonetheless a lovely spectacle. And it is native to southern California - perfect for you. I understand it is sold as a cut flower by florists, though I have never had the pleasure of seeing it as such. Nor have I seen it in the field. Maybe you could keep an eye open for it on your travels (best March to May): various places southwards from Sonoma County, including the Carmel River Valley near Monterey, and some of the islands offshore southern California. Tell me if you find it. These violets are not often offered by nurseries, but horticultural societies' seed exchanges might list them; and of course you could try asking in the SweetViolets discussion list if anybody has seed. Also try John Whittlesey. If he can't help with any of the species I have mentioined, I know he has collected Viola seed from a small hot gravelly plateau near Oroville, CA (a long way north of LA, I know). I don't know which species he found there, but whatever they were might do well for you. What about species from semi-deserts elsewhere in the world ? V.arborescens comes from near sea-level in the western Mediterranean, often growing in crevices in baking limestone rocks. It is twiggy and has narrow greyish leaves, but the flowers are not very showy. There are several species from Turkey to India might grow for you, but I have little information on them and I expect it would be very difficult to obtain seed. So, on balance, I would suggest sticking with US species. You can find photos of most of these species at the UC Berkeley Digital Library Project on the Web: go to http://http://elib.cs.berkeley.edu/photos/flora/ and search for Viola. Also have a look at the California Native Plant Society's web site http://endeavor.des.ucdavis.edu/cnps/ Last point: I have mentioned seed rather than plants. This is because most of the aridity-tolerant species adapt to their soil as they grow over several years, and can be next to impossible to dig-up (because of fragility of the roots and hardness of the soil) and transplant. And nurserymen would be unlikely to sell plants grown in pots since they would not establish well, methinks. Hope this helps, Good luck, Regards, Mike -----Original Message----- From: SGra361920@aol.com [SMTP:SGra361920@aol.com] Sent: Friday, April 16, 1999 7:17 AM To: SweetViolets@onelist.com Subject: [SweetViolets] Re: Welcome to SweetViolets@onelist.com From: SGra361920@aol.com Hi. My name is Sherry and I live in central La. My first questions is can Sweet Violets be grown in zone 8. We may have been rezoned to Zone 9 due to the heat of the passed few years - I do not know if they have rezoned yet, but I did hear the zones where no longer accurate. I'm a very stubborn gardener - I'll give it another try anyway. I planted one last year, but it disappeared within a few days. I'll try again this fall. Nothing much survives this summer heat. Besides gardening, I'm also a crafter. I'm looking forward to reading your list.