Today I am trying something new , a few of us are cross - posting about the same subject which today is ‘ WHAT ’S OLD IS newfangled AGAIN ’ . Let me lie with what you think ! And be indisputable to check out my fellow blogger posts on the same topic . First , Joseph atGREENSPARROWgarden partake his interpretation of what ’s old is new again . Also Francis at the popular blogFAIREGARDENhas a situation where she hatch the iconoclasts of Hellenic previous - fashioned plants , ( what I in person recollect from my childhood- yeah , I ’m sometime ! ) an inspiring post on those vintage plants that many of you may receive in abandoned garden or homestead .
Francis writes about what I remember that was in my mothers garden ; the stately Oriental Poppies , those muddy colored Daylilies , and brown grapey German Bearded Iris . The last participant is Ryan ofNOMICSCIENCE , who writes about many previous - fashioned plants that amount to his mind , as he explores his sentiment on what honest-to-goodness - fashioned plant are . Ryan , Primula are sure appealing to think about in January where I go !
My contribution to this list is the rarely seen Parma Violet , or perfumed violet ( not to be confused with the common garden violet , or African violets , for that thing ) . Parma Violets may not be intimate to you , but your cracking grandmother sure would swoon over the scent . One of the most democratic cut flower commerially around the turn of the Nineteenth Century , the Parma Violet is one old fashioned plant that Even though I have an drawing card to really old - fashioned plants like perfumed violets , I have to let in that a true comeback is doubtful . It ’s a different world today .
cultivate for centuries in Europe since the 1600 ’s , scented violets occur from a mysterious billet since botanically , their taxonomic affinity has not been receive to link up to any other violet . Viola odorata is the closest relative genetically , perhaps combined with V. suavis and V. alba that we find wild in our gardens , Parma reddish blue cultivars have a clear connection with many Viola alba mixed bag but most scientist today connect them with all three metal money , in some what , and include them with the Mediterranean Viola ssp . dehnhardtii .
All reddish blue are Viola species , so technically , Pansy ’s , and Johnny Jump Ups are all Viola ’s , but when most people think of reddish blue , what comes to mind is the garden violet , or the ego seeding garden pestilence that we all still love , Viola sororia . Which looks very much like Viola odorata , but which spreads invasively in North American gardens . Still endearing when picked , it lacks the acute sweetness of the Parma Violet , or Viola odorata . I sill like them , ( although my favourite reddish blue is Viola jooi , and alpine plant , or Viola pedata , the skirt foot violet.).My new fav is the Korean Violet , Viola coreana . Still , no fragrance but what a show !
But we really do n’t deal about all of that , all we know is that Parma violet are amazing , since their backstory is desirable of a Hollywood move ( with a passion involvement involving the Romans , Shakespeare , Napoleon and Queen Victoria , all precious Parma Violets as a fragrance or as a cutflower ) . Today , not so much . dear luck even chance a works . But there are six metal money that are in truth fragrant still left . Viola alba ssp . alba , V. alba ssp . cretica , V. alba ssp . dehnhardtii , V. odorata and V. suavis . Even V. sintenisii has some scent but not one has a true connection to the classic Viola ‘ Parme de Toulouse ’ .
In the 1800 ’s and 1900 ’s , greenhouses develop Violets for sale in major cities like London , Paris , and New York , in fact , some of the worlds declamatory Violet nurseries could be found in upstate New York along the Hudson river . Today , literally no one in North America grow honest Parma violet , the two-fold , sweetly scented French cultivars sometimes come out on lists from Violet Societies to micro greenhouse , but essentially , the change are lost . What you’re able to grow is Viola odorata ( still , not an easygoing plant to detect ) ( try out Logees ) , and unless you populate in Southern France in Toulouse , where they still grow the classic form for the perfume trade en masse , the residual of the creation will only live true perfumed violets in confect , scent or a cordial .
In Toulouse France , there is a revitalization in Violetmania and some group are working on micro - propagate some of the ancient named physique so we may see some available in the futurity , at least for the horticultural market , after all , before the red rose was commercially grown , Scented Violets were the traditional Valentines Day flower , with loge of Chocolates bedecked with tied nosegays as late as 1910 . Even Christmas time , meant that fresh scented violets would be on ones lap at a concert in 19th Century London .
In a genus where there are over 600 species , the obscure phylogyney of this violet cross is sad , but a few cultivars are still hand down in France , and one sometimes can get some . I farm some older named class , as well as the more available V. odorata if you could find the on-key , fragrant species . It is not stale hardy below 20 deg . F , but I grow it in an unheated glasshouse , just as they did at the turn of the last century . Try them in cold shape , and maybe by next Valentines sidereal day , you could storm your sweetie with something really special – a bundle a odoriferous violets ! Hey , that does leave us with about 200 mintage to acquire in our gardens ( if we really take to ) . which do n’t have scent , but that look exactly the same to the average gardener .
The lose or seldom found call varieties of Parma Violets are :
Viola ‘ Ash Vale Blue”V. ‘ Marie Louise’V. ‘ Gloire Delaware Verdun’V. ‘ Parme de Toulouse’V. ” D’Udine ’
SOURCES
Casbas N .. 2002 . Parma seeds discovery . Violet Society Journal4 : 11 - 12
Chauchard B. Munzinger J. Marcussen T. Henry M .. 2003 . L’étude caryologique de deux cultivars de Violettes odorantes remet en cause leur origine taxonomique . Acta Botanica Gallica150 : 85 - 93
Coombs R. E .. 1981.Violets : the chronicle and cultivation of scented violetsCroom Helm , London , UK ..
Foissy A .. 1884 . Culture des violettes de Parme . Revue Horticole1884 : 102 - 104 .
Marcussen T .. 2006 . Allozymic variation in the far-flung and cultivatedViola odoratain westerly Eurasia . Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society151 : 563 - 571
Robinson P. M. Snocken J .. 2002 . Checklist of the cultivated forms of the genusViolaincluding the registry of cultivar American Violet Society , Washington D.C. , USA . http://americanvioletsociety.org/Registry
Tucker A. atomic number 8 .. 2000 . The botanic names of the sweet violets . Violet Gazette
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