Hi Jim,
I guess what I can do for insurance is to take one offset each of the purple and white parmas and pot them up and bring them indoors under light in the garage. All other odoratas I grow, purple, pink, and apricot (got the latter from Panayoti) all survive winters fine, in fact it is summer that is more problematic, they get spider mites easily during hot dry weather and just generally sulk when such weather spells appear. And yes they do smell wonderful, someone should breed more of the parmas, but that would mean getting a single flower to appear on the doubles to make such crosses. I am not aware of anyone doing any work with them, my plants came from Logees and they have been in cultivation so long it wouldnt surprise me if they had some virus or something by now. But the white one in particular is full of flowers right now.
Ernie DeMarie in Briarcliff Ny where I'd better do those parma offsets today as tomorrow night the temp plunges.
-----Original Message-----
From: Jim McKenney <jamesamckenney@verizon.net>
To: Pacific Bulb Society <pbs@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Sat, Jan 2, 2016 8:03 pm
Subject: Re: [pbs] New Year's flower count
Hi Ernie, glad to read that there is another Parma violet fan out there!I've found that very few selected forms of Viola odorata thrive outside in the garden here. But there are some - plants going around as Queen Charlotte and the blue and white forms ('White Czar') of Viola odorata are fine outside, and so does the little pink one ('Rosina'). But the Parmas in particular are unlikely to survive outside here.However, they thrive in cold frames.I would cover your plant carefully before severe weather arrives - or better yet, bring it inside and grow it in the coolest well-lit site you can provide. They thrive in under cold but above-freezing conditions.Good luck and let me know how it turns out.Once you've smelled the flowers, you'll go to great lengths to be able to grow them. Jim McKenneyMontgomery County, Maryland, USA, zone 7, not really Parma violet country. _______________________________________________pbs mailing listpbs@lists.ibiblio.orghttp://pacificbulbsociety.org/
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