here is a recent pic of my John Raddenbury. my feeling is that it is not the same as the violet i have seen under this name in europe. included for comparison and comment is the colour plate from 'the violet book' by the allen-browns.(1913). i suspect my clone to be authentic. i've had it for many years, but am embarrassed to say i dont recall where or who i received it from. my clone seems to have some virus and seems to start flowering late. it produces seed pods most of which are empty. (i have had similar experience with other large flowerered violets such as victoria and princess of wales.) last year, i confirmed that occasionally there are seeds in the pods. i hope to raise some new plants in the coming year and share some seed if nature provides it! my suspicion is that the european john raddenbury could be comtesse edmond du tertre. this should be a large flowered blue and was listed well into the 20th century in english violet nurseries. this could be quite a find! we may have a 'lost' 19th century violet in our midst! groves nurseries web site has a pic of the european jr for comparison..does anyone have a close up of this clone which might be posted?

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