"GreatGrandfather ran a shop in what was the Covent Garden Flower Market in London many many years ago(it is no longer there). I used to think that my family were originally German but recently, my brother has been looking into this and found out that my family emigrated from Sweden, probably about 200 years ago, as they were Basket Weavers and couldn't find any work in Sweden. They moved to Germany and then before the First World War emigrated again to Canada and then back to England earlier this Century. The fact that they were Swedish probably explains why the seeds can be found in a Swedish seed catalogue. I am trying to find out more about my family and how exactly the Viola got named after Gustav Wermig. I suspect that as he was a horticulturalist of some kind that he named it himself. I don't yet know and am also trying to find out.
"Apparently Gustav lived in Essex for some time and was quite a famous person at the time. I have heard that he used to drive around in an open top Rolls Royce wearing a Mink Fur Coat - a bit of a character. He must have been very well known and extremely rich (I know that he owned a lot of land and property) as when he died, his obituary was in The Times newspaper.
"I've been speaking recently with a lady in Germany who remembers this Viola in her Grandmother's garden over 40 years ago she was kindly sent some seeds by a Nursery in Holland and has grown them. However the variety that she has is more of a lavender colour, which is strange as she remembers them as being a deeper blue purple colour (similar to what your website refers to as Boring Purple - I' m quite offended!)"