IRISH GARDENING 



a wet summer and a dry winter : at any rate I do 

 not seem to be able to give it a damp enougli soil 

 in summer without running the risk of losing it 

 in the winter — a light porous soil kept well 

 watered in spring and summer should suit it better. 

 P. pseudo-sikkimensis has larger flowers than the 

 type and paler yellow; it has no fads. P. pul- 

 chella and P. pulchelloides I cannot keep 

 through my very damp winters. P. Maximowiczi 

 is quite unlike any other Primula, dull red-green 

 leaves and a loose spike of mahogany red flowers, 

 like a Roman Hyacinth. In var. tangutica the 

 flowers are almost black. I flowered three plants 

 (out of about half a dozen), two in pots, one in 

 leaf-mould on rock work ; all failed to set seed, 

 and all died after flowering. 



P. vincffiflora is a minute marsh plant, said to 

 love running water and sharp drainage ; it grows 

 very slowly. I give it lots of water and a pot 

 half full of crock ; under such conditions my 

 plants have lived for two years, but so far have 

 not flowered. 



P. Bulleyana, Beesiana and pulverulenta are 

 too well known now to require any further 

 description, but a new plant of this section — 

 P. helodoxa — is a beauty, a good grower and very 

 deep yellow flowers. 



P. capitellata is a rare but dull plaut. about 

 midway between P. farinosa and 1'. denticulata. 

 It is quite easy to grow in stiff well drained loam. 

 P. Kaufmanniana is another rare plant, like a 

 small P. cortusoides ; it has survived five seasons 

 in a leaf-mould pocket, but has never flowered. 

 P. Megasaefolia has large bright green leaves and 

 deep magenta-pink flowers, which it bears in 

 winter or early spring, at which time frost often 

 plays havoc with it, but I have it now growing 

 out of a peat clifi:", with a small plant of heather 

 growing out above it and acting as a thatch ; here 

 it has flowered almost unscathed by frost the 

 last two years. 



P. nivalis lar. farinosa was a rare purple- 

 flowered Primula I had from Northern Asia, it 

 bloomed and died, and from what I have since 

 read about its character I am not surprised that 

 I lost it. P. saxatilis is another plant near 

 P. cortusoides, quite easy to grow in sandy leaf- 

 mould in half shade, and seems fairly hardy here. 

 P. Keinii — a Japanese — is like a tiny Chinese 

 Primula with pale rather washy pink flowers ; 

 it is rather a miff, and I doubt its hardiness ; so far 

 I have not planted it out. 



P. suffrutescens — from America — is a most 

 distinct plant, quite sub-shrubby in appearance, 

 with rosettes of narrow stiff green leaves, rather 

 like those of an Androsace ; it succeeds with me 

 on a cliff face, its foliage in full sun and its roots 

 tucked away Isehind the cliff" in a cool mixture of 

 peat, leaf-mould and sand. P. Inayati is a rare 

 Primula from the Himalayas, re-introduced by 

 Glasnevin. It has very narrow and long bright 

 green leaves and pale lilac flowers. It has sur- 

 vived three winters here in the open planted in a 

 peat cliff' in shade, there being a good admix- 

 ture of sand with the peat in which it is growing. 

 Another new Himalayan, P. Smithiana. seems 

 to be a good garden plant ; it is like a smaller 

 edition of P. Bulleyana, but with flowers of pure 

 Chinese yellow ; heavy soil seems to suit it. 



P. erosa seems very near P. denticulata, but is 

 smaller and has serrated edges ; it seems quite 

 happy in ordinary loam. P. Reidii — another 

 Himalayan — is, to my mind, the most beautful 



of all Primulas ; it has leaves like an ordinary 

 Primrose, but bristling with stiff silver hairs, and 

 throws up four to six inch stems^ — white with 

 meal — each bearing at the top two or three large 

 cup-like flowers of the purest glistening white, 

 with a distinct green eye ; the textvire of the 

 flowers is almost velvety like a Rose, and the 

 individual flowers are about the size and shape of 

 Campanula puUoides. Unfortunately, it is not 

 easy to keep, it seems a true perennial, but is 

 liable to rot away in the winter, but I have 

 managed to keep two pot plants for four years, 

 and one of them set seed last year, from which 

 I raised a few seedlings, so I trust I shall again 

 see sonae small hairy leaves poking up next 

 spring. I only once tried a plant out of doors ; 

 it flowered and never appeared again, and my 

 stock has been too small to take further risks at 

 present, but I am afraid its silky foliage implies 

 a hatred of winter danip almost as irreconcilable 

 as that of Eritrichium nanum. 



In addition to these there are several new 

 Primulas which have either not as yet flowered 

 here or have not been tried ovit of doors. Of 

 these P. conspersa is very distinct ; its foliage is 

 not unlike that of P. capitata, but the plants 

 (which have not yet flowei-ed) are throwing out 

 strawberry-like runners which root and throw 

 up leaves. P. Loczii has rosettes of narrow 

 stiff" olive-green leaves. P. Purdom and P. 

 Imperator have not flowered, but one of the new 

 Kew plants (P. Sp. 11041, I think) seems a fine 

 thing, foliage near to cortusoides, flower stems 

 erect, bearing good trusses of large deep pink 

 flowers. 



Last, but not least, comes P. Winteri. which I 

 cannot keep in a pot, but which seems now quite 

 happy out of doors. I have a couple of jjlants 

 on a peat cli 1" and keep a small piece of glass over 

 them from November to end of Janviary. I 

 know few sights more lovely than this Primula 

 in flower, its dark green leaves thickly dusted 

 with white meal, and its very generous display of 

 large Primroses of pure lavender blue. 1 think 

 it requires generous treatment both during its 

 flowering period and for some time after, other- 

 wise it is apt to be weakened by its lavish display 

 of blossom and may die off. 



In conclusion, a few notes on culture. Having 

 no running water I plant all the moisture lovers, 

 such as P. Bulleyana, P. sikkimensis, ikc, in 

 ordinary loam sitting on a sandwich of two peat 

 blocks with some old cow manure between; the 

 peat helps to keep the Primulas cool and the 

 sandwich conserves the manure to the use of the 

 plant above. Doubtful perennials, such as P. 

 L'ockburniana, P. capitata, &c., I treat as 

 biennials ; there are always a few self-sown 

 seedlings and surviving old i)lants, but one feels 

 safer with a pan of seedlings coming on. The 

 seed of most of the moisture lovers resents 

 germination in heat, and I find it simplest to 

 shake their seed round the parent jjlants and get 

 sufficient seedlings of these kinds by such means. 

 P. Julise does not flower freely here unless in a 

 pot-bound condition, wedged between rocks, &c. 

 I am going to try some pot- bound plants sunk in 

 with their pots. P. deorum is a very shy flowerer 

 unless it is grown in running water. P. frondosa 

 and its cousins are surface feeders, and repay one 

 for lifting them immediately after flowering and 

 dividing and replanting in rich soil. 



Any Primulas in pots that resent winter damp 



