226 GLENNTS HANDBOOK 



containing some hardy annuals of little interest, and other 

 species of considerable beauty, which may be treated as half- 

 hardy annuals. They require a light rich soil and a warm 

 sunny situation : when both soil and situation agree with 

 them they form very fine objects. Grown carefully in pots 

 for the greenhouse, they are also very ornamental. The 

 seeds should be sown in a hotbed early in March, and the 

 plants nursed on in frames not too warm, being at first 

 potted singly, and then shifted on as they may require until 

 the beginning of June, when they may be either planted out 

 or shifted finally for blooming in pots. 



POTENTILLxAl. CiNQUEFoiL. [Rosacese.] Hardy per- 

 ennials, now becoming popular, and comprising some fine 

 garden varieties, as well as very handsome species. They 

 grow best in loamy soil rich in vegetable matter, but not too 

 full of dung. The roots should be taken up early in autumn, 

 and parted, each crown or heart, with root attached, forming 

 a plant : these may be either planted in a bed to become 

 established, or put out at once in the borders or the flowering- 

 beds. A bed filled with the varieties of Potentilla has a 

 very fine effect during the chief of the summer months. 

 Seedlings should be raised from the best varieties to obtain 

 distinct kinds. 



PRICKLY POPPY. See Argemoxe. 



PRICKLY THRIFT. See Acaxtholimon. 



PRIMULA. PEmROSE. [Primulaceae.] Beautiful dwarf 

 tufted-growing herbaceous perennials, nearly all of which are 

 hardy as respects cold. Of P. vulgaris, the common Prim- 

 rose, there are double-flowered varieties of several colours. 

 These grow best in a cool, moist, but v/ell-drained situation, 

 and prefer a soil of light loam intei-mixed with decayed tree 

 leaves. They are propagated by dividing the tufts into sepa- 

 rate crowns with roots attached, which may be done in spring, 

 and the young plants planted out in cool shady situations : 

 by the following spring they will become strong blooming 

 plants. One variety of Primrose produces a bunch of flowers 

 on the top of a common stalk, and this appears to be the 

 origin of the garden plants known as Polyanthuses. Most of 

 the hardy species of Primula are extremely beautiful subjects 

 in a pot collection of alpine plants, blooming in the spring 



