My Garden in Spring 



me part of each of his forms of it, but here it suffers so 

 from thirst in summer that it does not flower through the 

 whole Winter and Spring as with him, but is a dwarf and 

 Interesting form. 



I am very fond of the various purple or lilac forms 

 of Primrose that come from Turkey and the Near East. 

 The good old plant, sold so unblushingly as P. amoena 

 the true plant belonging to that name not being in culti- 

 vation at present should be known as P. acaulis, var. rubra, 

 say Pax and Knuth, but Dr. MacWatt has raked up the 

 name of Sibthorpei Pax for it, in spite of the great man 

 and his coadjutor having placed it as a synonym in their 

 monograph. It is the single form of the old double lilac, 

 and in its best forms of that same charming cool colour. 

 I have also a deeper form, almost a purple another of 

 Mrs. Robb's good things. She saw it on Mount Olympus, 

 and much to the annoyance of her magnificent dragoman, 

 who was dressed in a uniform richer in gold lace than 

 that of the most distinguished general, she insisted on 

 his dismounting from his horse and digging up some roots 

 with a broken potsherd, the only weapon that offered 

 itself. She told me its purple glory always reminded her 

 of the rueful face of that glittering dragoman. 



These forms require, at any rate here, frequent divi- 

 sion and replanting in soil freshened by leaf mould and cow 

 manure. They dwindle if left alone for more than two 

 years, but if well looked after are very charming in good 

 broad plantings. P. cortusoides and its garden descendants, 

 who have not descended but have very much gone up in 

 the world as to size, appearance, and general affluence, 

 need more leaf mould and choicer, cool corners than the 

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