PRIMULA JAPONIC A. 39 



was new to me, and I had grown it in a pot in the 

 vinery, and a very pretty little flower it is, with its 

 three green leaves, its three green sepals, and its 

 three white petals. I have grown in the same way, 

 for the first time, the Primula japonica, and surely 

 nothing can be more beautiful than its five circles 

 of crimson blossoms, one whorl above another. I 

 have been so pleased with it, that I have just given 

 orders for an entire bed of it to be made, which 

 shall remain permanently, and between the plants 

 I am dropping in Gladiolus bulbs, so that the bed 

 will be in beauty for many weeks. 



As I have before explained, you can hardly see 

 the various beds of my flower-garden at a glance, 

 so that I can go to work independently of the 

 effects of the colour produced by elaborate bedding 

 out. To tell the truth, too, I am heartily weary of 

 the monotony of modern gardens, with their end- 

 less Pelargoniums, Calceolarias, and Verbenas. 

 Some few such beds I cannot of course dispense 

 with, but I am always glad when I can reclaim a 

 bed for permanent herbaceous plants, as in this 

 case of the Primula japonica. 



Another bed, I trust, may be successful in 

 another way it is a bed of the blue Nemophila 

 insignis. Two years ago I saw in the People's 



