PRIMULA. 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



PRIMULA. 



741 



were in every garden ; but the day came 

 when, like many hardy flowers, they were 

 cast aside to make way for gaudier things ; 

 now, however, people are beginning to 

 grow them again, and are inquiring for 

 old and half-lost kinds which they used 

 to know long ago. The best-known and 

 most distinctly marked are the double 

 lilac, double purple, double sulphur, 

 double white, double crimson, and double 

 red. These and several allied forms are 

 occasionally honoured with Latin names 

 descriptive of their shades of colour. In 

 catalogues will be found the following : 

 Primula vulgaris alba plena, lilacina 

 plena, purpurea plena, rosea plena, rubra 

 plena, sulphurea plena ; but we had 

 better speak of them in plain English and 

 confine the Latin term to the species. 

 The double kinds are slower-growing and 

 more delicate than the single ones, and 

 require more care, and the development 

 of healthy foliage after flowering should 

 be the object of those who wish to succeed 

 with them. In the double kinds the 

 deeper the hue the less robust the plant. 

 The rich crimsons and the deep purples 

 are usually most difficult to cultivate ; but 

 in the extreme north, where the climate 

 is at once moist and temperate, they grow 

 almost with luxuriance. The climate of 

 Ireland also favours them, but in the 

 south and midland districts it is necessary 

 to give them shade and abundant moisture 

 during summer, and in winter the pro- 

 tection of glass against the continued 

 frosts and rains. The white, lilac, and 

 sulphur kinds, on the other hand, are very 

 hardy, and, if established, appear to stand 

 our climate well. 



Shelter and partial shade are the 

 conditions chiefly necessary to their 

 successful culture. Open woods, copses, 

 and half-shady places are the favourite 

 haunts of the wild Primrose. In them, 

 in addition to the shade, it enjoys the 

 shelter, not merely of the tall objects 

 around, but also of the long Grass 

 and herbaceous plants growing near. 

 Taking into account the moisture con- 

 sequent upon such companionship, let 

 these facts guide us in the culture of the 

 double kinds. It will readily be seen 

 that a plant exposed to the full sun on a 

 naked border is under conditions very 

 different from one in a thin wood ; the 

 excessive evaporation and the searing 

 away of the leaves by the wind would be 

 quite sufficient to account for its failure. 



It is therefore desirable to plant the 

 beautiful double Primroses, in slightly 

 shaded and sheltered positions, in borders 

 of light rich vegetable soil ; and, to keep 



the earth from being dried up too rapidly, 

 spreading Cocoa-fibre or leaf-mould 

 on it in summer. It would be better to 

 plant them in some favourite spot per- 

 manently than to change them repeatedly 

 from place to place. Indeed, they ought 

 never to be disturbed except for the pur- 

 pose of division. They may, however, 

 be employed as bedding plants, and 

 treated in the manner recommended for 

 single varieties, but they are not then so 

 useful or so pretty as when in good colonies 

 or large informal groups. Double Prim- 

 roses well grown, and the same kinds 

 barely existing, are such different objects, 

 that nobody will grudge them the trifling 

 attention necessary to their perfect de- 

 velopment. Occasionally they may be 

 seen flourishing by chance in some 

 cottage-garden or some old country gar- 

 den, where they find a home more con- 

 genial than the fashionable prim and bare 

 flower garden. Division of the roots. 



The Rev. P. Mules, a most successful 

 grower of the Double Primroses, writes 

 to the Field about them. " Unless these 

 flowers have been seen at their best, and 

 that can only be under the favourable 

 conditions of suitable soil, pure air, and 

 great experience in culture, no one can 

 imagine their beauty. I have had a bed 

 of fifty plants of the double white carrying 

 at one time 4,000 fully expanded blooms, 

 averaging i in. in diameter. So also 

 Pompadour, with blooms of still larger 

 size, which has flowered without inter- 

 mission since October, throwing its rich 

 crimson blossoms well above the succulent 

 green foliage, and presenting a fine 

 picture of form and colour. Then we 

 have double rose, double mauve, double 

 dark lilac, double cerise, double sulphur, 

 double yellow, and double rose white 

 mottled. Besides these are some bright 

 crimsons, making a combination of 

 colours which lend themselves to many 

 varieties of garden and house decoration. 

 Some the sulphur and the dark lilac 

 occasionally throw up corymbose heads, 

 polyanthus-wise ; but this is not uncom- 

 mon with many primroses, and is the 

 result of high cultivation, and occurs 

 towards the end of the flowering period. 

 The reason that the rarer varieties are 

 difficult and expensive to obtain is 

 because their culture is not understood, 

 and stocks once allowed to die out can 

 scarcely be replaced. Their reproduction, 

 as they have no seed, is impossible, and 

 one has to depend on division alone for 

 their increase. Like all perennials, there 

 is a tendency to natural deterioration, and 

 unless they be kept in the highest vigour 



