•^ The Scented Qarden fj£ 



varieties, are followed by the bunch primroses, the poly- 

 anthuses, the auriculas, and then the exotic varieties, 

 mostly of the candelabra type. I shall never forget a 

 small garden I once saw, which must at some time have 

 belonged to a primula enthusiast. From the house, a 

 square unpretentious building (so often far more attrac- 

 tive and full of character than the obviously ' pictur- 

 esque '), a small garden sloped down to a stream, which 

 ran partly along the bottom and partly along the side of 

 the garden. And the banks were thickly planted with 

 primulas of every sort. It was in June, and the candelabra 

 varieties were in their full beauty, their colours ranging 

 from the palest cream to deep ruby crimson. It was an 

 unforgettable sight. The house was uninhabited, the 

 place had obviously been neglected for some months, and 

 one could only hope that the new owners would preserve 

 the beauty of that stream-side garden. 



What treasures are continually being added to the 

 already numerous species of Asiatic primulas in our 

 gardens, yet some of them look already as though they 

 had been at home with us for centuries. Best of all for the 

 scented garden is P. Florindae, the giant of the Sikkimensis 

 primulas (it sometimes attains 4 feet) found in S.E. 

 Tibet by Mr. Kingdon Ward at an altitude of 12,000 feet. 

 Although only found in 1924, this glorious cowslip- 

 scented primula, producing its bright yellow trusses of 

 flowers in August, is already well known. It can scarcely 

 have too much moisture so long as the water is not stag- 

 nant. P. Cockburniana, with its gorgeous orange scarlet 

 flowers (the only member of the primrose family with 

 this colour), has unfortunately proved to be practically 

 biennial. Some of the hybrids, however (crossed with 

 46 



