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ALPINE FLOWERS FOR GARDENS 



[PART II. 



flower-truss, which is of a deep lilac colour. 

 The stalks are olive-green, and, like the 

 leaves, are slightly mealy. P. Henryi is a 

 very strong-growing variety, but does not 

 otherwise differ from P. pulcherrima. 

 It is a handsome plant, often 2 feet across, 

 And in Ireland it reaches even larger 

 dimensions. P. cashmeriana is the finest 

 variety. The flowers are of a lovely dark 

 lilac, closely set together in almost a 

 perfect globe on stalks over 1 foot high. 

 They last from March till May. The 

 foliage is beautiful, and, like the stalk, is 

 of a bright pale green, thickly powdered 

 with meal. They all prefer a cool 

 situation, with a clear sky overhead, and 

 delight in an abundance of moisture 

 during warm summers. 



Primula erosa (Himalayan Primrose). 

 Sometimes grown under the name of 

 P. Fortunei, with shining leaves, quite 

 smooth, and sometimes quite powdery, 

 which, with its smoothness, distinguishes 

 it at a glance from P. denticulata. The 

 purplish blossoms with yellow eyes in 

 flattish heads expand in early spring, and 

 are borne on stems usually mealy. Drs 

 Hooker and Thompson noticed it blooming 

 at great elevations among the snow on 

 the Himalayas, and, as might be expected 

 from this, it is quite hardy in this 

 country, and the way to enjoy its beauty 

 is to place it in a sunny but sheltered 

 nook on the rock-garden, in sandy loam, 

 lightened with peat and leaf -mould, and 

 with the drainage perfect. It should 

 never be allowed to suffer from drought 

 in summer. 



P. farinosa (Bird's-Eye Primrose). 

 Slender powdery stems, from 3 to 12 

 inches high, springing from rosettes of 

 musk-scented leaves, with their under 

 sides clothed with a silvery-looking meal, 

 bear the graceful lilac-purple flowers of 

 the Bird's-Eye Primula. No sweeter 

 flower holds its head up to kiss the breeze 

 that rustles over the bogs and mountain 

 pastures of Northern England. To find 

 it inlaid over moist parts of the great 

 hill-sides on an early summer morning 

 as one ascends the Helvellyn range for 

 the first time, is, to a lover of our wild 

 flowers, a pleasure long remembered. In 

 the Alps of Dauphiny the valleys are 



coloured with its flowers, and where the 

 bottom of the valley only is moist, a 

 river, as it were, of this Primrose in bloom 

 runs through it. I have mostly seen it 

 in very moist spots where running water 

 spreads out all over the surface, still, 

 however, continuing to flow ; but it is 

 also found under different conditions. 

 A moist, deep, and well-drained crevice, 

 filled with peaty soil or fibry sandy loam, 

 will suit it to perfection. It is easv to 

 cultivate in pots, the chief want, whether 

 in pots or in the open, being abundance 

 of water in summer, and where this does 

 not fall naturally, it ought to be supplied 

 artificially. When planted on the rock- 

 garden in the drier districts, it would be 

 well to cover the soil with cocoa-fibre or 

 leaf-mould, which would protect the 

 surface from evaporation ; broken bits of 

 sandstone would also do. It varies a 

 little in the colour of the flower, there 

 being pink, rose, and deep crimson 

 shades. 



P. farinosa acaulis is a diminutive 

 variety of the preceding. The flowers 

 are not freely upheld on stems like those 

 of the common wild form, but nestle down 

 in the very hearts of the leaves, and both 

 flowers and leaves being very small, when 

 a number of plants are grown together 

 on one sod, or in one pan, they form a 

 little cushion of leaves and flowers not 

 more than half an inch high. The same 

 positions will suit as have been recom- 

 mended for the Bird's-Eye Primula, but 

 being so very dwarf, it ought to have 

 more care. If any weeds or coarse 

 plants were allowed to vegetate over or 

 near it, it would of course suffer. 



Primula glutinosa (Glutinous Primrose). 

 A distinct little Primrose, and growing 

 abundantly in peaty soil at elevations 

 of 7,000 or 8,000 feet on mountains near 

 Gastein and Salzburg, in the Tyrol, and 

 in Lower Austria. The leaves are nearly 

 strap-shaped, but winding towards the 

 top, where they are somewhat pointed 

 and regularly toothed. The stem is as 

 long again as the leaves, growing from 

 3 to 5 inches high, bearing from 1 to 5 

 blossoms, purplish-mauve, with the 

 divisions rather deeply cleft. Grow in 

 moist peaty soil. 



