USEFUL GREENHOUSE PLANTS 311 



Primula. The Chinese Primula is one of the most popular of 

 greenhouse plants in winter and spring. The seed should be sown about 

 midsummer, and as soon as the young plants are large enough to handle 

 they must be pricked off. Then pot them singly into small pots, and as 

 these get full of roots the plants may be shifted into pots five inches in 

 diameter, in which they will flower until the end of September. A cold 

 frame is better than the greenhouse, but before autumn frosts set in 

 they should be removed indoors. The double-flowered varieties are 

 increased by surrounding the stem with a mixture of moss, loam, and 

 sand, into which they will root, and as soon as they are sufficiently 

 advanced the plant may be divided and the several pieces potted. The 

 propagation of double Primulas requires considerable care. With regard 

 to the single varieties, unless they are needed for seed the plants may, 

 after flowering, be thrown away, as young plants give better results than 

 old ones. A good soil for the Chinese Primula is two-parts loam to one- 

 part each of leaf-mould and decayed manure, with a liberal sprinkling 

 of silver sand. In all stages of growth the watering of these Primulas 

 must be carefully done, as an excess of moisture or of drought is equally 

 fatal. Pretty semi-double flowers can be readily obtained from seed if 

 it is saved from a good strain. Besides this, several other Primulas are 

 valuable for the greenhouse, notably, the Auricula, which blooms in the 

 spring, the Japanese P. cortusoides Sieboldi, of which there are many 

 pretty varieties, flowering at about the same period, and 



Primula floribunda, which produces its pretty golden blossoms almost 

 throughout the year, while the sulphur-coloured P. verticillata sinensis 

 flowers in the spring. From these two species a hybrid was raised at 

 Kew, and it is now under the name of Primula Kewensis very widely 

 distributed. Its habit of growth is free, and the golden-yellow flowers 

 are borne over a lengthened period. Primula obconica, whose blooms 

 were originally lilac in colour, has now given rise to numerous forms, the 

 blooms of whom vary in colour from white to crimson. It is a very de- 

 sirable Primula for the greenhouse, and we hear much less now about the 

 irritation of the skin caused by handling it than we used to do. The 

 Star Primula (P. stellata) is a name applied to a very graceful form of 

 the Chinese Primula ; it is quite a break away from the ordinary kind. 

 It is taller and more slender in growth, the whole plant being far more 

 elegant than the ordinary Chinese Primula. 



Primula malacoides, a recent introduction from China, has already 

 become a favourite, its small lilac-coloured blossoms, borne in whorls on 

 slender stems, being borne in great profusion and over a long period. 

 There is a white variety of it. Both are easily raised from seeds sown in 

 the spring. Same soil as Chinese Primulas. 



Rhododendron. This is a large group of beautiful flowering shrubs, 

 many of which do not flower until they have grown to a considerable 

 size. Some of the hybrids, however, flower well in a small state, among 

 the best being Countess of Derby, Countess of Sefton, Duchess of 

 Sutherland, Lady Alice Fitzwilliam, and Princess Alice. All of the 

 above have large white or blush-coloured and very fragrant flowers. 



