230 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



July, 1919 



Certainly there is something exquisitely dainty, 

 bafflingly mysterious about them, for there seems 

 never a day so still that they are not gently 

 swinging, and, if we had our ear to the ground, 

 doubtless we should hear the fairy chime they 

 ring. 



The Other Yellow Flowers 



I~*HE yellow Bellflower (Campanula Vidali) 



-*• is doubtless a greater rarity in American 



gardens than any of the foregoing. A perennial, 



it is not, however, hardy in my own section, 

 but it is said that, with care, it may be carried 

 through winter in a coldframe. Not a strong 

 favorer of yellow in the. summer garden, I 

 tried this plant as a curiosity, or perhaps to 

 gratify my own, rather than with any idea of 

 making it, if possible, a permanent resident of 

 my garden. 



It may be the delicate stranger divined and 

 resented this — all 'gardeners, I think, come to 

 feel that plants have a subtle sensitiveness 



about such things! — at all events, every tiny 

 seedling, and there were dozens, damped off in 

 a day and night. It is not possible there- 

 fore, for me to speak from experience of its 

 beauty, but descriptions of it are very alluring. 

 The flowers are said to be large and borne in 

 racemes, the corolla waxy-white, pendulous, the 

 disk broad and surrounded by a bright orange 

 ring. If any of The Garden Magazine readers 

 have tried this Campanula successfully, I should 

 be very glad to know about it. 



The Neglect of the Abyssinian Primrose 



W. C. BLASDALE Be £, ley 



Yet This Easily Grown Plant Furnishes One of the Rarest 

 and Loveliest Color Harmonies in Its Yellow and Gray 





STRANGE that there should be an al- 

 most universal neglect of all but about 

 a half dozen of the one hundred and 

 fifty or more species of the genus Primula. 

 It is true that a large number of these are 

 either small or lacking in striking ornamental 

 features; others are alpine or bog-inhabiting 

 forms which demand unusual conditions for 

 their development; and many others require 

 greenhouse treatment; but even when these are 

 eliminated there remain at least a score which 

 would be distinctive and welcome additions to 

 our list of garden plants. 



Primula verticillata was first obtained from 

 Southern Arabia; a second form of it (P. Boveana) 

 was discovered somewhat later in certain local- 

 ties in Arabia and Abyssinia, and a third form, 

 the subject of these observations, was found on 

 the Symian Plateau of Abyssinia and given the 

 varietal name simensis. Similarity to the ortho- 

 graphy of P. sinensis (Chinese) led to some con- 

 fusion in the literature with the Chinese Primrose 

 and induced Vilmorin to rename the variety as 

 grandiflora, a suggestion which must be rejected 



Better Known But Not Better 



Lacking the color distinction Primula kewensis lacks also the 



graceful habit of the neglected Abyssinian plant 



by all who have an interest in maintaining a 

 stable nomenclature. 



P. verticillata simensis is the most desirable of 

 the three forms named and has been in cultiva- 

 tion, usually under the name of the Abyssinian 

 Primrose, since 1830. Young plants of it (as 

 shown in the accompanying photograph), consist 

 of a crown of lanceolate leaves about the size 

 and shape of the familiar Polyanthus, but covered 

 with a white indument, which is largely composed 

 of wax. When grown in strong light this indu- 

 ment is sufficiently dense to impart to both upper 

 and lower surfaces a nearly white color; when 

 grown in partial shade the upper surfaces are 

 very light green. With age a much contorted 

 and freely branched rootstock is developed which 

 creeps just above the surface of the ground. Ten- 

 year-old plants consist of a dense mat of such 

 rootstocks supporting a large number of crowns, 

 each of which at the flowering season produces 

 one central, and up to as many as four lateral 

 flowering stalks. Each of these is often fourteen 

 inches long and bears from two to four whorls of 

 lemon-yellow delicately perfumed flowers. 



The cultural conditions are not exacting. It 

 suffers but little from severe frosts in central 

 California, although young plants in wet situa- 

 tions are sometimes killed by repeated freezing. 

 It tolerates the dryness of air and soil which pre- 

 vail here better than the Polyanthus orTrue Prim- 

 rose, but like all shallow-rooted plants requires 

 occasional watering during the dry season. A 

 slight amount of shade during the warmer months 

 seems to give the best results, but magnificent 

 beds of it are easily grown under full exposure to 

 the sun if water is supplied somewhat freely. 

 The heavy black soils which predominate in this 

 locality are by no means unfavorable, but lighter 

 soils are to be preferred and are almost essential 

 to success when grown as a pot-plant. Seed is 

 produced in great abundance and I find no diffi- 

 culty in inducing these to germinate within three 

 weeks after sowing, even with seed which has 

 been allowed to dry for a year, in which respect 

 it forms a marked contrast to some of the species 

 of this genus. 



COME interest is also attached to this species 

 ^ in that it has been thought to be the male 

 parent of P. kewensis which has been somewhat 

 widely advertised, especially in European cat- 

 alogues and journals. The evidence upon which 



Waiting for Recognition 

 This lovely plant-pastel in gray and luminous lemon yellow 

 adds delicate fragrance and floral abundance to its other merits 



this connection is based is far from convincing, 

 and after careful observation of the two forms 

 here I fail to find any characters in P. kewensis 

 which clearly indicate the parentage by P. verti- 

 cillata simensis. It seems probable that the 

 former is merely a large-flowered form of P. flori- 

 bunda, and bears the same relation to it as the 

 large-flowered form of P. verticillata bears to the 

 originally discovered species. Finally as a desir- 

 able ornamental plant for out-of-door culture it 

 is decidedly to be preferred to the more widely 

 advertised P. kewensis. Although its flowering 

 period is shorter it produces much larger and finer 

 clusters of flowers and never assumes the weedy 

 form which characterizes P. kewensis after the 

 first growth of bloom has faded. The latter 

 also lacks the charming contrast and novelty 

 presented by its gray-green foliage, the sweet 

 perfume of its flowers, and the graceful habit of 

 growth which characterize the Abyssinian Prim- 

 rose. These statements form no valid reason 

 for neglecting the culture of P. kewensis, which, 

 especially as a pot-plant, possesses many desir- 

 able and attractive features. 



