For the rock garden, or a slightly elevated border, the dainty little birdseye primrose (Primula fannosa) is a valuable perennial. The blossoms are pinkish-lilac 
The Charming Hardy Primulas — By H. S. Adams, « c n ,l C ut 
FEW REALIZE HOW EASY IT IS TO GROW THE HARDY GARDEN PRIMROSES— FEWER STILL HAVE ANY IDEA 
OF THE VARIETY AND BEAUTY THAT THIS RACE OF PLANTS LENDS TO THE BORDER IN SPRINGTIME 
1 LIKE best my springtime flowers. But 
most of all I like the hardy primroses. 
They fairly lavish their beauty in the 
brief heyday of their late April and 
early May glory; they ask comparatively 
little care in return and they endure — some 
kinds from generation unto genera- 
tion. Truly they are “thankful” 
flowers. 
Years ago two kinds of hardy prim- 
ulas, the polyanthus (P. Polyantha) 
and the cowslip, or “sweet keys” (P. 
veris or officinalis), were common 
enough in the gardens of the North 
and a third, the oxlip (P. elatior), 
was plentiful in the gardens of the 
nearer South. The last I have found 
far better preserved in Virginia than 
either of the others in New England. 
Still I had no difficulty in securing all 
three when I began my primula col- 
lection. 
All told, I am now growfing eleven 
species of hardy primulas. The col- 
lection is by no means complete, but 
it comprises most of the best known 
kinds of easy culture and perhaps as 
many as the average flower lover 
ought to try to handle. Where I find 
more kinds, at any rate, I find also 
more pains of the sort that few ama- 
teurs have the time to expend. 
Of the eleven, the three mentioned 
are absolutely “iron clad,” though I 
have no complaint to make of the 
hardiness of any of the others. All 
endure cheerfully the wfinters of 
central Connecticut, and with little pro- 
tection. 
First the polyanthus. This sadly unap- 
preciated primrose is of obscure origin; some 
maintain that it is 1 a hybrid (from P. 
elatior), others that it is the common 
English primrose (P. vulgaris) with the 
flower stem developed into an umbel of 
bloom. Only this umbel distinguishes it 
from many of the hybrids of P. vulgaris 
and other stemless primroses; for all have 
run into a multitude of colors. A clear 
rich red is the best that I have, but my 
collection also includes five shades of 
maroon, salmon, cream, and yellow, as well 
as maroon, edged and laced with gold. The 
clear colors, to my mind, are the most desir- 
able for garden effect. 
The cowslip, or “sweet keys,” I have 
direct from an English pasture and from 
old New England gardens. There seems 
no perceptible difference between the im- 
mediate product of the wild and some of 
the plants that have generations of cultiva- 
tion behind them. Others are a deeper 
shade of yellow. I also have what I call 
red “sweet keys,” but maybe it is the old 
“hose-in-hose” polyanthus, though the 
blossoms in size and tendency to be 
pendant more closely resemble the 
cowslip. Be that as it may, the 
flower — in well established clumps — 
gives a gay bit of color to my borders 
every spring. These cowslips 
mainly for association. For 
sheer beauty they do not com- 
pare with the new hybrids — 
which are legion and easily 
grown from seed. Here the 
type yellow runs through lemon and 
orange to a beautiful brownish shade 
of the latter and I have one good red. 
Finally, most wonderful of all, is 
Primula veris superba. It appears 
to me a yellow polyanthus, rather 
than a giant cowslip; but I am not 
disposed to quibble over the specific 
name of this lovely flower of spring. 
I only wish that I had hundreds of 
them, instead of one. [The plant is 
clearly incorrectly named in the trade 
catalogues. It should, we fancy, be 
P. elatoir, var. superba. We have 
been to some trouble to trace out the 
history of this plant, which is also 
known in Canada under the name 
of P. Harry Mitchell. — Ed.] 
I rarely find the oxlip north of 
Virginia; there, every April, I get it 
a little ahead of my own garden date. 
Yet it is an exquisite flower, of a slightly 
deeper yellow than the common English 
primrose, of which and the cowslip it is 
a hybrid — long since recognized as a 
species. The oxlip looks not unlike a 
small flowered polyanthus, as the blos- 
soms are upright in the umbel, but the 
The oxlip (Primula elatior). which seems to partake of both the cowslip 
and the common English primrose. One of the best yellow flowers for the 
spring border 
205 
