May 30th, 1885. 
THE GARDENING WORLD, 
617 
JAPANESE PRIMROSES. 
Of all the beautiful plants which have been intro¬ 
duced into our gardens from Japan, through the 
enterprise of Messrs. Veitch and others, we know of 
none more useful, and few more beautiful, than 
Primula Sieboldi, and the splended varieties which 
have been raised from it, and yet comparatively 
speaking there are very few who grow them, though 
all who have a garden may easily do so. They are 
plants which any amateur who possesses a frame 
or two and a small greenhouse may grow with the 
greatest ease, and few more beautiful things will give 
a brighter display of flowers in spring. The sort of 
compost that Pelargoniums, Fuchsias, and such like 
a quick growth in early spring, and throw up fine 
trusses of flowers, which last for some time in perfec¬ 
tion. If not wanted too early, and we like ours to 
follow the Hyacinths and Tulips, let the frame be 
kept under a north wall or fence, and no difficulty will 
be experienced. As border flowers planted out and 
left to themselves, we have not had much experience 
of them, but they do well on a rockery if well cared 
for and protected with a small handlight in bad 
weather. 
Of the size and beautiful form of some of the 
newer varieties some idea may be gained from the 
accompanying illustration, prepared from flowers 
obtained from Mr. T. S. Ware. Their colours we can 
only describe as best we may, but to thoroughly 
rosy-crimson, is the deepest of all, and a beautiful 
flower. Blushing Bride is an exceedingly pretty 
fringed flower, white flushed with rose. Another 
fringed flower, large and of good form, is Harry, 
crimson and white; while of pure whites, none 
surpass Purity, a flower of good substance and fine 
form. 
-<>- gT - —s — 
ARDISIA CRENULATA. 
This most useful plant for the embellishment of 
rooms, the conservatory, or the stove, is seldom met 
with in private establishments, though for what 
reason it would be hard to say. It cannot certainly 
be through any want of merit, for well-grown and 
VARIETIES OF PRIMULA SIEBOLDI:—!. ROSEO STRIATA ; 2. GRANDIFLORA ALBA ; 3. MAGENTA QUEEN; 4. PURPLE QUEEN; 5. ROSEA ALBA; 6. LILACINA. 
florists’ flowers do well in, will suit Primula Sieboldi 
admirably, but if anything it should be made more 
gritty by adding coarse sand, and the pots must be 
well drained, for the plant is very impatient of exces¬ 
sive moisture, though dryness at the root at any time 
is inimitable to its well doing. If after flowering the 
plants are turned out of the pots, the crowns divided 
and planted in a fairly rich border, where they can 
receive a little attention during hot weather in the 
way of watering, strong plants will be obtained for 
potting up in the autumn. 
When the foliage has died down they should be 
put in a cold frame on a thick bed of ashes, and there 
remain until they commence to grow in spring, when 
we remove them to a shelf in the greenhouse, though 
they will do just as well in the frame, in which way 
they are always treated in the nurseries. They make 
appreciate the lovely hues found among them they 
must be seen, and in a good light. The varieties here 
illustrated are 1. Koseo striata, full rose colour, 
striped with white or very faint rose. 2. G v andiflora 
alba, snow-white. 3. Magenta Queen, magenta. 4, 
Purple Queen, purple. 5. Bosea alba, white or faint 
rose above, rosy-purple beneath. 6. Lilacina, purple 
streaked with white. Since seeing Mr. Ware’s 
collection we have seen a charming group of varieties 
raised by Mr. G. Geggie, Waterloo Nursery, Bury, and 
exhibited by him at the late National Horticultural 
Exhibition at Manchester. In the whole of the 
hardy herbaceous plant section—and these beautiful 
plants were -well represented—nothing stood out so 
conspicuously as Mr. Geggie’s Primulas, the plants 
being dwarf and well flowered, and unique as regards 
richness and novelty in colour. Brilliant, a rich 
well-berried plants will vie in beauty with any of the 
small ornamental-foliaged plants now so much used 
for decorative purposes. Introduced from the West 
Indies in the year 1809, it should by this time have 
become generally known and appreciated, and the 
only way one can account for its scarcity is, that it 
has been elbowed out to make place for newer, and 
perhaps less worthy subjects. I do not know of any 
berried plant better adapted for the centre of a dining 
table, or to furnish vases in rooms, nor one that will 
stand rough usage better than the Ardisia. 
The cultural requirements of the plant are of the 
simplest. It requires a stove temperature, and is 
raised from seeds, sown in sandy soil, the principal 
part of which is peat. As soon as the plants are 
large enough, they are potted up into small pots, and 
put in a light position. As soon as the plants have 
