October, 
1917 
31 
INDOOR PRIMULAS FROM A TO Z 
The Ever Popular Primrose, a Leader in the Race for the Best Winter 
Blouse Plant—How to Raise It from Seed and Care for It in Maturity 
MARTHA HASKELL CLARK 
expensive 
T HE primula easily heads 
the list of winter-blooming 
house plants. In its diverse 
varieties it covers the entire 
gamut of flower color, and best of 
all, it is one of our most valuable 
house plants—the ever-accom¬ 
modating geranium not excepted 
—in its adaptability to all sorts 
of atmospheric conditions, and its 
extreme willingness to bloom and 
thrive in the hands of the veriest 
amateur gardener. 
Unfortunately for their popu¬ 
larity, the opinion prevails that 
primulas are short-lived plants, 
to buy, and difficult to raise. If the truth 
were only known, the exact opposite is the 
fact, on all three counts. 
It is true that primulas are expensive as 
bought full of bloom from a florist’s window. 
They also sound expensive to raise, as the 
seeds cost all the way from twenty-five cents 
to a dollar for an extremely small packet, 
according to the variety. 
Few amateurs choose to enter upon such a 
hazardous experiment as raising their own 
stock from seed and at the same time pay so 
highly for the privilege. Yet the culture is so 
simple, the proportion of seeds sure to germi¬ 
nate so large," and the demands of the growing 
seedlings so modest, that raising from seed is 
not only the least expensive method of procur¬ 
ing a large stock of plants, but is full of interest 
for the flower lover. So many charming and 
unusual shades of color will be found in a 
batch of mixed seedlings that this forms an 
additional recommendation for the seed-sow¬ 
ing method of propagation. 
Growing from Seed 
The seeds should be sown thinly in seed 
pans about the end of February. They ger- 
One of the many species is P. acaulis, 
sometimes classed as P. vulgaris. It 
runs into various forms and colors 
Primulas form one of the really large 
flower families. Upward of 300 species 
are now recognized, about half of which 
are in China, seventy-odd in the Hima¬ 
layan region, and practically all the rest 
in Japan, North America, Europe and 
Eurasia. Only one is found native in 
South America. Further collecting in 
the China-Himalaya-Thibet region will 
doubtless discover many more sorts. 
Generally speaking, primulas are bo¬ 
real or alpine plants, many of them 
growing naturally at extremely high alti¬ 
tudes. For this reason the number of 
species adapted to average cultural con¬ 
ditions is restricted. 
Far more interest in primulas is taken 
in Great Britain than here in the United 
States. A large number of species are 
in cultivation there, the majority of them 
as fanciers’ subjects. 
minate very unevenly, the first 
plants appearing in ten days or 
two weeks, but new plants spring 
up till as late as the first of June. 
I find it unsafe from my own 
experience to discard the seed 
pans until then. As soon as the 
first true primula leaves have 
formed, the little plants should 
be lifted carefully and trans¬ 
planted into thumb pots. They 
will require one more transplant¬ 
ing into their summer quarters 
about the first of July. These 
may be 3" or 4" pots; if the latter, 
the plants are flowered in them without further 
shifting being necessary. 
During the summer the seedlings should be 
kept outdoors in a shady place and watered as 
needed. Early in September they may be 
transferred into the pots in which they are to 
bloom. The best soil is a rather sandy loam 
mixed with leaf mold. This can be procured 
from the florist, or dug by oneself in the 
woods. Any rich black soil where ferns 
flourish will be just the thing. The little 
plants may be left out-of-doors until danger 
of frost is expected. 
The commonest forms of primula for house 
culture are rich in white, red, rose, lavender 
and blue shades, but completely lacking in 
yellow. Two primulas, Floribunda and 
Kewensis, the former an old standby and the 
latter a new introduction, may be used to 
supply this color. But for yellow-flowering 
primroses I, personally, like nothing so well 
as the hardy garden varieties of which the 
Polyanthus, variously advertised as Primula 
veris and Primula elatior, is rich in yellow and 
orange shades though it also contains rose, 
white, bronze, brown, blue and many striped 
and edged varieties. 
(Continued on page 76) 
Obconica is the freest 
flowering type of the 
primulas best adapted to 
indoor cidture. The flow¬ 
ers are about 1" across 
and are borne profusely 
4 s house plants for win¬ 
ter bloom the primulas 
easily head the list in 
point of variety and 
adaptability to many dif¬ 
ferent atmospheric con¬ 
ditions 
