ARKELY is a flower family so vast and varied as to possess 
at once a quiet friendliness, gentle loveliness, and exotic 
beauty. Nor is it often that a genus contains some of the 
oldest cultivated plants and some of the newest floral finds— 
indeed, many still await the collector’s hand. Men began 
singing of Primroses long before Elizabethan bards immor- 
talized the flower. And on the other side of the world in the 
upper reaches of Asia, these flowers—in different shapes and 
colors, yet Primroses—were used in ceremonies designed to 
satisfy the same heart promptings as those of their western 
brothers. 
There is a peculiar fascination about Primroses, or 
Primulas to use their correct name. In habit, form, color and 
scent, they have a charm which increases the more they are 
grown and studied, a charm which no familiarity can render 
stale. “They girdle the world, for there is hardly a woodsy or 
mountainous section of the north temperate zone which is 
not glorified by their presence. In England the Primrose 
blooms weeks before the first swallow returns, in northern 
Kurope and in the European Alps, the Balkans, Turkey, the 
Caucasus, Iran, Afghanistan, India, Tibet, Upper Burma, 
western China, Japan, Korea and Siberia, the Aleutians, 
Alaska, and the heights of the United States, Primulas in 
various forms and colors deck the landscape from the time of 
melting snows to mid-summer. 
The particular areas which harbor Primulas have a condi- 
tion in common which provides the key to successful culture. 
Moisture in every form is present from the time the plants 
begin to bloom until dormancy approaches in the fall. In 
addition to showers, storms, fog, dew, the summer monsoon 
in Asia, melting snows. and sub-irrigation, Primulas almost 
always seek the coolest spots in the shade of rocks, in crevic- 
es, along streams, in thin woods, under shrubs, and in tall 
grasses. Give Primroses water during their blooming season 
if not provided by Nature; give them water during their grow- 
ing season which immediately follows the blooming period 
and continues throughout the summer and early fall; put 
them in your coolest garden spot; give them small amounts of 
sun by placing them in the shade of deciduous trees or in oth- 
er semi-shady situations; plant them in positions which catch 
the morning but not the afternoon sun; give them rich, 
loamy, well-drained soil and there will be no doubt of your 
success. Some of the most beautiful Primroses are found 
