Primrose and Polyanthus.
There are more than a hundred kinds of Primrose, or Primula; nearly all are hardy, and many grow in clusters on a single stalk. We are only going to tell you about the common Polyanthus, which grows in big clusters, and about the coloured garden Primrose, which is mostly found with single flowers, like the yellow Primrose of our fields and hedges. Perhaps you have heard of Peter Bell, and how
‘A Primrose by the river’s brim
A yellow Primrose was to him,
And it was nothing more.’
We have met many a Peter Bell, who stared at us in amazement when he saw us planting corners in a wild garden with what he considered hedgerow weeds.
But nowadays people who have gardens try to see with the poet’s eye, rather than with the eyes of a Peter Bell. In the moist, shady places of your garden you may plant Primroses and Polyanthuses in colonies, and leave them to grow into great clumps and to seed themselves. But the best of them, those that you want to increase, you must pull to pieces when they have done flowering, and plant out in a shady corner. When you take up a clump you will usually see that it divides easily into several plants. You need not be afraid to use a knife in some places. Our experience is that every bit will grow, provided it has a few roots and plenty of shade and moisture during the hot summer months. When autumn comes you will have increased your stock without expense, and can plant out your young ones wherever you want them. If you want blue Primroses, division is more certain than seed. But it is a most fascinating business to grow Primroses from a good strain of seed, and not too difficult for a child to manage. You must get one of the empty sweetmeat or fancy soap boxes so invaluable to gardeners, and ask someone to make half a dozen holes in the bottom with a gimlet, or even a nail. Put in broken crocks and fine moist earth, just as we told you to do for annuals; then sow and lightly cover your Primrose or Polyanthus seed, put your box in the shade, keep off slugs, and possess your soul in patience, for the seed takes a long while to germinate, and you may not see any tiny crinkled leaves for weeks. When you do see them you must wait till they are large enough to prick out, and even then we advise you to take them up carefully and keep the box of soil for a time, as backward seeds often come up later. Fresh seed will germinate more quickly than last year’s, so you can either buy a packet in June and wait some time for results, or you can sow your own ripe seed in August, in which case your little plants should be big enough by the end of November to survive an ordinary English winter. If you sow in June, you should be able to prick out a good many little plants in August (on a damp day), and these will be ready for a front border by the following spring. When you prick out put the little plants in rows three inches apart each way; choose a shady place, and look out for slugs. It may be necessary to dust with soot or lime. Primroses and Polyanthuses make a charming border, either by themselves or mixed with other hardy plants that flower in spring, such as Aubrietias, the yellow Alyssum, and Iberis; or they look well in clumps on a rockery. If you have a whole row of them in front of your border, you should, if possible, take them up when they have done flowering, and, if they are worth keeping, put them in some shady unseen corner through the summer months. The hot sun makes their leaves yellow and shabby-looking, and if you can shift them you can have a summer edging of some dwarf annual or bedding plant. For instance, when you take up your Primroses you can sow your Tom Thumb Nasturtiums, or, if you are near nurserymen, you can buy some dwarf Snapdragons or some blue Lobelias. We would never have a straight row of anything but Sweet-peas if we could help it, and in a mixed border such as yours even they would look better grown in the round clumps. But we warn you that this question of rows or clumps is a burning one, about which even the two authors of one book are not always agreed. You will have to fight it out with your garden and your gardening friends.