‘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.
Delphinium, or Larkspur.
Everyone who grows any herbaceous plants grows some Delphiniums, because they make a fine background, and are such lovely shades of blue. Mr. Robinson says they range from one to nine feet high, but we think yours will probably be from three to four feet high, and that you should put them at the back of your border, with white Lupins, Starworts, and Evening Primroses. They flower in June and July, and make large clumps if left undisturbed for several years. There are two ways of prolonging their flowering season. You can cut off each flower before it begins to form seed-pods, or you can cut down the whole plant when its leaves begin to look shabby, and let it start afresh, as it did in the spring. But this would exhaust your plant if you did not give it extra food; so if you cut it down, it should have a little liquid manure. A teaspoonful of Clay’s Fertilizer to a gallon of water would do very well. Delphiniums like manure, but they will grow in almost any soil, and are easy to raise from seed—at least, the seed germinates easily. They can be sown in May if you buy the seed, or in August if you wait for your own to ripen. You sow them in a box, and prick them out when large enough to handle. When they are a year old they begin to flower, but a plant does not make a good clump till it is two or three years old. The culture of Delphiniums would present no difficulties if slugs were not so fond of them. In some gardens it is almost impossible to grow these beautiful flowers, because the slugs devour both the seedlings and the young shoots of the older plants the moment they appear. You must not put them in places where slugs can hide easily and come out at night to feed. If you want to increase your stock by division, you should do it either in spring or in damp summer weather, about a fortnight after you have cut your plant down. The autumn is not a good time. If you live in a cold climate you should give your Delphiniums a little protection in winter, but this is not necessary in most parts of England. Anyhow, when spring comes and open weather, take care that your covering of dead bracken or manure is not protecting slugs.
Papaver Orientale, or Oriental Poppy.
Papaver Orientale and its variety Papaver Bracteatum are the biggest of all Poppies. The flowers are brilliant scarlet, with a deep purple-black spot at the base of each petal. If you gather the buds just as they are about to burst, they will live in water for several days. After the plants have flowered they should be cut down, and they will reappear in the autumn. They have long tap-roots that are easily injured, but where they flourish they spread laterally—that is, they send up young plants at the side. These you can take up. Whenever a plant has a root like a carrot, it is called a ‘tap-root,’ and you must be careful not to break it. Poppies are easily raised from seed, but the plants will not flower till they are two years old. When you take up your seedlings, remove each one with as much earth as possible, and plant it where it is to remain.
Irises.
Roughly speaking, Irises may be divided into two classes—those you grow from bulbs, and those that have rhizomes, or creeping stems. The bulbous Irises are often called Xiphions, and will not be considered in this chapter. There is a great variety amongst those that have rhizomes, or stems. They vary a good deal as to the soil and conditions they require. Some like damp, some hate it; some want stiff soil, some a light one; manure that feeds one Iris will poison another; and as for their blooming season, it extends throughout the year if you have a large collection. The Iris is sometimes called the ‘poor man’s Orchid,’ because it can be grown without trouble or expense, and has such beautiful and curious flowers. We will tell you the names of a few that you can get at any good nursery garden; but before you plant them you must consider that each kind is only in flower for a short time, and that for the greater part of the year a clump of Irises is a clump of sword-like leaves. They are sometimes placed amongst roses or in front of shrubs. The best known of all is the Iris Germanica, or German Flag. There are many varieties, and there is hardly a garden in or near London without some clumps of it, for even in soot and smoke it will increase and flower. The beautiful white, pale mauve Florentine Iris is the French Fleur-de-lis, and was freely planted in English gardens when the Bourbons were restored in 1830. It increases rapidly, and is easy of cultivation. Iris Stylosa is one of the most valuable, because it flowers in winter, and is very fragrant. Then, some of the dwarf Irises are most beautiful, and should have a corner in front of your border or on your rockery. Iris Pumila or its varieties grow some inches high, and flower in spring. Iris Olbiensis and Iris Chamæris belong to this group, and in warm localities flower at the end of April or early in May. These kinds all thrive best in an open, warm situation. Irises are easily divided in the autumn, but each piece should have an eye to grow from, a little knot or knob that is on the rhizomatous root. If you want your Irises indoors, you should gather them in bud, and arrange them and some of their leaves in a bowl, with the help of some soft lead and a few stones. You can get the Japanese lead at most big shops now for a few pence, but any ironmonger could supply you with strips of thin sheet-lead. A pennyworth of copper wire twisted into a tangle is even better, but this is not so generally known.