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An attractive form of Primula japonica that I first met in 1980. Thirty years later I got around to growing some from seed from the Hardy Plant Society. Writing in the Journal of the Alpine Garden Society in 2009, Robert Rolfe says: "Since its origins are so seldom mentioned, the following passage from Gardening Illustrated, dated January 27th 1940, has been unearthed. The writer signs him or herself only as B. 'I was asked the other day how the various colour forms of Primula japonica originated. I could not answer the question. The type plant was a vivid magenta shade, but how did the other colours come ... for instance, the wonderfuly pure white as shown by Mr G. H. Dalrymple at Chelsea called 'Postford White'. He told me that all he knew about it was that the previous owner ot tennant of Postford House had told him of it, given him some seed of it, and that he himself had given it this name' This puts the probable origin back at least to the 1930s, or perhaps the 1920s. In the early years of the century, a number of related (Section Proliferae) primulas were sent to Britain, and hybrids were raised, or else occurred spontaneously. P. japonica came earliest of all, in 1870, long before the popular name "candelabra" was proposed for these primulas, by Balfour in 1913 at a Primula Conference. An early description has 'Postford White' as 'a very robust plant with tall stout scapes, tinged with purple often, and bearing several tiers of large, pure white flowers with a yellow eye. Seedlings of this variety come perfectly true from seed'." |
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| 1980 | ||
