Primroses The Quarterly of the American Primrose Society Summer 2018 Vol. 76 No. 3 OFFICERS Rhondda Porter, President Primroses 3604 Jolly Roger Crescent Pender Island, BC V0N 2M2 [email protected] The Quarterly of the Elizabeth Lawson, Vice President American Primrose Society 115 Kelvin Place Ithaca, NY 14850 [email protected] Volume 76 No 2 Summer 2018 Michael Plumb, Secretary 3604 Jolly Roger Crescent Pender Island, BC V0N 2M2 The purpose of this Society is to bring the [email protected] people interested in Primula together in an Jon Kawaguchi, Treasurer organization to increase the general knowledge 3524 Bowman Court of and interest in the collecting, growing, Alameda, CA 94502 breeding, showing and using in the landscape DIRECTORS and garden of the genus Primula in all its forms Through 2018… .Amy Olmsted and to serve as a clearing house for collecting 421 Birch Road Hubbardton VT 05733 and disseminating information about Primula. amy [email protected] Ed Buyarski Contents P.O. Box 33077 Juneau, AK 99803-3077 The View from Here by Rhondda Porter .3 [email protected] Trevor Cole Obituary ...................................4 Through 2019....Julia Haldorson A Small Shining Treasure: Primula Membership P.O. Box 292 juliae alba by Robin Hansen....................5 Greenbank, WA 98253 Seeds by Jane Guild ......................................7 [email protected] Cyrus Happy Obituary .................................9 Merrill Jensen Primula Old and New, A Talk by Jim c/o Jensen-Olson Arboretum 23055 Glacier Highway Jermyn, Notes by Maedythe Martin .. 10 Juneau, AK 99801 Primulas at the Show at the West Coast 12 [email protected] National Show ............................................ 21 Through 2020……..Cheri Fluck 22675 SW Chapman Rd, Wing A National Show Winners ............................ 22 Sherwood, OR 97140 New England Show ................................... 23 [email protected] New England Show Winners ................... 24 Mark Dyen 2018 NAPS Midlands & West Shows 132 Church Street Newton, MA 02158 by Susan Haddock ............................... 25 [email protected] Minutes May 20, 2018 ............................... 28 New Members ............................................ 31 Officers of the Chapters ........................... 31 Credits: Photos and text reproduced with permission. Front Cover: National Show Winners (photo: Amy Olmsted) Back Cover: Primula juliae alba (photo: Maedythe 2 Martin) American Primrose Society Summer 2018 Primroses Editor The View from Here Jane Guild 2546 Wentwich Road Victoria, BC V9B 3N4 Canada [email protected] RHONDDA PORTER Editorial Committee Maedythe Martin Judith Sellers Michael Plumb The season of alpine and Primula shows has Alan Lawrence Joan Hoeffel drawn to a close. Exhibitors have looked at Editorial Deadlines their entry cards for comments from the Winter issue - October 15 judges for tips on how to improve their Spring issue - January 15 Summer issue - April 15 chances of earning a ribbon or two at next Autumn issue - July 15 year’s show or have smiled at a glowing © American Primrose Society 2018 comment which went along with their prize Primroses (ISSN 0162-6671)is published by the American Primrose, ribbon. For those of us who are already Primula and Auricula Society. All material printed in the quarterly, dedicated “primulaphiles” the shows are except as noted is copyright by APS. confirmation that we are growing some of No part may be reproduced without permission of APS. Manuscripts for the most interesting and beautiful plants publication are invited, thought there is no payment. Send articles, possible. preferably in Microsoft Word, directly to the editor. There is another group of people that alpine Photographs are credited and used only with the permission of the and Primula shows attract: the curious. photographer. Photos submitted to Without shows many people would only the editor are preferred in 300 dpi digital format but other images can be know primroses from those that appear each accepted. Any material used that has previously appeared elsewhere is spring in grocery, hardware, and big box properly credited and used with the permission of the original publisher stores or nurseries. Shows are a chance for and/or creditor. Primula enthusiasts to encourage people to Membership in the Society includes a subscription to Primroses, Seed try their hand at growing some of the many Exchange privileges, password to the wonderful, easy to grow varieties that are members’ only section of the APS website (including the Pictorial generally available either as plants or as seeds Dictionary). from our annual seed exchange. Dues for individual or household membership, domestic, and Canada are: However, these shows would not be held at $25 per calendar year $70 for three years all except for the all the work done by the Overseas rates are: $32 per calendar year group which hosts and organizes the event, $90 for three years. often with lectures, garden visits and plant Membership renewals are due November 15 and are delinquent sales. This year a special “Thank You!” goes January 1. Submit payment to the Treasurer at the first of the year. out to the Juneau Chapter which organized Advertising per issue: and hosted the 2018 National Show. The Black and White: Full page $100 president and his many volunteers should be Half page $60 congratulated for putting on an excellent Quarter page $30 Eighth page: $15 show. In addition to the Primula show which Color: Half page $150 was open to the public, there were lectures, Full page $300 plant sales, opportunities for socializing, and Back Cover $450 Contact the Treasurer for details 3 wonderful food for everyone who purchased tickets for the sold-out three-day event. This issue of Primroses contains reports on three shows: the American Primrose Society National Show, the New England Chapter show, and the Vancouver Rock and Alpine Garden Society show. As a bonus there is show report on a British Primula show. For those who didn’t make it to a show this year, there is always next year. Look for announcements of shows in the Quarterly, on the website, and on the APS Facebook page. TREVOR COLE (B. 20 APRIL 1934, D. 31 DEC 2017) Prior to immigrating to Canada from England, Trevor trained at Kew Gardens, where he met his future wife Brenda. He moved to Canada in 1967, where he continued his career in horticulture. He worked at the Central Experimental Farm in Ottawa from 1967 until 1995 when he retired as the last Curator of the Dominion Arboretum. In addition to his work at the Dominion Arboretum, Trevor was a prolific non-fiction author and editor specializing in gardening topics. He wrote a column for the Ottawa Citizen and was a consultant for Reader's Digest in Canada. He was recognized internationally for his work in horticulture and garden writing. In addition to his work as an author (“Gardening with trees and Shrubs in Ontario, Quebec, and the Northeastern U.S.” and "The Ontario Gardener"), he edited many gardening books for publishers including Readers Digest (Care Free Plants) and Dorling Kindersley (A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants). Trevor was a Life member of the American Primrose Society and supported the APS through his articles for the quarterly “Primroses” and through the donation of his extensive slide collection of Primula to the society. 4 American Primrose Society Summer 2018 A SMALL SHINING TREASURE: PRIMULA JULIAE ALBA ROBIN HANSEN I was recently given a plant of Primula juliae alba, and not having been aware that there is a white form of this little primrose, I started trying to find out more about it. Jay Lunn, from whom it came, said it had come from a friend who received it from Rick Lupp, proprietor of the now closed Mt. Tahoma Nursery in Mt. Vernon, Washington. I could find no reference to a white form in John Richard’s Primula, 1st edition, nor anywhere else but on the APS website. Sources seem to agree that the species was discovered by Julia Mloskosewitsch in the Eastern Caucasus around 1900. Holubec and Krivka in their The Caucasus and Its Flowers describe its habitat as wet rocks in forests but also in the alpine zone along streams in shady canyons up to 2600 meters (8500 feet), specifically endemic to eastern Georgia, Azerbaijan and Dagestan. But they, as with other sources, make no mention of a white form. They state that it prefers cold places with humus-rich soil. According to Maedythe Martin, she bought hers at the Hortlandia sale from the local rock gardening group. This sale is held every year in Portland, Oregon. She thinks it might have been around the Seattle/ Portland area for a couple decades, probably from Rick Lupp. Rick says the white form which he used to offer showed up in a batch of seedlings which he grew at his nursery and believes the seed came from Euro Seed. In comparing Primula juliae with the white form, it’s clearly not a hybrid, in my opinion, so I’ll have to speculate that this color is perhaps only occurring in cultivation. Primula juliae alba is an absolutely flat growing, dark green-leaved cutie with almost crystaline snow white flowers; it’s almost unknown except by the lucky few who have received it from other Primula lovers. My single plant came from Jay Lunn in Portland. I’ve been growing the magenta form for years although I tried to kill it this past summer by not watering it properly in the shade house. It does not form clumps but spreads gently by rhizomes. As it is barely one-half to one inch in height, it needs to be placed in areas where it can be kept moist and 5 not have much competition, and it really needs to be visible so you won’t forget where it is! From personal experience, regular watering is essential, along with light fertilizer.