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A very beautiful form that I bought from Aberconwy Nursery. Their label says: "Choice and beautiful pure white flowered form of this much loved plant for the rock garden or alpine house." Writing in the Journal of the Alpine Garden Society, Rannveig Wallis says: "As befitting a spring show there were many pots of Primula on the benches. One of the more unusual ones was P. marginata 'Casterino'. It gets its name from the valley in the Alpes Maritimes where it was found by an acquaintance of Harry Jans; it grows particularly well in the tufa rock face of his garden in Holland. The plant itself had the typical toothed leaves of the species, covered with a good coating of farina, while the short stems bear pure white flowers (many so-called white forms of It was given an Award of Merit when exhibited by Alan Furness at Lancaster (March 1999). When it was written up, Robert Rolfe said: "By coincidence, nearly every European primula shown to the Committee in March 1999 was white. Such was even the case with a clone of P. marginata, but unlike the indifferent white form that has loitered in cultivation for many a year, this had good sized (to 3cm diameter), clean white, thrum-eyed flowers held in umbels of two to four on short, erect stems coated in the same yellowish-white farina that is spread on the undulate, 4cm long leaves, and defines the irregularly dentate border with a white margin. The heart-shaped petals seldom overlap, save occasionally near the base, but are of good substance and well-formed. The specimen seen was a young one, the flower count at least doubling on mature specimens. There are few of these around at the moment, either here or even in the Netherlands, where the plant first arrived, having been selected in flower in the Vallon de Casterino, not so far from St. Dalmas de Tende in the French Maritime Alps. Thirty years ago (Bulletin 157:200) we published some notes on this locality, reporting that 'Primula marginata is here in quantity, varying to a great extent in colour from light blue to a rosy lavender with good forms heavily outnumbering the poor'. The late Bernard Wetzl made the lucky find in 1989, and only three years later, on a visit to England, Harry Jans brought over a couple of plants, which have now been propagated in a limited way (the figure countrywide is barely into three figures). There isn't any real difficulty in rooting the rosettes, which can be detatched in early spring and poked into the greenhouse sand plunge wherever a shady vacant spot can be found: increasing the numbers is being worked on. Harry grows his plants in a tufa wall without even winter covering. They grow well but slowly. Kept in the alpine house, larger plants can be built up, but it all takes time." (Apologies for the extensive quote, but the material is good). |
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| 1st May 2016 | ||
