WHILE buds open and leaves expand I find myself totting up the losses, not just the plants which may have succumbed to winter frosts - in some cases it is still too early to say whether some things may make efforts towards recovery, but the plants which gave up in the drought of last summer.
At the time, the elegant Ostrich Plume Fern by the stream side, then reduced to a grey dusty stoney strip, looked very sad and distressed. That distress was genuine and very few ferns have reappeared this spring. I console myself and say that it was really not such a high price to pay for blissful blue skies and unending sunshine. Then my eye settles on patches of primula - at least what should be cosy little drifts of candleabra primula - and there is not much joy there either. Even the drumstick primula are reduced to a pathetic few.
The latter Primula denticulata was always reliable, so much so that I was inclined to dismiss it as commonplace. "Serves you right," the few surviving drumsticks are thinking. We should never take even the simplest things for granted. For years they had been left to their own devices, seeding around and increasing a colony of drumstick-like blooms in white, lavender and purple. Good gardeners no doubt divided their stocks every few years, moving then on into rich, retentive soil where they could increase happily.
Allowing myself to be preoccupied with more exotic and more ambitious things, the primula were ignored apart from an approving nod in April and early May. Now I must patiently start anew with seed and a few surviving plants, not even enough to equip a small band at this stage.
Sadder is the demise of so many of the candleabras. These primula from China and Japan, as well as their many hybrids, had been reliable for years and years. Accorded VIP treatment compared with that dished out to the drumsticks, they had been increased to respectable stands. The pale pink "Bartley Strain" with whorls of flowers arranged up the stem in five or six tiers often drew admiring comments from visitors. "That is very scarce in Britain, gardeners from the neighbouring island would say while I allowed a self"satisfied smile. From now on I can tell them how very scarce it is here!
The first of the candleabras is already flowering Primula pulverulenta. Late it is this year and much too patchy for complacency. This one always liked to seed around generously so that chores like dividing and replanting were unnecessary. On the stream bank it provided a strong crimson purple accent with only a modicum of effort on my part.
Like the drumsticks, these like retentive boil and a stream is not necessary for their cultivation. But obviously watering during extreme drought is a must. For that intensity of colour I will make a special effort, as I will for the few candleabras which originated in Irish gardens.
Primula "Rowallane Rose", which was named for the Co Down garden, had always been a robust grower. Fine fat rosettes of leaves supported stems two to three-feet high with whorls of, flowers in rosy red. Each floret has a yellow eye. For the month of June the stems stood resplendent.
BEING sterile, increase was by division in September or October, every three years each rosette being divided and planted into newly-dug and enriched ground. Like many another thing these were forgotten about once flowering was over last summer and the ration of water was reserved for more immediate candidates. Some rosettes remain, with bleak barren patches separating them, to mind me of the transient glory of the garden. There will be flowers again in June but their sparseness will make them more precious.
Along with drought the vine weevil must have taken a toll. The weakened roots of many primula under stress must have been easy prey. But like the monkeys who had no truck whatsoever with evil I feign ignorance of vine weevil. I neither acknowledge their presence or resort to, wiles with them, preferring to believe in good busbandry and good cultivation. If I allowed myself more intimate knowledge of the vine weevil could become a neurotic wreck.
Meanwhile there are lots of other nice exotic primulas to be tried as young plants or from seed. The trick will be to stay a step ahead of the drought and the vine weevil. A nice challenge.