The Auricula

by George Glenny

The following is reprinted from the Summer 1980 issue of Primroses. The original work first appeared in “The Culture of Flowers and Plants”, about 1835.

It will be seen that by simple culture the auricula can be kept in good health and bloomed in something bordering on perfection; that there may be, by close observation, and judicious experiments on valueless plants, some improvement made in time, we do not dispute; that some of the nostrums recommended so indefinitely by our predecessors, may have produced effects pleasing to them, we have no doubt; but we have yet to learn whether our forefathers were good judges of the properties which we now value; whether, in fact, they did not fall into the error into which some of our younger growers even now fall, and value size, without considering the coarseness as a blemish, is to us doubtful. Indeed, so far as our experience goes back, (which is something like thirty-five years,) the first pair of auriculas in a show was always the largest; and even in our young days we have seen much more beauty and symmetry in the stands that have been placed low or rejected altogether, than we have in the winning blooms. It would be difficult to say how often we have seen very coarse specimens of Cockup’s Eclipse, Grimes Privateer, Lancashire Here, and such like, win first prizes against what in our estimation were better flowers. We are, therefore, confirmed at present in our opinion, that taking colour, neatness, health of plant and general properties into consideration, we prefer very much the flowers we have seen grown under the treatment we have recommended, as far superior to those which have been grown stronger, longer, and (for we never saw an exception) coarser. Some of these days we may discover a liquid manure that may, by application at the time the flowers are expanding, increase the beauty and brighten the colours; but were we to begin growing to-morrow, it would be on the principals we have here laid down; for the more simple the compost and general management the better. We now proceed to give the treatment which we have always observed from month to month; and as we must begin the year, we are to presume that the plants are all in their frames, in the compost we have recommended; that there are offsets round the edges of pots, struck and not struck root, as the case may be, others singly in the smallest pots, and plants of all sizes upwards, to those in the smallest show pots, which are size forty-eight, and those in the larger ones, size thirty-two; besides which, we are to suppose there are seedlings of one season and upwards, all requiring the attention peculiar to their several states. We commence then with…

January

 As there is danger of frost this month, and it is not desirable to get them frozen, it is necessary to keep coverings ready for use, and to cover the last thing at night, however mild it may be; but the milder the weather, the later ought they to be covered up; the morning frost frequently come without any previous indication. If the weather be mild in the mornings and through the day, although the ground may be frozen, the plants may have air all the warmer part of the day. It must be observed too, that the plants will require watering but seldom, indeed, while there is any moisture in the soil they ought not to have any; they might, until the end of the month, be almost allowed to flag before they have it, but there must be no tampering with water; weather they have it once a month, or once in three months, they must have enough to wet all their compost alike. There is nothing more dangerous than partial watering, and we were going to say, nothing more frequently given, sprinklings that hardly go an inch into the soil, and leave all the upper portions dry as dust; the consequence is, not with these only, but all other plants, that the top fibers get a little nourishment, while the principal get none, and the plant is checked too often fatally. If they will do without, let them; but when you give it, let it be enough to go through; and all waterings should be with a fine rose, so that they may require several times going over before the soil is well wet. As a general rule, they should have all the air that can be given, whenever the weather is sufficiently mild; but in north or east winds of any strength, they are better only tilted on the side, away from the blowing point. This treatment is still good for offsets, seedlings, and the old blooming plants. The frame should occasionally be emptied and swept out, and the plants re-turned, for it clears away vermin and the eggs of vermin; and besides, keeps the plants and pots clean, and as they are re-turned, the holes should be examined, and the pots rubbed round with the hand to clear away any dirt.

February

 In this month, and in the next, the plants for blooming should be all top dressed. The surface should be stirred with a blunt piece of wood, so as to loosen as much as you can without disturbing the fibers, and the loose stuff thrown out. The top-dressing should be rich. If you have good well rotted poultry-dung, you may add one-forth of it, one forth of cow dung also rotted, and two-fourths, or half, of clean sand. These, well mixed together, make a first-rate top-dressing; but in the absence of poultry-dung, you may use two-thirds cow-dung and one-third sand. This must be put on the top, to fill the pot to the rim; but previous to putting it on, the dead and decaying leaves must be carefully removed by pressing them, or rather tearing them downward, bearing at the same time a little sideways. When they are all filled up as proposed, they are to be returned to their frames, and have the benefit of shading for a day or two, and a gentle, but nevertheless, proper watering. The foliage as well as the soil should be watered, so that a fine rose and a light hand should imitate a gentle shower of rain; and if there happen to be a mild shower, they may have the benefit of it, for it is not to be presumed that any watering is so good as they would receive from two or three hours’ gentle rain; for this reason, we should not be in a hurry to water after top-dressing, until it began to get rather dry, for if it were to get very dry, the water would hardly soak in. The plants will begin to grow fast towards the end of the month, if the weather be at all genial, and will require additional care to keep from frost, by timely and efficient covering. The seedlings in pans will be greatly helped by stirring the earth between them. All seedlings coming forward enough to bloom even in their small pots, should be top-dressed, as well as the regular blooming plants, for they want the stimulus which the removal of the spent earth and the substitution of good rich compost never fails to give, and they will be greatly assisted by the operation; nor will any of the pots of offsets be the worse for similar treatment, as the earth will be generally found a good deal sunk or settled down in the pot, and sometimes the surface foul, or mossed over. Stirring a little, and throwing out the top, and substituting fresh rich compost, will give an extra strength to the growth, and be of use in forming good plants for a future time.

March

 The plants are now growing fast, and before the end of the month many trusses will be showing. Of course, any that are not already top-dressed, must be set to rights, without delay, as directed last month. Care must be taken now, that the hearts of the plants do not fill with dust or water after pips show, for dust would stain the flowers, and wet, for any continuance, would injure the mealy powder which forms so conspicuous a portion of the surface of the bloom. In watering, therefore, the greatest care must be taken to avoid wetting the foliage, or washing the dirt up into the plant, until the truss rises up, when there is not so much danger, for a gentle rain will not hurt the pips, nor the ordinary watering of a very fine rose; but when it is considered that the powder which characterizes the flowers and leaves of this plant is easily displaced, it must be obvious, that while the truss is down in the heart, wet and dirt must be fatal to what might otherwise be a good bloom. If there be any plants on which you are depending for a strong flower, and the offsets are not an object, remove, at once, any that may be growing out of the stem, by cutting them away with a sharp knife, before they have become large enough to rob the parent plants of any part of their nourishment, because, if an off-set takes to healthy growth, it seriously affects the bloom any time before it is matured. If, on the other hand, you are depending on increase, and can spare the bloom, pick off all the pips, and earth up the off-sets, which will cause them to grow more rapidly, and strike down roots. Seedlings will, in some instances, be blooming even this month. As soon as you can ascertain that they are not better than we have, get rid of them, either by throwing or giving them away, or selling them, for as the only object of raising seedlings is to get better than we have, all that do not answer that description are totally worthless to the growers of collections. Seed may be sown this month in large pots, of similar earth to that in which they are grown. We prefer large pots to seed-pans, because the greater body of earth keeps more uniformly moist than the shallow pans will allow it to keep. This should be leveled an inch below the top, and the remainder should be sifted through a fine sieve. The pot should be gently bumped on the table, to settle the earth down a little, and then leveled with a strike, so as to be even with the top edge of the pot; on this, sprinkle the seed properly. This must be placed in the frame along with the plants, and before the earth is dry at the top, let it be watered with a fine rose, so fine as that the wet may fall like dew, for it is absolutely necessary that there be not a grain of earth or seed disturbed. It is the best way to use one of the patent syringes, with the finest rose that is made, and to throw the water up, that it may descend without any force whatever, and in so light a shower, that it can disturb nothing. It must be watered enough to wet the whole body of earth, for frequent waterings are not desirable; this will sink the whole body below the edge of the pot, and a flat glass may be placed on it, when you are giving the plants air, but it must not receive the whole heat of the sun.

April

 The trusses of the rising blooms must now be attended to. Those which are to be nursed for their blooms, must, as soon as they begin to open, be placed apart from each other, by tucking bits of soft moss, or lint, (the former, however, is far the better) between the foot-stalks, so as to place the pips a sufficient distance from each other to open freely without touching; and any pips that are coming deformed, or too weak to open the size of the rest, or too much advanced to keep while the others overtake them, may be removed with sharp pointed scissors or tweezers, and great attention must be paid, that none of those which are to remain get damaged in the operation. When the colours become pretty clear in the budding pips, and they begin to open our well, those intended to exhibition should be removed to a warm sheltered spot, and be placed under hand-glasses, on a table or bench, if convenient; but if not, on a very clear spot of ground, out of the way of wind and dust. Water must be administered freely while the blooms are advancing, for they require a good deal of nourishment, to give them size and colour, and character; and would be seriously checked, if allowed to want it. Care must be taken to cover from frost. The hand-glass out to stand of four flower pots reversed, and placed at the corners, of a proper height to let the edge of the glass down an inch below the edges of the pots in which the plants are; but in windy weather, it will be necessary to cover mats on the windy side, and the sun must be kept off, by light a cloth or calico as can be had, for light is of great service in bringing out the colours. Continue to reject seedlings that are useless, and to pick off the pips of small plants that you wish to grow well, as the blooming will retard them. Attend well to watering seedlings and small plants, as the smaller the pot the sooner they dry, and the plants suffer accordingly. Take off dead leaves, and occasionally clean out the frames. The examination of the plants blooming for show, should be frequent, because the blooms arranged one day, may, by their own growth, displace some of the moss, and they will require very frequent adjustment, for by means of the moss, properly attended to, the flowers will be grown into their proper position, and want no dressing on the day of the show, but merely removing the moss.

May

 The treatment should in all respects be similar to last month, for the greater part of April, and more than half of May, gives us blooming specimens in every stage, from just opening to the perfect flower; but as some of the early ones will gone off the bloom, you may place them in a frame by themselves, in a shady situation, and allow them to receive a moderate share of genial rain, but cover them against violent falls, and in stormy weather. Those who intend saving seed should remove half-a-dozen choice varieties, whose properties they wish to amalgamate, and place them under a hand-glass, supported by pots a few inches from the ground. The plants to select should be one season potted, and they should be taken before the pips are forward enough to be fertilized. As soon as they show well enough to enable us to distinguish perfect from imperfect pips, those most perfect in each truss should be selected for seed, and the remainder be picked off. The number of pips to leave on, may be determined by the quality; if there are two or three equally good, two or three may be retained; if there be one better than the rest, that one alone should be kept. These plants must be refreshed with water, and may be uncovered, to receive the benefit of a mild shower, but the glass should be placed over them at night; and if there should be any indication of frost, a mat, also, that will reach to the ground, as frost might prevent them from seeding. Some would take the trouble to fertilize them artificially, but this is a matter of fancy. To do this the anthers must be removed, before they burst, from the one to be impregnated, and then, with a camels hair brush, take the powder from some fine pip of the sort whose properties are required to be imparted to the seedlings, and take it to the plant to be seeded. If the pistil is in a condition to receive the pollen, it will take it from the camel’s hair pencil or brush freely: by this means your best pips on all the selected plants may be impregnated with the pollen taken from the best pips in the whole collection; and thus something like a chance of a fine race of seedlings will be secured, as far as our means of providing for it enables us to do so. It is well to study that properties are required by any particular variety to improve it, and to apply the pollen of a flower possessing that quality. The depriving of the plants of some of their buds will increase the strength of those left, and augment the chances of producing good seed; and, confining the selected plants to those with some good property, and fertilizing with others of known other good properties, will afford reasonable hope of saving a little seed of first-rate excellence, and producing plants of a desirable quality.

June

 The plants, as they have done blooming, may be placed in a frame, in a shady situation, as before directed; and as no seed may be required from the general collection, the whole of the pips may be picked off, but the stem ought not to be broken; they must be watered occasionally, or be allowed to have rain, and be uncovered altogether, except in stormy weather, and especially when the wind is boisterous. They may suffer from too much wet; but if the bottom of the frame is impervious to water, and will allow it to run off, there will be little danger. Yellow leaves must from time to time be picked off, and the drainage examined; for at this period the soil is apt to work down among the crocks, and even fill up the holes in the bottom, in which case the soil remains too wet for the health and proper growth of the plants. Water seedlings occasionally, and where there are fresh sown ones up, as soon as they are large enough to handle well, prick them out into fresh pots an inch apart, to grow into strength. Seedlings that have been growing in this state until they nearly touch, may be planted round the edges of pots, about three in a large sixty, or four or five in a size of forty-eight; any of those that have advanced much after being so planted, may be removed, one each, into sixty-sized pots; and those in sixty-sized pots may, if their roots fill the pot, be removed to size forty-eight, for seedlings ought to be encouraged in their growth, without reference to season, until they develop their qualities, when they are either permanently adopted or got rid of. Continue putting into the shady frames all plants as they go out of flower.

July

 The practice of last month, in every particular that it will apply, is to be continued without any exception. As the plants have, through the collection, done blooming, they must be all subject to the same treatment; but those plants which have not flowered need not be moved from their winter frames; and although they must have the advantages of covering from extreme wet, and shading from the hot sun, they must be uncovered as much as possible, with due regard to these provisions; or it would be as well, if you have flooring enough made, for all the lights to be removed to the shade; it would save the trouble and attendance required for shading, while they remain in their original place. Seed that is ripening may be picked and put in the sun to dry, in such boxes or drawers as will prevent any from escaping; and those who like autumn sowing may sow half their stock.

August

 This month we propose to re-pot the general collection, and we advise one prevailing rule, to disturb as little as possible the balls of earth of all those that have been one year potted in the smaller flowering-pots; remove the offsets as carefully as possible, and be careful to preserve the roots of the old plants from injury, as much as you can. The surface of the balls may be rubbed off a little, so that the fibers are not bruised or broken, and the loose crocks at the bottom may be taken away, but the next sized pot must be supplied with crocks, and sufficient compost in it to raise the ball to the surface. Compost must then be filled in between the ball and the pot, and pressed between, without moving or displacing the root. If, on turning out any of the balls, the roots do not appear to have grown much round the sides, they may be replaced in their own pot, and allowed to go over another season in the same, but if the plant be not healthy, you may conclude there is something wrong at the root, and therefore you should shake out the soil, and examine it, as directed with regard to new plants. The plants that have bloomed the second year, and have been one season in thirty-two sized pots, may be shaken out and deprived of some of their roots; and the best way to do this is, to shorten the main center, or carrot-like portion, with the fibers attached to it; they must be then carefully re-potted, in the same sized pot, if strong, and if not strong, in a forty-eight sized pot; but mostly these plants from the large sized pots are strong, and although deprived of their lower roots, want room, besides which, the present potting of them will do for two seasons, if they are healthy. The present month must be looked upon as the potting month, and the whole collection, down to the smallest plants that have not already undergone it, should be changed. Look well to the watering of seedlings, pricking out, potting, or shifting all that require it; when these are potted, shifted, and properly attended to in all these particulars, let them be returned to their shady frames, watered, to settle the earth about their roots, and closed up altogether for two or three days, after which they may have their air as usual. And be protected from heavy rain, but except against violent or two much rain, they may be wholly uncovered. The offsets taken off during all the potting operations must be placed around the edges of pots, to strike root, or if rooted, potted off into smaller pots about the size which the plants warrant; very small ones, even if rooted, may be planted three or four in a pot, and stronger ones should have pots to themselves; but there is always danger of suffering for want of water if plants are kept in very small pots, so that many prefer keeping them round the edges, three or four in a pot, to give them small pots to themselves; and if a man be so situate as not to be able to attend very often to them, they will do better in the larger body of earth; however, a large sixty-size pot will take a pretty well rooted offset, and keep it growing well until it is full of roots, and the ball should then, without reference to the time of year, be transferred, with its ball of earth undisturbed, to a pot a size larger. All this work should be done before the month is out.

September

 Towards the end of this month have the frames removed to their winter places, well washed out and dried, and in these frames place your stock; begin by selecting the strongest, and give them room; as you proceed, continue adding the most promising of the remainder, and so go on until the whole are placed in their winter quarters; from this time begin to be more sparing of water, and consider them liable to frost. The proceedings with regard to seedlings may be continued as before in all respects in which they are applicable, except the transplanting those from the seed-pan to pots, in which they are to be one inch apart; they must be kept from the external air a few days, to get them somewhat established before they are treated like older plants; but as some seedlings grow faster than others, and they keep coming up in seed-pans until every seed has vegetated, the pans should be protected from the slightest frost; and after the first part of the month they should not be removed. Nor are the flowers which come up now to be depended on for character sufficiently to throw away on account of a deficiency in their colours.

October

 A continuance of last month’s treatment must be now observed, save and except, that there is still more danger of frost as we approach the winter; and, therefore, preparation must be made for covering in case of necessity. Water must be avoided, except when absolutely necessary; as the less they have the better, until they really want it. In mild weather, the glasses are best left off altogether; but dry parching winds, and hot sun, (both of which are frequent in October) will be always kept better off by covering and shading.

November

 This month may be considered winter, so far as the management of this flower is concerned; plenty of air in mild weather, tilted lights, and light shading on bright warm days. Give no more water than is necessary to keep the earth from actually drying; and make particular care that seedlings and seed-pans are not permitted to be dry or distressed for moisture, as from the very small hold they have of the soil, the very surface drying would be fatal to their health and strength, if not to their existence. We must be careful, too, in the removal of yellow leaves, to throw them out of the frame, and to go over the plants several times in the month to get rid of them, for their very presence creates damp and mildew. The frames must not be allowed to accumulate dirt, or falling leaves. Choose mild days to remove the pots out; and well brush out the frames, and the floor of them; for dirt and dead leaves will always be damp, and that is the greatest enemy the plant can have. In open weather, then, mind to uncover the frame, and when the sun is not too hot, let all the plants have the benefit of it. Cover from rains, and in every other respect let the directions for previous months be a general guide. Let the coverings from frost be light water-proof calico or canvas, that the light may not be excluded, for no plant can thrive in the dark; and it should be remarked, that a thin water-proofing covering, reaching to the ground all around the frames, is as effective as matting, which is dark; and in most cases much more offensive.

December

 This month like the one or two preceding, and January and February which follow, must be subject to the treatment most seasonable; for in this country different seasons change the nature of these three or four winter months sufficiently to make them change places with each other so far as the weather is concerned. It would be useless here to recapitulate the precautions we have given; and the winter-months treatment is but a series of precautions.

Photo Credit: P. auricula "the specie" grown and photo Robert Tonkin