Those original auriculas were grown in the shade at the side of the garage with minimal weather protection. It was not long before the first 6ft x 10ft polytunnel was 'needed'. When did you become interested in auriculas?Īnnabel's mother grew them for pleasure and she passed on some spare plants to her, with the comment, "Just a hobby you might enjoy now the boys are away at school". Until 2001, I worked elsewhere, so my efforts were confined to structural work, hedges and lawns. Many winter evenings were spent drawing plans and researching plants. Since we married 36 years ago, Annabel has been the gardener wherever we have lived. Their favourite species? Border auriculas. This is what we learnt about growing the perfect, colourful border.īut first, a bit about Robin and Annabel. We use a mixture of a very open peat based compost, mixed with vermiculite and gravel.Continuing our search for horticultural devotees whose gardens are shaped by their love of one species of plant, we went to Drointon Nurseries in North Yorkshire to meet Robin and Annabel Graham. * Compost: each grower has his own recipe but the emphasis has to be on good drainage. See our page on Pests and diseases for more information. The root aphid appears as white fluffy insects around the roots of the plants and the neck. Keep an eye out for green fly, and root aphid. You do not need to worry about frost auriculas are fully hardy to -20☌.Īll year - Removing dead leaves and stems that come away easily does help to avoid rot. Treat if need be or import predatory mites that feed on them.Īutumn and winter – not a great deal to do apart from keeping them just damp enough to stay alive. This can avoided by misting the leaves during very dry periods. If the weather is very hot and dry, watch out for spider-mite (tiny red insects that leave spider-like webs on the underside of leaves). Leave the pots to dry out in between watering.
See the page on Dividing Primula for more information. This can also be done in the autumn, depending on your local conditions. We then put the pots into the shade and keep them just moist.
They do seem to like their roots a bit constrained. It’s important not to give your auriculas too large a pot. If there are rooted offsets we remove them carefully and pot them on into small pots. Late spring - after the flowers have finished we re-pot into fresh compost*. As the buds appear we begin to give a small amount of tomato fertiliser, until flowering. Spring - we start to water the plants little by little as the weather begins to warm up, keeping them just moist. Here is a brief summary of our own Show auricula year : © Colin Humphrey, National Auricula and Primula Society Kent group. Often displayed in 'theatres' or shelving units in the spring they will make lovely show and can be moved to a less prominent and shady place in the summer months. They don't mind the cold, only excessive wet and the rain on the flowers can wash the farina away. it is often usual to keep them in pots either in a well ventilated and shaded alpine house, or in pots with some sort of protection outdoors in the winter for example an outdoor veranda, or on a north-facing window ledge. To safeguard the spectacular beauty of the Show auriculas (Selfs, Fancies and Edges).
They are hardy alpine plants that are used to being under a layer of snow in the winter.Īlpine and double auriculas are also not very fussy plants and can be grown as above. We do not recommend covering the plants in winter. We would suggest dividing them every couple of years and enriching the soil with well-rotted manure or compost when you replant them.
GARDEN AURICULA FULL
For the best flowers, give a low dose of tomato feed every week as soon as you see new buds, until full flowering. Try to remove dead leaves which fall on your plants. It also seems to deter slugs and the dreaded vine weevil. If your soil is heavy, add some small gravel and a gravel mulch around the plant will help to avoid rot if the winter is wet. The main thing is to make sure the soil is well-drained and that they are in a semi-shady spot.Īuriculas growing in an old ceramic sink with saxifraga. They grow well in a normal soil, either in pots, troughs or in a well-drained border or rockery. Our auriculas are raised to be hardy and to survive without the special cossetting that is sometimes required by show auriculas.
0 kommentar(er)
