Auriculas part 3, Alpines, Doubles, Borders & Seeds

Hi again!

So its been a few weeks since i posted, Birthday treats got thoroughly in the way! Im so not complaining, Ive been spoilt rotten. Just to brag for a moment, it started off with pizza & then I went to see Monet's Triptych and lots of other garden related art (brilliant and moving) then was treated to a Willy Wonka themed High Tea that had Umpaloompa cakes, pink Champagne and a Golden ticket (so spoiled!). The wonderfulness continued with more Champagne and a great turkish meal (my favourite!) and was rounded off by more pizza. All completed with the most amazing company of quite frankly some of the most awesome, generous, thoughtful people im lucky enough to have in my life!
Then i spoiled myself by visiting the Linnean Society for the first time to hear a lecture on the life and works of an incredibly inspiring lady called Marianne North. She travelled the world painting plants in their habitats at a time when it was considered incredibly unseemly for a lady to do so, for this reason alone i adore her! I have never been incredibly good at conformity, ive tried and failed and as such i admire anyone who has the ability to forge their own path. They inspire me to carry on being me and not to try to hide my light. As an aside, and quite honestly a shocking treat, as i was walking up the stairs of this magnificent and historic building where Charles Darwin first put forward his 'Origin of the species' thesis i looked up at a gentleman coming down towards me. He looked incredibly familiar and knowing my awful ability to forget people ive met and talked to i erred on the side of caution, i nodded and said hello with a smile, still puzzling where id met him before.
I joined a large group of people in the Library, a magnificent room which is worth revisiting, and proceeded to chat to a lovely man called Tom, there was no one i knew there and we were stood beside a couple of ladies when the gentleman i saw on the stairs approached the group, then i heard the voice!
Like a memory of childhood and fascination this voice like silk rolled out and suddenly the penny dropped!
I was stood next to Sir David Attenborough!!
Even writing this now i cant get over this... He was showing the lady a copy of a watercolour that he believed was possibly by Marianne North and being the cheeky mare i am, i firstly eavesdropped then turned and peered over the shoulders. The lady turned out to be Michelle Payne who was giving the lecture.
Im afraid i did waylay Sir David and his daughter on the stairs on the way down to gush at them. They were both absolutely lovley about it given there was this mad lady babbling at them! I sat myself in the seats with them in the row ahead of me and settled down to listen, afterwards i got myself a copy of Michelles book and had her sign it.
I can highly recommend living a life of saying "yes!" as i have now since Jan 2014, it works out splendidly!
Now back to auriculas...

 So, a quick recap of whats gone before...

Part 1, Me enthusing on how i fell in love with these enchanting little plants.

Part 2, A short history inc. ancestry and an introdution to the technical terms used when showing auriculas plus an outline of the classes of show auriculas.

and now onto Part 3, comprising of Alpine, Doubles & border auriculas. Also a guide into how to care for these incredibly forgiving plants, dainty and fragile they may appear but dont let that fool you. These guys came from hardy stock and will withstand a lot!

Alpines

The main difference, to the amatuer, between an Alpine and a Show auricula may not be obvious at first glance. So here it is, the eye of the pip (flower) including the tube should be all one colour. Also there should be no evidence of Farina visible.

One of my own seedlings, classed as an Alpine but not show quality

Using one of my own seedlings, above, as a demonstration you can see the eye although beautifully clear white, with no sign of Farina, unfortunately has a yellow throat (or tube). On the older flower, at the top of picture, although the throat has turned white the colour from the petals has bled into the eye. The anthers clearly prominent are exactly what we want in an Alpine (Thrum eye) but sadly the colour of the eye and tube let it down and it would never win a show.
A true winner of an Alpine class looks like this....

   Best Alpine Auricula ANDY COLE grown by T Atkinson

As you can clearly see the eye is of one colour, clean pure white in this case although this can extend to a pale cream and still be acceptable (light centered). Alternately a deep rich, buttery yellow is also acceptable (gold centered) anything in between is seen as an inferior example and although i would still love it, it would never win a show.

Alpines, like Show auriculas, have subclasses which i'll outline below.

Light centered & Gold centered

As ive gone into this in detail above no need to thrash the point but here is a visual demonstation of a Gold centered Alpine winner.

Gold centred Alpine Auricula BANTRY BAY, pic credit  David Underwood

Laced

Im not really going to go into this in detail as it seems to be a relatively new class and from what i can tell is more about Polyanthus than auriculas? I could be entirely wrong? If i am please let me know.

Fancy

Again a relatively new class, this one gives the Alpines that dont fall into the above catagories a chance to shine. Not all shows run with a fancy class but if your local one does you can be assured of some really beautiful, interesting plants. The plant should conform to the above Alpine standards but leeway on the colour of the throat is allowable as is patterning of the corolla.

Fancy Alpine Auricula HERMIA.Shown by Andy Thorpe.Photographed by Henry Pugh


Knowle April 2012

Doubles

As i mentioned previously Double auriculas were almost lost entirely to cultivation. In the 17th Century they were the 'must have' addition to a collection. Thankfully though some dedicated breeders reserected them and they are now quite widely available again (including the beautiful 'Miss Sibsey') One such breeder from the 1950's was Florence Bellis. She is famed for developing the 'Barnhaven primroses' named after her Oregon home. More information on this fascinating lady and her writing can be found here timberpress author Florence Bellis and of course her nursery which supplies auriculas named Barnhaven from whom i have bought some lovely plants before.
So! Doubles!
The standards say " The minimum doubling needed is a row of petals (two in Northern Section shows) and enough additional petals to fully cover the centre. Open centred plants are disqualified.
All types of auricula that possess the required doubling are acceptable. Petals can have any patterning but should be smooth and unnotched and colours should be bright."
I think that covers it comprehensively, basically 2 or more rows of petals, no open centres and all subdivisions (show, alpine and border) can be included in a Double class.

From Matt Mattus's blog, link at bottom of blog

From Barnhaven, Primula auricula 'Lincoln Melody'. A stripey double produced by Derek Salt.

and of course my very own favourite 'Miss Sibsey'

Border

Our final look is at Border auriculas, these are the ones you would, as the name suggests, plant out in your borders. Despite the auriculas delicate looks they are in fact completely hardy, the only thing theyre not really keen on is having soggy feet (who is!). The Border class of auricula is far more forgiving and allows for a lot more leeway than any of the others.
The basic rules are the flower truss should be unstaked and preferably multi trussed. Florist rules do not apply to the border, pin eyes are acceptable, colours clear and bright.

Seed sowing

 Growing your own from seed is amazingly easy (honest) the seeds are readily available through either the larger companies or, if your looking for a show stopper, some of the more specialist companys and breeders will do mixed packets.
All you need is a seed tray, i normally sow straight to modules but as the seeds are SO small a small tray is better. I tend to use a seed compost with a lot of grit mixed in as the base. Mix the seeds with sand as this will help you see where youve already sown and mae it easier to space them out. Then you can cover VERY lightly with either more seed compost, Perlite or my preference Vermiculite.
They dont want to be deeply buried, just enough to retain some moisture. Then cover with either a seed tray lid, if you have one, clingfilm works too as do those plastic boxes that caes come in from the supermarket (be inventive, youre helping the environment by recycling them!). If you have a sheet of glass thats great too! Germination can be slow, so be patient. Ive left mine in seed trays for around 2 months to allow those that have started to bulk up enough to be potted on, then replaced everything under the glass and more have germinated. No one told me how to do this, just trial and error, others may have a different view.  This is the beauty of gardening though, just do your best to mimic the optimal conditions the plant would encounter in its natural environment.

I hope you try out some of your own, maybe even enter a show? or grow some from seed?
This ended up being a far larger topic than when i initially started posting on it and honestly theres so much more i didnt cover but on my way heres some of the links i found....

growing auriculas for beginners
THE NATIONAL AURICULA & PRIMULA SOCIETY NORTHERN SECTION
Barnhaven auriculas

Whilst researching i also came across these wonderful blogs
The auriculas of spitalfields
How to grow auricula primroses

Anyone ive missed in the last 2 blogs feel free to put your names and links in the comments box (there should be one located at the bottom of this blog). I look forward to hearing from more of you Auricuphiles, is that a real word? or one ive just made up?

A short history of auriculas and description of 'Show' auricula standards (part 2)

In my last blog i enthused in a rather emotional way over my love of auriculas and by the time i finished i realised that if i tried to be a bit more factual about it at the end it would become a huge blog with far too much information to be digested in one sitting.
I'm going to try to set out here what i understand of their history and of the requirements of a 'Show' auricula, i admit i am not an expert on this and Ive had to teach myself as i go, so please if you are more knowledgeable look kindly on me, i welcome correction on any points i may have misunderstood (*whispers* if no one says anything we'll just assume i got it right, eh!) So here's the more factual look at breeding and showing these fab little plants, starting with....

"PrimulaAuricula". Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PrimulaAuricula.jpg#/media/File:PrimulaAuricula.jpg

Where do they come from! 
Primula auriculas are found in the wild but not as we know them in this sense. Like other members of the Primula family, such as cowslips, they have been crossed and bred to the stage they are at now. Above is the wild form found growing in the mountain ranges of central Europe, including the western Alps, Jura mountains, the Vosges, the Black Forest and the Tatra Mountains.
As is the way recently, it has been further re-classified into Primula lutea (once a synonym for auricula) and P. auricula but this is not the time to go into plant taxonomy in great detail.
The auricula as we know it today has a history dating back over 400 years, i'll just give that a moment to sink in.....400 years!
It's a cross between P. aurcula and P. hirsuta (hirsuta meaning hairy) commonly known as the 'stinking primrose' (poor thing!) and can be found growing wild in the Alps and Pyrenees.
Purpley pink in colour with a white eye and hairy leaves.

Image from http://www.ukwildflowers.com/Web_pages/primula_hirsuta_stinking_primrose.htm

John Gerard (c. 1545–1612), the man who gave his name to 'Gerards Herbal' or Generall Historie of Plantes (First published in 1597 and still available today as a revised, cut down version, hilarious at times to read due to its description of how Barnacle Geese were thought to be created/born) knew of these hybrids. A complete character in his own right Gerald was a bit of a bounder and scallywag, furnishing his life with somewhat exaggerated claims but his notoriety is quite handy as his Herbal is an accurate record enabling early identifications of plants to be dated to a time period.

Botanical illustration by J. Duke (Lord Willoughby's Auricula), 1747.

 So, throughout the 16th, 17th,18th & 19th centuries the Show or Alpine auricula gained notoriety and fame, first within the courts of Europe, where plants and gardens were always seen as a status symbol. Then they trickled down to the lower Lords and Ladies and finally to the hoi palloi. They kept a level of popularity that most plants ever fail to achieve, most rising like Icarus to a blazing peak then falling and crashing like Tulips. Mix metaphors much?
Sadly, as with a lot of garden related knowledge and material, the two world wars diminished the genetic stock available to today's gardeners, some varieties being lost forever! The 'stripes' and 'doubles' already falling in popularity being hit hardest, heartbreaking!

Artist - Barbara Regina Dietzsch (German, 1706 -1783)

Wills's cigarette card (at a guess, circa 1913)

Societies began to form to show and compete in the mid 1800's and their history alone is fascinating, full of intrigue and competitive zeal, it was because of enthusiasts like this that the auricula did survive though and in 1986 one of the groups of enthusiasts held the first show in pretty much living memory, it was a huge success and suddenly a revival began.

'Potted' history lesson over, so what can you expect from the modern auricula?


Types - When it comes to shows auriculas are divided into classes. Below i outline and hopefully describe in easy to understand terms what each class means exactly.

Show and Alpine auriculas - "individual flowers or pips should be flat and thrum eyed, with the outlines of the zones of the flower (tube, eye and pip) circular, well defined and in proportion. "


So what does that mean exactly? If your not familiar with the terms used it can be terrifying! Lets start with 'pip' simply put its the flower face, when it says it should be flat it means when viewed from the side the petals should neither reflex forwards or backwards and the stamens and anthers should not sit forwards and be visible.

'thrum eyed' this refers to the plants Anthers. There are 2 descriptions which are relevant here, pin eyed - where the stamen (looks like a pin head) is clearly visible above the anthers and thrum eyed - where the stamen is not in sight above the anthers at all. A show auricula must be Thrum eyed as pip eyed is seen as a fault and will disqualify it

Show auriculas - The eye of the flower is referred to as "The paste" and must be "must be pure white, dense and unblemished" 

The waxy substance that causes this dusting of porcelain white look is called "farina", incidentally this is a base word used in other Latin names such as Salvia farinacea, a lovely little bedding Salvia that has what appears to be a dusting of white powder on the bracts of the flower. See! Latin naming IS important! *soapbox moment*
A contrasting tube colour of a rich golden yellow is also desirable (not shown above) perfectly demonstrated here though on 'Gavin ward' winner of 'Best in Show'

Best Grey Edged Show Auricula GAVIN WARD, grown by D. Hadfield

Ok is this making sense so far?
I hope so!
As now we move onto the 3 different classes within Show auriculas!

Edged

Within this group we have three sub groups.... wow! so complicated eh!
Firstly there are green - This means there is no farina visible on the edge giving a leaf like colour

Best Green Edged Show Auricula CHLOE, Grown by R.Westwood

Secondly White - This is where there is so much farina present around the outside edge of the corolla that absolutely no colour shows through.

White Edged Auricula ARCTIC FOX
Photographed by Henry Pugh
A Tribute to Tim Coop Knowle April 2002 

and finally one which i have included already a Grey edged form - halfway between the white and green, some leaf colour is present

Credit for pictures above goes to The Northern Section Auricula Show at Cheadle May 3rd 2003
and to auricula and primula.org.uk

A handy little explanation of the perfect edged auricula that gets quite technical

Self

This class is pretty self explanatory, A flower that outside of the paste is of one pure colour. As far as colours go pretty much anything is acceptable so long as it is just one colour.
Beautiful gallery of show self auriculas with information on breeding lineage

Striped

As i mentioned before this type of auricula was almost lost entirely to growers but in recent years some amazingly dedicated growers have succeeded in not only saving what was left but also breeding new ones! This is a difficult class for the amateur to enter as breeding a striped auricula up to show class is doubly difficult as not only must your 'stripes' be even and regularly spaced they must also reach from the paste to the pips boundary. Recent breeding has improved the genetic stock of this type, there is still a tendency for 'nibbling' to occur on the edges of the corolla preventing a perfectly circular pip. As seen below...

BARKING Striped Show Auricula. Raised by Henry Pugh in 2012. Was Seedling 1233. Named after a tube station

Below is another example of a stripe that has (in my humble opinion) far finer show qualities.

ANGELA SHORT Striped Show Auricula.  Bred by Peter Redfern and first shown as a seedling stripe at the Uplands Auricula Show in April 2001, and was awarded Best in Show.

You can clearly see how much more circular and even the pip is on 'Angela short' than on 'Barking' (although both are still beautiful examples) and you'll notice the inclusion of their seedling 'names' this is because, as i mentioned before, a plant cannot be given a proper name until it has won in a show.

Fancy

Now this is where it starts to get interesting! The definition of a Fancy auricula is basically anything that doesn't conform to the classes mentioned above. Obviously it must conform to the basic auricula standards regarding " flat pips, thrum eyed, circular well defined and proportioned zones, dense unblemished paste" but this class can bring out the most interesting combinations of all three

POPLAR, Edged, Fancy Show Auricula.  Raised by Henry Pugh in 2012. Was Seedling 1213. Named after tube station. On its first flowering in 2012 (shown as seedling 1213 in the open classes) the truss maintained its condition for four shows, winning three cards in all.

CLOUDED YELLOW, Fancy, Show Auricula. Bred by Tim Coop.

 There are so many beautiful examples in this class but I'll let you investigate further yourself, the above pictures cam from auricula and primula.org.uk fancy auriculas gallery

We have yet to even touch on the subject of Alpine, Doubles (like Miss Sibsey) or border auriculas. Their breeding/propagation or the intricacies of naming them! I'm thinking that for the moment I've given you (and me!) more than enough information to digest. So i am going to split this subject into a third blog. That way we all get a chance to understand what we've read, we don't (hopefully) get bored (bored of auriculas! Never!) and i get a chance to catch up with my housework.... yeah, not so glamorous....

Thank you to all the online resources I've quoted here, without you i couldn't have even have begun to understand this subject.