Greenhouse: Auriculas

Garden Editor Ethne Clarke writes:
Auriculas are truly floral antiques, grown since the mid-1500s by aristocratics and artisans alike. My own auricula collecting began in England because I lived near Norwich, which enjoyed a centuries-old tradition of hosting Florists' Feasts-at least, that was my excuse. Really, it was the flowers' strange colorings. I was particularly drawn to the green-and-black petaled sorts that have a yellow tube at their center surrounded by a ring of white farina, a silvery white paste, which is an integral part of the flowers' beauty. These are the true Show auriculas, grown in greenhouses or on window ledges to protect the blooms from weather damage.

Pictured here: 'Watchet'

Photograph by Derek St. Romaine

The recent exhibition at the New York Botanical Garden set the stage for a revival of interest in auriculas, one of the gardener's most treasured plants. Gardeners can be obsessive sorts, and plant collecting is a good release for those "just one more" urges. Flower color and shape can vary hugely, and the dusting of 'farina', a white, powdery coating on stems and leaves and sometimes flower petal, makes them all the more alluring.

The NYBG's Auricula Theater, designed by Lady Salisbury, was built by Christianson Lee Studio of Ridgefield, Connecticut (203/798-0098 or christiansonlee.com).

Photograph courtesy of the New York Botanical Garden

The Dowager Marchioness of Salisbury (Lady Salisbury) speaking at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Auricula Theater, with Gregory Long, president and CEO of the New York Botanical Garden.

Photograph courtesy of the New York Botanical Garden

Auricula collections were traditionally displayed on specially constructed staging, called theaters. Lady Salisbury, whose drawing for the New York Botanical Garden Auricula Theater is shown here, was the chatelaine of historic Hatfield House (hatfield-house.co.uk), and is a prominent figure in English garden history circles. She's done much to promote our knowledge of early English gardens, which helps us to understand the early history of our own gardening past. The Elizabethan knot gardens at Hatfield House were reconstructed following her research and planted with the flowers and herbs that would have been grown there in the 17th century, during the lifetime of Robert Cecil, who established the Salisbury earldom at Hatfield House. He was the patron of John Tradescant the renowned plantsman of the English Renaissance period, who helped to introduce and popularize many plant introductions from the New World colonies, thereby enlarging the plant palette of the English garden. So there is a poetic symmetry to the reintroduction of the auricula to American gardens by Lady Salsibury and the NYBG.

Photograph courtesy of the New York Botanical Garden

Lady Salisbury's design for the reconstruction of the NYBG's Auricula Theater was based on historic depictions of the ones used at Florist's feasts. This example is from an 18-century French manuscript and clearly shows the staging used to display the perfectly grown auricula specimens.

Photograph courtesy of the New York Botanical Garden (718/817-8700 or nybg.org)

'Maggie'

See the last slide for information on growing auriculas.

Photograph by Derek St. Romaine

'Catherine Wheel'

Photograph by Derek St. Romaine

'Bengal Rose'

Photograph by Derek St. Romaine

'Leon'

Photograph by Derek St. Romaine

'Sirus'

Photograph by Derek St. Romaine

'Starling'

Photograph by Derek St. Romaine

'York Minster'

Photograph by Derek St. Romaine

Growing Auriculas
In the garden, auriculas need well-drained but moisture-retentive soil in part shade. They look lovely tucked into the nooks and crannies of a rock garden, or along the edge of flagstone paths; the roots seem to enjoy the dry, gritty conditions there. If you grow them in pots, be sure to use a sand-based potting mix rather than a peat-based one, which would be too wet for the auriculas' liking. Slugs and snails find auricula foliage quite snackable, but a ring of grit around each plant seems to deter them. Try auriculas among smaller hostas, early spring bulbs, and hellebores, all of which like similar growing conditions and share the same spring-to-early-summer flowering period. Border hybrids are reputed to be hardy to Zone 5. This may be accurate, since Primula auricula, one of the hybrids' parents, is said to be hardy to Zone 3. However, the Show sorts are better off indoors or, if you start serious collecting, in a greenhouse. -Ethne Clarke