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Author Topic: Primula x pubescens 'George Harrison'  (Read 517 times)

John D Hanson

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Primula x pubescens 'George Harrison'
« on: September 07, 2024, 08:59:00 PM »
I have this plant in flower at present.

I was wondering who raised it and when.

George Harrison was the name of a musician who restored a large rock garden at Friar Park, Henley-on-Thames.

Another George Harrison found gold on Langlaagte Farm in 1886.

Maggi Young

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Re: Primula x pubescens 'George Harrison'
« Reply #1 on: September 07, 2024, 09:47:31 PM »
Hello John,  I suspect this plant was named for George Harrison - former member of The Beatles" group, who was a most enthusiastic gardener. I will ask a friend who may know about its provenance.
Margaret Young in Aberdeen, North East Scotland Zone 7 -ish!

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Maggi Young

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Re: Primula x pubescens 'George Harrison'
« Reply #2 on: September 09, 2024, 06:08:28 PM »
Well,  so far I've heard back  from Jon Evans , Neil Tyers, Sarah Macrae and Val Wooley!
Val Wooley, who was a seller of the plant some time ago, has replied saying:

"Good morning Maggi

Neil Tyers has forwarded your enquiry to me. The George Harrison plant has always been a subject of interest on the nursery (now closed) as everybody assumed it was named after the well-known Beatle! In reality it was named after a gentleman called George Harrison who had a nursery in the North East of England. I have never known any more about the nursery but perhaps you could ask John Richards or Jim Jermyn.

Many years ago Ringo Starr’s gardener contacted me as he wanted to purchase some plants of George Harrison’ for a Beatle themed border.  I spent some time going through the Plant Finder for him and found several other appropriate plants with names such as’ Abbey Road’. There were no primulas however.

Sorry  this is all the information I have but I hope it helps.  If you find out any more I would love to hear from you.

Best wishes
Val Woolley"

 Many thanks to all these nice people who have tried to help!

Val sent this photo of the plant :



And Sarah Macrae tells me that Ardfearn Nursery is listing the plant once more. www.ardfearn-nursery.co.uk

« Last Edit: September 09, 2024, 06:10:42 PM by Maggi Young »
Margaret Young in Aberdeen, North East Scotland Zone 7 -ish!

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Maggi Young

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Re: Primula x pubescens 'George Harrison'
« Reply #3 on: September 12, 2024, 01:32:59 PM »
More words on this plant ...... Jim Jermyn remembers a nurseryman by the name of Gordon Harrison  and now I've heard from Neil Huntley .....
"I saw a thread on the Forum about a Primula and just wanted to correct one thing about the old Nursery in the North East - in recollection it was somewhere around Portland or possibly Darras Hall. I am certain the nursery was run by Gordon Harrison not George - I remember going there a long time ago, he had a good range of alpines and some lovely dwarf conifers, his manager, a man named Stan Dixon was the person who raised Campanula Dicksons Gold, I always remember him saying he raised it but whoever marketed it spelt his name wrong!
Not sure about the Primula - I just have a vague memory of a plant like that being around in the North East a long time ago.
As an aside, George Harrison he was a lovely man and very interested in plants and his garden - we used to see him at some of the major Flower Shows like Hampton Court and Chelsea when we were exhibiting there."


George Harrison was a very keen gardener, as Neil says, Ian has fond memories of seeing him at Chelsea as well.

Margaret Young in Aberdeen, North East Scotland Zone 7 -ish!

Editor: International Rock Gardener e-magazine

John D Hanson

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Re: Primula x pubescens 'George Harrison'
« Reply #4 on: September 15, 2024, 09:21:31 PM »
I have enjoyed reading the replies to my initial question.  Thank you very much.

Dad (Frank) would have been interested too.  Back in the 1960s, although he grew very few if any alpines, he did attend the AGS meetings in Birmingham.  In fact, we did have a tufa garden, which came from Roy Elliott, the long standing editor of the AGS journal.  He built his famous tufa wall and he had some left over which he gave to Dad.

Funnily enough, I have only just started using my homemade hypertufa in pans, cut up into pieces the size of the palm of one's hand, and planted such that they are just visible on the surface when I pot up plants or seedlings.  Once the pan is watered the tufa locks with the compost and it is forced up slightly over time  by pressure from the heavier surrounding compost.  I will illustrate this in another note sometime. The plants and seedlings all appear to benefit significantly.

Although we had few alpines in the 1960s, we did have a nice collection of auriculas.  Dad attended the society shows and did some exhibiting.  I estimate that half our Christmas cards came from members.  The names I recall were Dr Duncan Duthie, Richard Loake, Hal Cohen, Arthur Bridgewater and the Rev Oscar Moreton.

Dad would have been 100 this year.

JOHN

 


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