They beseech you to place them in a black backed 'theatre' so you can admire them at their best. How could i choose just one? They're not meant to be grown in ones or twos, they beg to be grown 20 or 30 different varieties! They ask politely to be installed in dainty terracotta pots with horticultural grit spread lovingly around their base. One day i was just looking at pictures of them, the next i was thinking about which one id like. Woottens of Wenhaston, Blackheath, Wenhaston, Halesworth, Suffolk, 19 April, 9.30am-5pm.I'm not sure of the exact moment it happened, it kind of crept up on me when i wasn't looking. Pop's Plants, Pop's Cottage, Barford Lane, Downton, Salisbury, Wiltshire, 10 and 11 May, 10.30am-4.30pm. Auricula open daysДrointon Nurseries, Plaster PittsВ Cottages, Ripon, North Yorkshire, 3 and 28 May, 10am-4pm. Divide border plants every couple of years. Never splash leaves or flowers and water sparingly, especially in winter.Д«e vigilant for vine weevil Treat with Provado systemic insecticide, or the biological control Nemasys. Keep plants well ventilated, especially in summer, when they also need shading. Use a free-draining compost Roberts recommends equal measures of multipurpose compost, John Innes No2 and horticultural grit.ДЇeed as plants come into growth and stop when they finish flowering, using soluble feed when you water. Small plants need small pots 3.5in as a rule, 3in for alpines. Both flower freely without cosseting, andВ display a reassuring zest for life.

Sweet-smelling 'Trafalgar Square' offers a clear red with a dainty white edge 'Hinton Fields' is yellow and green. The Stripes, all but lost in the mid-18th century, have returned to favour, with a host of new varieties such as 'Robin Hood', 'Blush Baby' and 'Optimist'. Deep blue 'Joel' and pillar-box red 'Scorcher' are among the more obliging. Next come the Show Selfs, blocks of vivid colour round a centre of white paste. Most prized by collectors of show auriculas is the category of green, grey or white Edges вЂ“ divas that require unstinting devotion. In the pale centres, purples, pinks and blues predominate, as in 'Adrian' or luscious pink 'G L Taylor'. The gold centres tend towards warm autumn shades, such as 'Nickity' and 'Yacoubi'. They have centres of gold, cream or pale yellow, and velvety petals that fade out towards the edge. Single blooms flower best in a small pot.

'Dales Red' is a velvety red with a white eye and 'Old Irish Green' provides the green edge deemed the apogee of loveliness.ДЄlpine auriculas have no vulnerable farina, make handsome clumps and are ideal for beginners. 'Eden Greenfinch' is an excellent modern plant, in an unusual greeny-brown shade. 'Old Yellow Dusty Miller' has been charming gardeners for centuries. (In heavier soils, work in grit to improve drainage and plant with a collar of gravel underneath the rosette.) Foliage can be green, or dusted with farina вЂ“ hence the old country name, dusty millers. Photograph: AlamyД«order or garden auriculas often grow along paths in old cottage gardens, thriving in soil with some substance but good drainage. In pale-centred auriculas, such as Primula 'Adrian', purples, pinks and blues predominate.

National auricula society