A very special plant!

For many years at Arduaine and previously at Ross Priory I'd been growing Primula vialii, the so-called red-hot poker primula, originally introduced in 1906 from Yunnan and Sichuan in China by George Forrest. I saw it first at Logan many years ago and once planned to have a huge bed of them, but it didn't happen - I never had more than a couple of dozen at any one time!
 
Probably the most spectacular primula, but not usually very long-lived unless conditions suit it perfectly. I've always found them to last two or three years at the most; they need to be grown from seed regularly.
 
However in 2010, in John Holland's cold, windy garden near Whitley Chapel in the Pennines, one white plant arose among a number of the normal violet/red species. This was the first white form ever to occur and was luckily spotted by the 85 year old John Holland. It was named 'Alison Holland' after his daughter-in-law, micro propagated and shown at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2015.
 
It was offered for sale at Gardening Scotland in 2016 and I bought three plants at £10 apiece. Aware of their short-lived habit and that they were sterile, I divided them several times in 2016 and 2017 and now have 17, eleven of which are flowering now. I must make very sure that I don't lose them this time! I Blipped one of the originals last year, so I hope it's worth seeing one of the descendants this year!