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Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30846, 3 September 1965, Page 6

Primus is Latin for plum, but this genus also includes the almonds, apricots, cherries, and peaches which are all deciduous, and the cherry laurel, the leaves of which are usually evergreen. Whilst most of the flowering forms are noted primarily for their blooms, such as P. serrulata, a single white-flowered cherry, and P. cerasifera, the purple-leafed plum, also have striking leaf colour in autumn. With the exception of one or two, the deciduous species flower before the leaves bust out in spring. The reason fruit is rarely set on the ornamental varieties is because many of the flowers are self sterile and require cross-pollination before fruit will set, with double-flowered forms some, or all, the stamens are lacking. Once established little or no pruning should be required other than the removal of dead, diseased, damaged or crossing branches, although occasionally some trimming back may be necessary to keep them in bounds. The accompanying photograph shows Primus “Pollardii,” an Aus-tralian-raised hybrid flowering almond, which is a cross between a peach and an almond. It is in flower now and bears a multitude of very large fragrant rose-coloured blooms which deepen to crimson with age. Some fruit is produced. V 1