Down the Primrose Path.

I adore primula . My season starts with the self-aggrandising blowsy ones in the glasshouse in February . Of naturally they are garish and likely not hardy , but they give welcome gloss in the dreariest time of year . But these are just wintertime baubles , the real magic starts in the garden in March and April .

I know the native ones ca n’t be improved upon and we are lucky here in rural Suffolk that primrose are everywhere along the lanes and in the ditches and before long they will be join by meadow bright . I keep my native primula away from the hybridised ones although I notice a lilliputian pink one has crept in . For centuries now gardeners have sought out the doubles and the hose- in -hose and all the slight rarity of nature but pollination in plants was n’t understood for a prospicient time , so it was a strike and overlook affair . Doubles appeared as mutations of the undivided primrose . They have been document since 1500 . But they are hard to keep going . They are prone to rot in the center or just gradually die out and they are for the most part sterile . They need to be very well fed and on a regular basis divide . I have loved and lost some lovely heritage doubles include most of the following . Modern doubles have a stronger constitution .

Of course enthusiasts always essay out freaks and anomalous plants . Elizabethans were huffy about freaky primroses and they are still call Elizabethan primula . The two they loved were ‘ Jack - in - the - green ’ which have a Philomachus pugnax of green leaves labialise each flower and ‘ Hose - in - hosepipe . Hose - in - hose has two identical flowers one inside the other .

Jack -in -the- Green Primrose

Jack -in -the- Green Primrose

I do n’t fuck where the endearing Au and silver- entwine primrose do from but they have been around since the late 17th hundred . Just like auriculas they were ‘ florist ’ flowers and grown to be exhibited in the nineteenth century . I always lost them until I got the knack of feed and dividing them .

Silver Laced Primula

Jack -in -the- Green Primrose

Gold Laced Primula

In 1900 a Polish woman Julia Ludvikovna Mlokossjewicz found carpet of a delightful little primrose grow in dampish dry land in the easterly Caucasus . Primula juliaeas it was named , revolutionised primrose procreation and many new hybrid were introduced . The most famous of these is the earnest littlePrimula pruhonicensis‘Wanda ’ . It has dainty compact rosettes of leaves and masses of flower .

Primula‘Wanda ’

I have anotherPrimula pruhonicensishybrid in pinkish .

Primula pruhonicensis

adorable slight ‘ Lady Greer ’ also hasjuliaeblood . I love its crinkly leaves . It was introduced in the former 20th Century in Ireland .

Primula ‘Blue Sapphire’

Primula‘Lady Greer ’

Another previous one which appeared about the same time with juliaein its rearing is the lovely dark redPrimula‘Tawny Port ’ .

Primula ‘ Tawny Port ’

I screw red primroses and this next one is a gorgeous tad of tomato red .

Primula ‘ Tomato Red ’

And we had a shower of rainfall this afternoon so this red one take care particularly toothsome .

Primula ‘ Innisfree ’

Many Modern primroses were preface in the 18th and 19th 100 but primrose are miffy little things and many of the 1 our ancestors enjoyed have disappeared . Margery Fish have it away primula and reading her book you realise that many that she do it no longer exist . I do n’t know whether this is because of viruses are primrose unwellness . Like roses , you ca n’t keep planting primroses in the same spot .

We have plenitude of native paigle in Suffolk and before long they will be in flush too . Polyanthus are a cross between primroses and meadow bright and if you have both in your garden they will hybridise readily . Acaulis primroses have one blossom per radical but polyanthus have one stem with several flowers . Some of the forward-looking polyanthus hybrids are a bit outsized and garish but the ones that occur course in the garden are often delightful . And they are very vigorous .

Primula polyantha

I get laid this peachy coloured one .

And this next one is the colour of butterscotch .

For many year ‘ Barnhaven ’ hybrids were my favourites , they were well-to-do to grow from seeds and came in such luscious color . You have to keep dividing them to keep them going . In a old garden I used to raise them on the bank of a current which they like . But even so they died out finally . These days the semen are difficult to get hold of .

Ireland has been the home of successful primrose breeding . A couple of twelvemonth ago I find out Kennedy loanblend from Ireland . They have been bred over the last 30 years by an amateur , Joe Kennedy in his garden in Ireland . Many of them have lovely bronze leaf . They are all extremely desirable .

If you want to essay cover your own nisus of primroses you have to teach something about their sexual activity life . They are hermaphroditic and if you look at them closely you will see that you have two sorts . Thrum - eyed primroses have their stigmas inside the flower tube and the anthers are at the top . Pin - eyed ones have their stigma at the top of the flower tube and the anther are half mode down . To pollinate you necessitate to put the pollen from a thrum -eyed primrose on to the stain of a tholepin - eyed peak . You will rarely get any success if you try a flag x peg or a thrum x thrum . Clever Darwin noticed this just from stuffy observation .

Primula ‘Sue Jervis’

Thrum- eyed Primrose

Pin- eye Primrose

Tricky small alpine primulas are scrap beyond me . This one is in the alpine home at Cambridge Botanical Garden .

Primula ‘Camaieux’

Primula allonii‘Pink Aire ’ Cambridge Botanical Garden .

I have never taste growingPrimula sieboldiibut now thanks to the unselfishness of my adorable blogging chum Gill atOff the Edgeblog I have this endearing industrial plant , Primula sieboldii‘Essie ’ , so this is going to set me off on a whole new fixation .

Primula sieboldii ‘ Essie ’

Primula ‘Corporal Baxter’

Auriculas are of row primula and I am sick on them but they are not quite out yet and they will have to wait for another post .

35 Responses toDown the Primrose Path.

What a large and divers collection you have ! I love primroses too . I always had some in my tiny former garden . I planted them in my current garden too but , between the drier conditions here and the oncoming of the drought , they have n’t fared well . Even when treat as annuals , they do n’t last long . Our local garden pith do n’t bid anything like the range of choices show in your post either . In fact , I ’d say that the number of varieties available has really decreased in recent years .

I ’ve never sire into Primroses , but I do value them . You have an awful appeal !

Primula ‘Strong beer’