Border Primroses
While I've been told that Primula kisoana will do just fine in the border, mine seemed to be in distress, so I moved it to the edge of the damp garden, where the crown stays dry, but the roots are moist.
I noticed this year that it has either seeded a bit or spread via stolons, as I have read it will do, since I now have four plants where I only had two before.
This is a lovely Japanese woodland species belonging to the section Cortusoides. The leaf shape and texture are unusual for a primrose - at least those I've met - being rounded, scalloped, soft and hairy, with prominent dark veins.
Flowers are born singly on stalks arising from the crown. Mine flower rather earlier than the candelabras. If your garden doesn't turn in a desert in summer, you can probably grow these quite easily in good, humus rich woodland soil.
Belonging to the same section as P. kisoana, Primula sieboldii is at home in my woodland garden.
Also a very early bloomer, this one combats summer heat and dryness by going dormant after bloom and disappearing below ground. The first time it happened, I was certain I'd managed to kill it, too. When it returned the next spring, I was amazed and delighted...then I found out that this was normal behavior. I tried a piece of this in the damp garden, but it did not like the continual moisture and passed away. This one wants good drainage. I water that border, so it does get some moisture even while dormant.
Flowers appear in open umbels of up to ten flowers in late spring. The individual flowers have frilled edges, echoing the crinkly edged leaves.
There are several named varieties or types available, but nowhere near the number of clones grown in Japan, where it's something of a cult plant with societies devoted to it. Clumps increase via rhizomes just beneath the surface of the soil. Primula vulgaris 'Blaue Auslese' is the only representative in my garden of this popular primrose. Called the English primrose, it belongs to the Primula section. The common species is found wild in the UK, where its cheery yellow flowers signal spring. This species is adaptable to border conditions in rich, well-drained moist soil in shade to part shade. There are several sub-species and hybrids plus countless crosses that have used the species as one of the parents.
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