The image doesn't really capture the flower color of my clump, which has more blue in it; more of a bright wine color than red-red. It's a very intense color, which, if it didn't flower before much else in that border was awake, would be a bit too bold. But, as it is so early, the spot of color is most welcome. I think this primrose comes in just about every color in the rainbow and there are also double forms.
Tough As Nails
Many years ago, I acquired this primrose at a wildflower sale labeled 'primrose'.
Until I recently read Pamela J. Harper's Time-Tested Plants (highly recommended for those of you gardening in the lower Mid-Atlantic states), it has defied all efforts at identification.
This is the cowslip primrose or false oxlip, Primula x variabilis, a hybrid between the primrose and the cowslip, found in England where both these grow together. It's such a relief to actually know who this stalwart of my spring garden is.
Tolerant of heat and humidity and total neglect, these plants produce their foot high (30.48 cm) stalks of a dozen or more upward-facing lemon yellow flowers, with deeper yellow eye, each spring for at least a month.
The stems and calyces have a fuzzy, downy appearance on close inspection. The foliage tends to degrade as summer wears on, but doesn't entirely disappear until winter.
I have an edging of these plants in clay soil under a maple tree, crowded by spring bulbs and other plants and long overdue for splitting up. They do not complain, but return each year to tell me that spring is well and truly here. I would not be without them. I've never seen them offered in a nursery catalog. It seems they are one of the pass along plants that are handed down and given away or donated to wildflower sales, like mine were. If you ever find this primrose, grab it - you will not regret it.
Next time, more plants for the damp garden. See ya' later!
More Information
- If you're interested in primroses, the The American Primrose Society (APS) site has a comprehensive list of the sections (scroll down the page), each with a description and list of species and/or cultivars belonging to it.
- The National Auricula & Primula Society has a very good overview of The Genus Primula
- Gene Bush tells about Primula in the Midwest - two sections that grow well in his Indiana Munchkin Nursery Gardens.
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