The candelabra primulas, ranging from white to reddish (even bawdier than my favorite bawdy primrose!), require no care whatsoever: Plant a few in a shady, moist spot (the classic location: streamside) and let them do their thing. I started with several maybe eight years ago. If they’re happy, they will colonize, sowing around and moving a bit, with more plants some years and fewer others.The ones nearest to the edge where bed meets lawn here sow into the turf, a habit I consider generous of them, not thuggish. I simply dig out the little babies early in the month, when the foliage is the size of baby salad greens, and move them into new spots or pot them up to share with friends. They don’t miss a beat; the foliage quickly expands to nearly 12 inches.Primula japonica blooms from mid-May until almost July for me, and in the most a
Primula Vulgaris
27.06.2023 - 08:36 / aberdeengardening.co.uk
Everyone loves Primula Vulgaris. Our native Primrose has possibly been the subject of fellow bloggers more often than any other plant.
I will put in my tuppence worth here, not only because I am very fond of this plant but also for the reason, that I made a decision some time ago to profile every plant which we have in our garden now, or have had in the past.
This task, if I take it seriously enough, should help see me through to a time when I should receive a letter from the reigning monarch.
Primula Vulgaris, starts to bloom very early, in Aberdeen more often in mid/late March. However even in Aberdeen I have seen blooms start to open in February.
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The pictures of this one were taken in our Cheshire garden, where the first blooms did indeed start to open early in February.
Over the years we have grown many of the brightly coloured Primulas and Polyanthus, which give a good show in Spring. These plants are generally treated as annuals and replaced with Summer bedding come late May/early June. I suspect here in Cheshire it should be safe enough to plant out the Summer bedding at least a couple of weeks earlier than this.
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Being a native plant, Primula Vulgaris gives more garden satisfaction.
Its dependable, perennial, in fact most years it remains evergreen, and reading your comments, it seems they are capable of blooming all year round . It grows in soil which is either on the acidic or Alkaline side.
Looks good at the front of the border or sensational at the edge of a woodland area. We have such a woodland spot, which I have claimed, as it seems to be in no man’s land. It actually looks really good from our garden, I just have to create a method of access.
Well
‘spring personified:’ the cowslip, or primula veris
“Primula veris is the ‘English cowslip’ that was once commonly found in pastures and meadows,” says the American Primrose Society website. The plant, which extends into Siberia, Turkey and Iran, is also one of the parents of the modern polyanthus hybrids—the plant most people envision when you say “primrose.”The species name—veris—means “of spring,” particularly apt once you’ve seen its cheerful yellow flowers held well above ample foliage.So why aren’t we all growing this charmer—which owing to its origins in those meadows of the U.K., Europe and Asia is sturdy enough to hold its own even in competitive quarters such as those I inadvertently subjected it to?“It is not common,” Marilyn Barlo
Best primulas for our gardens, with ‘primrose’ author elizabeth lawson
Elizabeth Lawson is a naturalist and writer from Ithaca, NY, with a doctorate in botany. She’s also the new president of the American Primrose Society.The name Primula translates as “little first one,” and they are a welcome sight of spring. She introduced me to the best primulas for our gardens today, and some primrose legend and lore. Plus: Enter to win the
Growing primula from seed, with ken druse
As I was ranting, my text buzzed to alert me there was a message, and there was a photo from Ken of a flat of his just-emerged primula seedlings—hundreds of them, that he’d successfully winter-sown outdoors. All for the price of a couple of seed packets. I asked him how he did it, and about other things you can sow that way.Ken, who gardens in New Jersey (those are some of his Primula japonica in his canal garden, above), is the author of 20 garden books and also my co-host of the Virtual Garden Club that we put on a few times each year. He’s a master propagator who loves to crack the code of how to make more plants of any kind. He shared the how-to’s of his success with primula seed
Border Auriculas
Border Auricula also known as Primula Auricula.
Primula Belarina
Thinking it would be a good addition to the Spring garden, we ordered plug plants of Primula Belarina. Wow, these double primroses have been a bonus.