![]() ![]() It also found favour in high places as Queen Victoria is reported to have sent a wreath of Disraeli’s favourite Primroses as a tribute to her friend on his death in 1881. Plants with a long style are known as pin-eyed, those with long stamens thrum-eyed.īefore modern agriculture, the fragrant booms were so prolific that they were gathered to make Primrose wine, Primrose pottage or crystallised for cake decorations. This is a mechanism to ensure cross pollination between plants, bees having visited one type of flower only being able to deposit pollen to the other type of flower. Primroses are heteromorphic that is they exist with flowers that either have long style and short stamens or the reverse case. Primula elatior, our native oxlip, and P.veris, the cowslip, are plants of damp meadows but do equally well in the garden even in full sun if other plants can afford the crown a little shade in high Summer. Primroses enjoy medium to heavy moisture retentive loam with added organic matter and a cool position, easily afforded by ensuring a little shade. Even double forms in a variety of colours exist. It has given us a host of ‘modern’ multi-coloured offspring and hybrids another British native, the cowslip (P.veris). Indeed its very name, Primrose, is derived from the Latin ‘prima rosa’ the first rose of the year. Our native Primrose, P.vulgaris, was once a common sight in woodland, hedge banks and railway cuttings wher its scented yellow blossonms announced the arrival of Spring. Although many come from high altitude areas in the Himalayas they will readily thrive in Britain given humus rich soils and shade from the heat of the sun. The genus Primula covers over 400 species which inhabit many continents, but almost all come from areas of cool summers with adequate moisture and humidity when in active growth. Easy and suitable for the ground of tubs and containers. This is one of a range of auriculas bred to be really garden worthy with strong stems that will hold the flowers up well above the foliage without bowing over. ![]() ![]() The double flowers are like minature roses coloured in flesh pink, shaded deep apricot in the centre. Primula auricula ‘Late Romantic’ is a subtle little beauty.
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