A late-winter look back at some of the best and most interesting primroses of last spring and summer.
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Below, three Primulas new to my garden: tiny Primula scotica, yellow Primula luteola, and leafy Primula palmata. P palmata survived one winter, and then produced lots of leaves but no flowers in its first full year in the garden. Will it survive another winter, and bloom this spring?
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European alpine species: Primula pedemontana alba (white); Primula daonensis with Primula valcuvianensis (likely ID) below it; Primula villosa; Primula auricula ssp. auricula, and Primula marginata ‘Barbara Clough.’
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Hybrids of European alpine Primulas: ‘Aire Mist’ (white, P allionii hybrid); ‘Broadwell Milkmaid’ (cream, P allionii hybrid); a pink, bloom-covered Primula allionii selection or hybrid that came with the wrong name; ‘Wharfedale Bluebell;’ and another P. marginata hybrid, ‘Gordon’ (with pink Androsaces, A. halleri or A. hedreantha).
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Juliana primroses (hybrids with Primula juliae): a dark red Barnhaven ‘Fireflies’ seedling; Primula ‘David Valentine,’ with tall stems like its parent, Primula elatior; a vigorous pink seedling; and three striped seedlings with ‘Dark Rosaleen’ parentage.
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Some named show and fancy auricula cultivars, probably not many, can grow and bloom well in the open garden: here, ‘Chaffinch,’ ‘Crimple,’ ‘Moon Fairy,’ and ‘Night and Day.’ Good bloom depends on removal of small basal leaf rosettes. A plant with more than two large leaf rosettes (and/or with several small, developing rosettes, or offsets, beneath) is unlikely to bloom well in any situation. (Border auriculas are another matter; many of them can bloom well from a clump of large rosettes.)
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Miscellaneous others: Douglasia montana, with Androsace carnea behind; Primula rusbyi (a group of three plants); Primula halleri; and a Cyclamen purpurascens seedling.
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Primrose Fields 