Primula 2013

Many thanks Amy, I have just ordered from them  ;)

Hoy wrote:

Dave, a pretty Linum anyway! Hope the Primulas survive!

Here's one that is currently doing okay Trond. Admittedly it's a purchased plant that has only been in my possession for a week...... ;D ;D

Primula capitata.

Cheers Dave.

Toole wrote:

Here's one that is currently doing okay Trond. Admittedly it's a purchased plant that has only been in my possession for a week...... ;D ;D

Primula capitata.

I do love this one but I have a hard time keeping it! I plant them near my stream in part shade, but they never stick around for more than 2 seasons. :(

I had several last year but the very bad winter (dry and cold) has finished a lot of them, I'm afraid  :(

Spring isn't officially here but the primulas are telling me it's close.
'Snow White'
'Freedom'
a Gold Lace
a Cowichan

They are so pretty Claire! And your Trillium next to your P. 'Snow White' is also looking gorgeous!

Claire, if this isn't spring, what then is spring?

The calendar spring arrived yesterday (March 20th), accompanied by the worst storm we've had this winter in terms of wind, rain, cold temperatures, and hail.  But anemones are pushing up, julie primulas are blooming, and in a couple of weeks (weather permitting) the garden will be wearing its spring garments.

Here the first day of spring is March 1st although much of the country still is snowcovered.

Snow flakes fell here overnight and this morning, but the ground is too warm for anything to stick.  Primulas are pretty tough characters and will come through the cooler temperatures without pausing.

More primulas are hitting their stride.
-- Primula denticulata
-- Primula elatior
-- Primula kisoana

It's interesting that I have both a pin and a thrum form of the pink P. kisoana.  The thrum form blooms earlier and is slightly darker than the pin form.  The white form that I have is a thrum and is blooming now too.

Nice! If I am lucky I will see my first primula in flower next week.

I don't know if the smaller Primulas in Section Auriculastrum are popular, or indeed available, in the USA but in the UK and Ireland they are very popular indeed particularly within the "Showing" community. The ones I'm thinking of particularly are P. marginata, P. allionii and the hybrids of them, and P x pubescens. Many specialize in them, many think they all look the same and hate them. On the basis that a picture is worth a thousand words (Jimmy Webb thought so!) here are a few for you to consider.

Primula x pubescens 'Henry Hall'
P. 'Lindum Moonlight'
P. 'Lindum Wedgewood'

The Lindum series, probably allionii hybrids, were bred in Lincoln (England), Lindum being the Roman name for Lincoln.

A few more:-

Primula 'Lindum Malcolms Mate'
P. marginata 'Drake's Blue'
P. allionii 'Jackie Richards'
P. allionii 'Stradbrook Variegated'
P. allionii 'Sapphire'

... and yet more!

Primula 'Broadwell Milkmaid'
P. 'Eden Blue Star'  a border auricula-good in the open garden

A few pics, of variable quality, of Primula vulgaris forms in my garden:-

P. 'Ingram's Blue'
P. juliae (bought as but isn't!)
P. 'Maisie Michael'
P. 'Snowcushion'

and to finish a selection of self sown hybrid Primroses from my garden to which my juliae but isn't has contributed greatly

Nice bit of colour Claire and David.

Here's Primula maximowiczii from seed --flowering late it doesn't appear that it will form a longer stem---what a colour. :-* :-*

Cheers Dave

Wow!  I love that red of P. maximowiczii.  I have only flowered it once and the color didn't match yours.  I have a pot of seedlings and hopes for this year.

David, nice plants! Primula is one of my favorite genera!

Dave, that colour is magnifique!

Not the first one to show in the spring but definitely welcome! Although the frost has gone the warmth hasn't arrived so the plants develop rather slowly. It is possibly a Primula denticulata.

Not much has happened in the last weeks. Today we had the warmest "day" 55F! - it lasted about 3 hours with sun before the clouds came back. Some plants managed to open their flowers but none are very floriferous though.
Primula marginata, P. auricula and P minima alba.

Primula secundiflora, raised from my own saved seed.

Absolutely gorgeous array of plants, David!
Primula maximowiczii is wonderful, Dave!  I grew it years ago and thought it was absolutely amazing.  
I don't have anything to compare to Claire's and Trond's but here is a curious one from the esteemed Pam Eveleigh at last year's CRAGS plant sale:
Primula palmata:

And a Primula allionii hybrid planted last year, 'Aire Mist':

Lucky for you to get P. palmata, Lori.  I saw it in Sechuan in 2007 and wished I had it!  It grew in damp pine woods and lit up the ground.

Primula pulverulenta, just starting to go over.

Nothing to compare with that splendour here, unfortunately, Claire!  I'm so envious - I love candelabra primroses but have never had good results from them at all - too dry, too cold??  Yours are absolutely beautiful.

Primula scotica is amazingly tolerant of dry-ish conditions - I didn't expect that.  Here is a bunch on the edge of the tufa garden:

Primula x 'Wanda Red Shades'...or so it was said to be.  Hmm, I think it's another Primula elatior ssp. meyeri, no? Perhaps some tags got mixed up.

Primula elatior ssp. meyeri, going over:

Primula polyneura or one of those it is confused with, starting to bloom:

Primula rusbyi, on one of divisions I did a couple of years ago... whacking the old plant into chunks seems to have restored a bit of life, not an amazing amount though.

Lori wrote:

Primula rusbyi on one of divisions I did a couple of years ago... whacking the old plant into chunks seems to have restored a bit of life, not an amazing amount though.

That's interesting Lori
My plant P.rusbyi,(I think i raised it from seed as P. ellisiae ?), has been in pot for a number of years now and flowered reqularly with a far amount of neglect in terms of feeding, however since it's repot of two years ago I haven't seen any flowers....
Maybe it needs a whacking as well  :-\  :)

Cheers Dave

An update on the Primula rusbyi whacking... it does seem to have revitalized the divisions.  There is a blooming stalk on 3 divisions now.

Primula x juliana 'Allure":

Grown many years ago from seed that was said to be Primula polyneura... apparently more likely a hybrid with, or P. saxatilis?

Seeing all of these lovely Primula, then recently attending (by chance) a Primula Society plant show at a local botanic garden, I'm realizing that I need much more than just two primula species in my garden, I need to work on that!  Years ago I grew P. ellisiae and rusbyi, in pots, and I miss them so.

Lori, your P. scotica look so strong, healthy, and deep colored, I've only managed a couple weak and expiring plants of this one.

David, does that eye-catching 'Ingram's Blue' have anything to do with Tim Ingram? It's a beautiful plant.

An unknown Primula germinated where I hadn't sown any and I have no similar in any other pots either. Edit: Probably P munroi syn involucrata.

A seedling from last year, possibly Primula sikkimensis.

Trond, a lovely soft yellow color.  Your unknown blue one from the previous page is pretty too, but I'm not knowledgeable enough about primula to offer any suggestions.

Got an answer at SRGC: Probably Primula munroi (syn P involucrata).

Here is another starting to flower now. Seems I have put it a wrong place as it seems to be very huge! Primula florinda.

Primula florindae started flowering a month ago.  This year is not as good a year as others have been, but there is still a nice selection of colors -- red, orange, bronze, and clear yellow.

A nice red form    and an orange one.