Pink primula flower head

Sweet pinks: Primulas

Posted on by Ann Mackay

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The colours of these primulas make me think of children’s sweets (candies if you’re in the US). Radiantly bright, they’re just the thing to make the still-cold days of late winter and early spring feel better.

Polyanthus primroses (AKA ‘English primroses’) like these have been bred to have a great range of brilliant colours. Garden centres have row upon row of them in gleaming reds, pinks, oranges, yellows, blues and purples. There are even striped flowers like this ‘Zebra Blue’.

Jolly as they are, it can be difficult to make these plants look at home in the more restrained borders of my garden. Gradually I’ve been trying for a more natural look to some areas, so the colours of highly-bred primroses can look too brash and artificial.

Rather than trying to find a place where they might look right in a border, I potted these up and parked them by our front door. They looked good in their pots but sadly they eventually suffered having their roots eaten by vine weevils! (Vine weevil grubs eat the roots of some plants that are grown in containers. Plants growing in the soil are much safer.)

It’s a couple of years since I lost these plants. I’ll probably try again with something that will fit the look of the garden better and can be planted in the ground. (Such as the UK’s pretty yellow native primrose, Primula vulgaris.) And then there’s the rich colours of the dainty ‘candelabra’ primulas which would be happy in the bog garden that I’m making…tempting!

Pink primula flower head
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Published by Ann Mackay

Photographer, mixed-media art adventurer and completely daft about plants.......

19 thoughts on “Sweet pinks: Primulas”

  2. Primulas remind me of our Phlox, but I see they’re in completely different family. There are native Primulas in the U.S., but they’re clustered in the western third of the country, and the very far north. I don’t remember seeing them in large store displays; they may be so unsuitable for our climate that they’re not worth putting up for sale. They certainly are pretty; that bright yellow eye brings a smile!

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      1. They get a bit ratty here due to S&S so I pulled all mine out (they were pot toppers) although one purple one has survived! My much more subtle candelabra primulas simply disappeared after two years.

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    1. The top flower seems to have thinner petals so that the light could shine through more easily. I think it’s one of my favourite ways to photograph flowers – that and playing with light in the garden.

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  7. Ah primula season. The top picture looks so pretty with light shining through the petals, if that’s what is making them look so delicate.
    I think the damp has got to mine, but they are old.

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    1. Thanks Jill! Yes, the light is shining through from behind – one of my favourite ways to photograph flowers. 🙂 (LOL, I think that the damp has got to me too – maybe I’m getting old!)

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