Primulas

A clump of Cowslips, Primula veris, is currently flowering in our front garden. How it got there I have no idea; certainly I didn't plant it. The specific name veris can mean 'of spring', or 'true'. Certainly it flowers in spring and it is this meaning which is probably the correct one. In medieval times the name primula veris was applied to the daisy, and meant 'firstling of spring'. How the name became applied to the cowslip is something we should ask Linnaeus - but it is a bit late for that now.


In any case, I am reasonably certain that the specimen in our front garden is not the true cowslip; its flowers are slightly too large and robust for that. It is probably of garden origin, but seedlings grown from this could eventually revert to something closer to the wild form. The true wild form flourishes at the eastern end of Boddington Reservoir.

A form of Primula veris has appeared in our front garden.

5 April, 2020

Sadly I know of nowhere within at least half a mile where indisputably wild Primroses, Primula vulgaris, grow. However, adjacent to Stefen Hill Pocket Park, a garden has a fine display of what are surely the real thing.

Although growing in a garden on Stefen Hill there can be no doubt

that these are genuine primroses. 5 April, 2020

Where these two primula species grow together hybrids can occur which are easily mistaken for the true Oxlip, Primula elatior. The genuine oxlip is however rare and has apparently never grown in Northamptonshire.

The only primula I am tempted to grow is the Bird's-eye Primrose, Primula farinosa. It is a distinctly uncommon plant from, for example, the Skipton area of Yorkshire. It likes rather limy soil and that is not a problem; it does however also like damp conditions and that would prove tricky.

I have to be realistic, I really don't think I can provide the conditions for

the Bird's-eye Primrose.

No, lovely though it is, I'll have to give it a miss.