Primula, Parties and Prizes – The 2017 National Primrose Show Delights Many

This past weekend Joe and I hosted our annual cocktail party for the American Primrose Society who held their National Primrose Show in association with the New England Primula Society near us at Tower Hill Botanic Garden. Since 2001 this has become an annual event, well, party for us. I’m beginning to think that The New England Primrose Society is really just a name for many of our best friends – a group of plant people, be they experts, beginners, or just people who are curious about interesting plants. Many really don’t even enter primroses in the show, but they come for the social aspect.

Every May around the 5th we usually host a welcoming party and garden tour (if you can call it that!) at the house. Not that we have a very interesting garden at all, and to be honest, I’m kind of embarrassed to have folks strolling through our messy garden, but the greenhouse usually still has some interesting plants in it, and there are a few choice plants here and there about the garden. The truth is that most of the people visiting have serious gardens, the sort that are on real garden tours, part of conservancies and even botanic gardens, but everyone is polite and cheery ( we prime them with lots of wine and food – and really, since I like to cook, the food is probably a good leveler that gets everyone chatting and comfortable. 

This year was extra special as the special guests flown out to speak were Jodie Mitchell and Lynn Lawson, proprietors of an infamous primrose nursery – Barnhaven Primroses, now located in France. If you have even wanted to get seed or plants of some of the finest primroses available, with a provenance – than Barnhaven is your source – yes, they ship to the US. I have to say this here – if you’ve ever had problems growing primroses, my seed-raised Primula polyanthus from Barnhaven are the most hardy and sturdy of my garden primroses. You can check out their site, here, or order their new book From Timber Press (see below).

The Barnhaven name is so well known amongst primrose enthusiasts that it seems silly to mention it here except that others who are not primrose growers need to know some of these base-line secrets if they ever expect to achieve any success in raising these sometimes fussy (yet exceptionally hardy)plants.  Barnhaven is a name that originated in Oregon in a small but eventually very well known nursery that specialized in primroses ion the 1930’a – it’s a long (and fascinating story) that you can read about here.

Have you struggled with primroses in your garden? Well, here’s a tip – if you’ve lost interest with primroses – I ask you to give them a second chance, but promise me this –  forgot about silly names of strains long lost such as “Pacific Giants’ or a nursery-purchased plant that you’ve seem to buy every year but then gave up growing.  Primroses may be a bit fussy, I agree, but not all of them are. I have to say that my longest lived primroses mostly came from other members divisions or seedings that I obtained but becoming a member of the primrose society.

I  learned very quickly after joining the American Primrose Society that they are in fact very easy plants to grow, but for some reason, they are never offered for sale at nurseries or garden centers. Probably because they dislike pots, wintering over in hoop houses or aren’t in bloom when they need to be sold. A forced primrose is rarely a happy one that will want to return.

Primula is a big family, and there are all sorts to learn about, so you should first get a good book that simplifies the dozen or so broad typed (alpines, auriculas, garden types, those which like wet feet, etc). You can learn it. Believe be, I did.

Then, find out what species or strains would do well in your garden conditions. I imagine that there is a primrose just right for you. This is far too much work for a nursery to undertake, since they order plants from distributors and most plants need to have a broad application – the need to survive not being watered by staff, they need to be regionally hardy for a wide range of conditions, and no primula can do that.

Primroses which were once so popular seem to be finding a new audience with curious and more informed gardeners – I think that the future of primroses is bright, with more and more species and hybrids becoming available from a few on-line nurseries – seek them out, and try some of the fine spring garden plants which we rarely see at garden centers.

If you visited a primrose society member, all they would need to so is to step out into their garden and dig up a division of one that they know would do well for you. That’s it. Your only other option is to learn about primroses, what the most common varieties and species require, and then raise the right species or strain yourself.

Don’t depend on your nursery or garden center to do this. Most garden center primroses were raised in a distant location, probably wintered over in a hoop house with protection, and never saw a garden until you set them out.

Raise some seed from Jelitto or Barnhaven however in a flat, and then transplanted out late in summer, and next year you may have that primrose path you’ve dreamed about. And, it will return year after year. There really isn’t another way when it comes to garden primroses like P. Veris, the Polyanthus types and other garden primula like P. denticulata. If you want the harder to grow auricula, then I have to be honest – they are much more difficult. Get a book and do your homework. Begin with the easier auricula like the border auricula or the alpine auricula, for they are a bit more forgiving (in a well, drained alpine bed, or an improvised alpine house). If you want show auricula or doubles, they are even more challenging, but very rewarding once you master them. Success is increased if you join a primrose society. You need help with these, and there are many who can provide secrets to their success.

Overall – success has more to do with what species or strains one obtains, and where one plants them than anything else. You can master their culture. If I can, you can. Don’t give up on primroses, learn about the different species and garden types by reading – it can get confusing, but this new book from Timber Press will help, and then try the right ones that will survive in your garden.

And never- ever –  confuse Evening Primrose (oenothera) with the TRUE primroses (those organized within the genus primula)! Not the same thing.

On Saturday night, we hosted the Primrose Society again for a second night. this time a sit-down banquet since they could not get a restaurant together that could handle all of their needs (handicap access, food allergies, etc). I offered to cook a pasta bar with lots of selections and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves perhaps more, since with a few tables set (a bit more fancy this time) folks could talk and meet each other. People flew in from many states, and a home cooked meal allowed people to chat and enjoy the awards ceremony better.