Primroses and Other Beauties

I don’t think  I’ve rhapsodized about primroses lately.  Probably it’s way overdue.  I was just reading an article about them in my latest Garden Making magazine and I remembered how much I admired their wonderful colours and neat shapes.  There’s also nothing wrong with a flower that blooms in the spring, (tra-la!).  The article was about the “double” primroses that are mutations of the regular, “single” (already stunning) varieties.  Apparently, even when you buy “double” seeds from a grower, only about 25% will actually have the double blooms, so bringing them up from seed is a crapshoot. It’s still a win/win situation because you’d end up with beautiful flowers either way.

Primroses grow like a ready-made bouquet coming up from the ground. Its leaves can be comparatively large, similar to lettuces,  and form themselves around the middle like hands offering up the flowers that are produced in merry little bunches, sometimes with edges or eyes of a contrasting colour.  The double ones look like miniature roses or double impatiens.  (In case you’re in doubt, the word “double” in this case is a misnomer, there is an abundance of rosy petals, not merely twice as many as on the ‘single’ varieties).  I planted some primroses in the past, but they haven’t thrived in my yard.  I think I may have put them in the wrong spot.  The article says to find an east-facing location, protected from the hot afternoon sun.  I’m determined to try again.  Heading to Jasmin to do some shopping before the end of April, when their early-bird special runs out.  Here’s a double primrose I may look for. Miss Indigo is her name. You can easily see the lettuce-type leaves in this photo.

Another plant I’m going to look for while I’m there, and I’ve said this every year for several years-if not here than certainly to myself- is pulsatilla.  This is a very attractive little plant with hairy leaves and pink or purple flowers that bloom early in spring.  Whenever I see them in other people’s gardens I exclaim at how sweet they are and covet them, yet when that short season is over I promptly forget their existence until the following year.  This year will be different!  Here’s an example of pulsatilla:

I’ve already been into the garden a bit, doing the obligatory clean-up of all the plants I was too lazy to trim in the fall.  It’s invigorating in the crisp spring air (and has it ever been crisp!) to spend time making things tidy.  Looking forward to the fun of planting, dividing, transplanting, and all the rest of it.

Here’s Prokofiev’s Piano concerto #3 played by Yuja Wang in Moscow 2012.  It’s an incredible piece and she’s a wonderful player.  The OSM was supposed to play this with her this week, but we ended up playing Rachmaninov’s  3rd with her instead, not so shabby either. Enjoy!

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