I find it hard to ignore the word “prim” in primrose and primula, a detail that can account for at least some of my longstanding aversion to the plant. I’m coming around to it though and recently acquired one with deep reddish/purple blooms (a photo soon) that I’m pretty excited about.
After-all, anything that blooms in early spring and doesn’t cost a gazillion dollars (I’m looking at you, Hellebore) is fine by me.
I love the primulas. They have always been one of my favourites because of their bloom time. They bloom in late fall too. I have pictures of last year’s snow fall with blooming primulas.
Agree. I think any plant, first out, would grab my attention as I’m itching for spring and color.
I’ve got two primrose sitting on my windowsill right now and they are gorgeous. Ironically enough, I got a yellow and a purple one. The yellow was nice and fragrant the purple was a dud, so I became partial to the yellow. Now the purple is still blooming and the yellow has held off, and now I’m partial to the purple… and it still doesn’t have a fragrance…
Dang. I don’t think my purple flower has a fragrance. It just lost points.
Mine was pink…it is no more, I think I set it too close to the freakishly cold windowsill. It did not have a fragrance either, but it did not deserve to freeze to death. RIP.
The prim in Primula is actually the latin primus (first), referring to the fact that this is one of the earliest flowers. This from my handy-dandy ‘A to Z of Plant Names’ by Hamlyn Press.
barry: I didn’t consult my gardeners’ Latin book before posting (I sometimes do), but was thinking more of the association with the word prim meaning, “stiffly formal.”
The Latin origin is nicer.
I have a few different species of Primula in my garden. I look forward to seeing their fresh green shoots and pretty flowers emerging In my garden. They bloom at the same time as Muscari, making a pretty spring picture.
Hee, you should name it Les Claypool the Primrose.
Yeah, I tend to think of them as prissy, but my 25 cent clearance rack rescues from several years ago are still around despite my neglect.