GARDENING - MARCH v2.qxp_Layout 2 21/02/2022 14:48 Page 1
GARDENING
In Victorian times, when there was a whole language using flowers as symbols, the primrose was a flower for lovers. It meant: I can't live without you
Early risers Warmer days are hopefully on the horizon and Elly West looks forward to the first flowering perennial of the season: the primrose
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pring is finally on its way and, to prove it, we see the first flowering perennials, our much-loved primrose, or Primula vulgaris. I love this time of year for spotting the plants that mark the changes of the seasons. They are few and far between so all the more noticeable and enjoyable. When the primroses come out under the magnolia tree in my garden, I know that the fun is starting for the year. Primroses are easily recognised by most as one of our common native wildflowers and are seen beneath hedgerows, in woodland clearings and on grass verges across the country. Their cheerful creamy-yellow flowers are an important nectar source for butterflies and early foraging bees and they have a simple beauty that calls out for a closer look. As a child I used to love Cicely Mary Barker's book, Flower Fairies, which was a collection of flower mythology and plant lore. I also loved the colour yellow so Barker’s Primrose Fairy was a firm favourite. It reads: “The Primrose opens wide in spring; her scent is sweet and good: It smells of every happy thing in sunny lane and wood.” Confession: I'm still a fan today. The name primrose is derived from the Latin prima rosa, or first rose, although it's not actually related to roses at all. However, the primula family is a large one, encompassing native cowslips, as well as all the more ornate and colourful cultivated forms found in garden centres and nurseries, including candelabra varieties and beautiful auriculas in jewel-like colours and dusky rare forms with exquisite markings that are highly collectable. 82 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE
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MARCH 2022
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No 208
In Victorian times, when there was a whole language using flowers as symbols, the primrose was a flower for lovers. It meant: I can't live without you. Primroses can be found across the centuries in poetry and literature. John Donne wrote The Primrose, equating the flower with womanhood. Shakespeare's plays use the primrose as a symbol for youth, femininity, but also early death. In Irish folklore, primroses in the doorway protected the home from fairies and, in 1881, a whole day was named after the spring flower – Primrose Day, held on 19 April, commemorates the death of British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. The primrose was his favourite flower and Queen Victoria sent a wreath of primroses to his funeral. Primulas are tough little perennials that are easy to grow and care for, and also easy to buy at this time of year, found en masse among the bedding displays in trays in garden centres, as well as outside supermarkets and greengrocers. Whether you choose the traditional pale-yellow flowers, or some of the many brightly coloured forms, they are ideal for giving an instant boost to containers, hanging baskets and window boxes, or at the front of a border, under deciduous trees or along the edge of a path. Once planted, they will merrily self-seed and spread themselves around, coming back year after year. They grow in sun or shade and they're not too fussy about soil type, preferring slightly damper soils, happy on the heavy clay many of us have in our gardens in and around Bristol. Flowers appear from February to May and leaves are often evergreen through winter, although they may die back in exposed,
