Primulas 2011.

[David Nicholson]

First flower of Primula geranifolia from seed collected by J. Jurasek in Yunnan
at 4000 m.

Very nice Rudi. I assume it likes a rich, moist place that doesn't dry out?

[Lesley Cox]

Knud, your possibly 'Wanda', is, as you say, not red enough so your camera is definitely showing on the blue side, which makes it really hard to imagine just what the other might be. Juliae is probably involved though I don't remember juliae as being so indented in the petal. Mine's not in flower at present of course. The foliage of juliae is bright green too, not the deep, reddish green of your picture.

[Giles]

Knud,
-this is the best match I could find, taken from the book 'A Heritage of Beauty' by Charles Nelson - a primrose called 'Eric Breakey' described as as a compact plant, foliage turing purple as season progresses and with deeply notched petals, darker than 'Wanda'....and they're both 'pins'.
Not bad (?)
I've reposted your photo with it to compare.

[Giles]

Primula szechuanica

[Knud]

Not bad (?)

Not bad - very good I would say! 'Eric Breakey' as pictured in Nelson's book certainly looks very similar. It is definitely a compact plant, especially during the early stage of flowering, but it spreads relatively quickly.  I will pay attention to the foliage as it ages.  As I recall it is always a very dark, reddish green, but I have not noticed it turning purple.

Lesley, the leaves of the primula I called 'possibly Wanda' are bright green, and altogether more robust than that which is now probably 'Eric Breakey'. We do have another Wanda-like primula that is redder in colour, like in your picture. I think it has more than one flower per stalk, I will check tomorrow. Does 'Wanda' have single-flowered stalks?

Thank you both,
Knud

[Knud]

Sorry about the "face", I do not know how it appeared, possibly three question-marks and no brackets: testing ()
Knud

[Knud]

Test failed, - I give up.
Knud

[Lesley Cox]

I think the true 'Wanda' has single flowers on the stems but stand to be corrected. Hardly a primula out here at present except some second-flowering auriculas. The colour of 'Eric Breakey' in Giles' picture, exactly matches a Wanda-type plant I have, called 'Jill' but how genuine this name is, I don't know. It's a colour I call indigo, which according to the rainbow, is between purple and blue, and should be dark. I've only met it here in NZ ('Jill,' I mean). In any case the foliage too, is like that of 'Wanda' rather than juliae. It does tend to darken after flowering though.

[Giles]

Lesley, re. 'Jill' :
-A dainty little primrose with deep green crinkled foliage, pin-eyed deep mauve flowers. Genders described the small centre as 'greenish-white' but it appears more yellow in the illustration in Mansfield's book. A plant under this name is grown in New Zealand, described as having 'deep violet flowers with gold eyes.' -
Primroses and Polyanthus by Peter Ward.

[ruweiss]

First flower of Primula geranifolia from seed collected by J. Jurasek in Yunnan
at 4000 m.

Very nice Rudi. I assume it likes a rich, moist place that doesn't dry out?

David,wonder if this nice plants survive the summer heat in my hot garden, I can offer a moist place,
but cannot change the temperatures. Saved some plants under the staging of the Alpine house.

[Lesley Cox]

This is 'Jill' as I have it. Wanda-like except for the colour. I'll try for closer pictures in the spring. It seems a little redder in Mansfield but colour printing back in 1942 was perhaps less accurate than nowadays. I especially like 'Jill' for her different colour and because planted with both 'Wanda' and vulg. 'Sibthorpii' the three as they meet and mingle make a beautifully coloured patchwork quilt.

[Lesley Cox]

Here is another for which I'm still wanting some kind of idenification. I've put it on the Forum before without success but maybe someone in the north has it in bloom now.



It was available in NZ for some years as Primula x Wockii or 'Wockii' but I can't find that such a name exists at all. Then some bright spark decided it must be P. rockii because it is yellow/orange but rockii is section Bullatae and this is definitely Vernales. The flowers and leaves are both crinkly, the flowers almost yellow at the edges while the ground colour is a solid and quite harsh orange. Such a distinctive plant surely must have a name of some sort. Never had seed on it but it has been used as a pollen parent I think with yellow polyanthus to make some nice plants.

[Hoy]

Lesley, I can't give you a name of your plant but are you sure it has a name? Here we can buy dozens of similar plants for spring display and they are all nameless from seed. The colours vary but a lot of them are a kind of yellow-orange. They are meant for short display but some are worth growing on - nameless.


It is the same with these auricles we can buy in spring. All are nameless seedlings with varying colours.

I grow some on my shed roof:

               

[David Nicholson]

(Attachment Link)

This is 'Jill' as I have it. Wanda-like except for the colour. I'll try for closer pictures in the spring. It seems a little redder in Mansfield but colour printing back in 1942 was perhaps less accurate than nowadays. I especially like 'Jill' for her different colour and because planted with both 'Wanda' and vulg. 'Sibthorpii' the three as they meet and mingle make a beautifully coloured patchwork quilt.

Lesley, this is what Peter Ward has to say about 'Jill' in "Primroses and Polyanthus: A Guide to the Species and Hybrids"

"A dainty little primrose with deep green crinkled foliage, pin-eyed deep mauve flowers. Genders described the small centre as 'greenish-white' but it appears more yellow in the illustration in Mansfield's book. A plant under this name is grown in New Zealand, described as having 'deep violet flowers with  gold eyes' "

I can't find any reference to Wockie though I seem to think I have seen it referred to somewhere> Maybe because it was in a previous post?

[Lvandelft]

It was available in NZ for some years as Primula x Wockii or 'Wockii' but I can't find that such a name exists at all. Then some bright spark decided it must be P. rockii because it is yellow/orange but rockii is section Bullatae and this is definitely Vernales. The flowers and leaves are both crinkly, the flowers almost yellow at the edges while the ground colour is a solid and quite harsh orange. Such a distinctive plant surely must have a name of some sort. Never had seed on it but it has been used as a pollen parent I think with yellow polyanthus to make some nice plants.

Primula x wockei is a hybrid primula with P. hirsuta hybrids( P. x arctotis) and P. marginata involved. The leaves resemble more the marginata types.