Primula juliae

[Rodger Whitlock]

Here in Victoria, BC, we have Primula juliae from three distinct sources: a nursery in Seattle, a nursery in Fruitvale, BC who got their stock from an old lady in Rossland, BC, and a nursery in Ontario.

All three are thrums, and the two I have (Seattle and Rossland) are visually indistinguishable. It may be that all are the same clone.

Is anyone anywhere growing pin-eyed P. juliae? Or are all the plants of it in cultivation thrums? Seed seems to be non-existent, and to produce viable seed, it would be advantageous to cross pins and thrums as pin-pin and thrum-thrum crosses are notoriously infertile.

Footnote: The eponymous Julia was the daughter of the gentleman after whom Paeonia mlokosewitschii was named.

[Giles]

Dear Rodger,
There is a commercial source of Primula juliae seed in the UK:
http://www.seeds-by-size.co.uk/
Don't be put off by the website (which looks a bit basic), I have ordered seed from here many times without problem.
You can pay using paypal.
I have plants of P.juliae but can't remember if they are pins or thrums.

[Maggi Young]

This page is interesting.....  http://www.alaskaprimroses.org/articles/PrimulaJuliae.htm

Luit posted a hybrid of this type in the Primula March pages...here...
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3160.msg84599#msg84599   you will see that it is a pin. Not a pure P. juliae, of course, but a close approximation! 

[Rodger Whitlock]

This page is interesting.....  http://www.alaskaprimroses.org/articles/PrimulaJuliae.htm

Luit posted a hybrid of this type in the Primula March pages...here...
http://www.srgc.org.uk/smf/index.php?topic=3160.msg84599#msg84599   you will see that it is a pin. Not a pure P. juliae, of course, but a close approximation! 

Yes, it's pretty close, but the blue color is a giveaway. The flower stems appear longer than in pure P. juliae, perhaps due to ancestry, perhaps due to being grown in a greenhouse with insufficient light. And yes, it is most definitely and emphatically a pin! I've never seen a primrose with such protruding stigmas before!

Mary Kordes article is interesting, but she fails to mention perhaps the most famous group of P. × pruhoniciana cultivars, Ahrends' "Schnee" series. Sadly, most of those appear to be out of commerce, but the two I have ('Schneesturm' and 'Schneetreiben') are real charmers, combining the dwarf, small-flowered character of P. juliae with pretty cream-colored flowers. They differ only slightly in growth habit and flowering season. Both are pin-eyed.

To my eyes, one of the great attractions of P. juliae is its small flowers, a welcome change from the overblown hybrid primroses so common today. Plants with very small flowers are rather difficult to use well in the garden, but if you work toward sheets of them, the result is beyond beautiful. Primula juliae is one such plant; Anemone caucasica and Acis autumnalis others. There's work for the hybridizers there, creating plants that retain the dwarf stature and small flowers of P. juliae, but with a greatly expanded color range and sufficient vigor to spread well.

[Lesley Cox]

The illustration in Mary Kordes' article is badly misleading as it appears that it is meant to be P. juliae when in fact, it seems to be one of the Cowichan primroses. The primrose in Luit's picture are similar to some of the x Juliana (or x Pruhonoica) hybrids but they too, bear little resemblance to their parent, true P. juliae which is a creeping plant, just a very few centimetres in height and with quite small, rosy-purple flowers, nowhere near blue.


This is the foliage of P. juliae but I have no image in flower at present. I'll try for one in the spring.

In NZ at present there is a plant doing the rounds as P. 'Mina,' named for the elderly lady from whose garden it came. However, it is, in fact, just P. juliae, no different in any way from the species. Someone said it is a smaller-growing plant but not so. I would suggest that in Mina's garden it was growing in less than ideal conditions. In other gardens, it grows exactly the same as P. juiliae.

[Lvandelft]

you will see that it is a pin. Not a pure P. juliae, of course, but a close approximation! 

True Primula juliae is a totally different plant comparing to P. Hall Barn Blue.
The plant I saw here has different leaves, comparing with the most P. x pruhoniciana Hybr. I know.
Therefore I asked if anybody knows more about parentage, because I think some other parent is involved.

[Olga Bondareva]

This is true P. juliae.  Lesley's picture of leaves is true to. Plant in the article is a hybrid.

[Lesley Cox]

YES!

[Roma]

This is Primula juliae which I bought fro Aberconway nursery last year.  The flowers appear to be pin.

[Lesley Cox]

So worthwhile looking for seed then. Was it Barnhaven who listed it by the packet?

[Giles]

No, Lesley, it was 'Seeds by Size'
http://www.seeds-by-size.co.uk/
I sent some left over P.juliae (obtained from this source) to a fellow forumist, and they reported it had germinated ok.

[Lesley Cox]

Oh yes, I remember now. It's probably too late for this year but I'll make a note) to order some next year.

[David Pilling]

No, Lesley, it was 'Seeds by Size'
http://www.seeds-by-size.co.uk/
I sent some left over P.juliae (obtained from this source) to a fellow forumist, and they reported it had germinated ok.

Today's "can you tell what it is yet" contest

These are some of the seed Giles gave me, sown on 20th. Feb. 2009. I've always avoided "Seeds by Size", these have made me reconsider.

[Lesley Cox]

Mmmmmm...they look very vigorous for such a small species. But that is probably just spring growth and they'll "compact" as they age. I do hope they're true and not just a x Juliana type of hybrid. Perhaps you won't know until they flower.

[David Pilling]

I should have said, they're in a 2" (5cm) pot.