Primulas in borders

As perennial borders come to life with warming weather, much of the ground is occupied by rapidly expanding clumps of green.  Amongst these will be bulbs but also early-flowering perennials.  Primulas offer some of the best sources of spring colour, although they are oddly underrated.  The name 'primula' comes from the same root as 'primary' – named by Linnaeus as they were amongst the first flowers of spring.  For many, they are most familiar as the 'polyanthus' sold by innumerable businesses up and down the country.  I am convinced that the size of their flowers gets bigger every year, and hereby hangs a tale.

'Bred to be bright' clearly, but not 'bred to last'.  I once saw a trial result which showed that as flowers get bigger, the ability of the plants to survive more than one season is reduced, so there is good biological science behind a suspicion of the bold and brash.  'Ancestral' primulas: primroses, cowslips and oxslips are much more resilient garden plants, but offer only yellow.  Seek out older strains of polyanthus however and there are some pleasant surprises.  'Barnhaven' varieties may only be available as rather expensive seed but every one comes up and the plants are truly perennial, re-emerging every spring to fill the gaps between perennial clumps.  Their colours are infinitely more subtle than the garish garage forecourt offerings, and many have long enough stems to be regarded as cut flowers.

As those clumps of green steadily expand, primulas begin to slow down, and as summer advances, they tend to become semi-dormant, not minding being heavily shaded by taller perennials.  Come the winter and tall perennials cut back, they'll respond to milder weather and start to grow again – their annual lifecycle complementary to summer flowering species.