Plant of the Month – June

Primula bulleyana is one of the finest and most rewarding members of the Candelabra Balf. section of primula. It is native to North–west Yunnan in China and, although readily available as the true species, hybridises so readily in the garden that it can rapidly lose its identity.  While I will always endeavour to retain some plants, “true” to type, I am very happy to interplant it with the following species in order to create a lovely strain of hybrids, merging together to form pleasing shades of “pastel colours”: PP. chungensis, pulverulenta and bulleyana ssp. beesiana.

The true species displays flowers of a clean orange colour, while its subspecies, P. b. ssp. beesiana has purple flowers. The flowers are borne in tiers or candelabras and when grown in a damp, slightly shaded position will provide many weeks of welcome colour from late May into June. This species associates splendidly with the more vigorous Meconopsis cultivars such as M. ‘Huntfield’ and ‘Susan’s Reward’, as well as astilbe, rodgersia and bergenia.

Propagation is quite straight forward and where possible, in order to maintain vigour, plants raised from seed from true stock are recommended. Congested clumps can be divided at any time out with the flowering season. If you are not confident that the chosen site will retain sufficient moisture, I have been successful with generous mulching with well-rotted horse manure.

Plants can be obtained from:

Long Acre Plants, www.plantsforshade.co.uk
Kevock Garden plants, www.kevockgarden.co.uk