Cherrie's Garden Notes
I just love primroses, don鈥檛 you?
And my favourites by far are the buttery yellow modest natives, Primula Vulgaris.
At the moment I鈥檓 patiently waiting for flowers from a cluster of plants given to me by a friend and currently at home in a shiny dark green pot.
I must look around the garden and see where I鈥檒l put them next once they have had their day in the pot. Divided and replanted they will bring their soft bright lemony light into small corners of the garden.
If you are lucky enough to have a colony growing wild near you, at their best they are pretty enough to make you stop in your tracks to take a closer look.
I remember another devotee telling me some years ago that they used to make an annual springtime sortie to a primrose-dappled mossy bank in County Antrim. simply to delight in the demure beauty of this modest little plant.
If you grow them in the garden though you will need to lift and divide them every so often or they will simply dwindle and disappear almost before your eyes.
A word of caution too, to remind us all that they are protected when growing wild. Some garden centres will have commercially grown natives if you like the idea of a garden made more lovely by the inclusion of native plants.
Garden centres and many a corner shop will also have their bright faced primula cousins too in an eye-popping range of colours and they are just perfect for planting in tubs and containers and they are the plant of the moment, if you are looking for vibrant colour.
If more subtle colour is your thing, some of the plants in this week鈥檚 picture gallery might just appeal. They include Corylopsis pauciflora, common name the Buttercup Witch Hazel, Chaenomeles 鈥淣ivalis鈥� or Japanese Quince ,the dwarf Cherry Tree 鈥淜ojo-No-Mai鈥�, tight buds of Rhododendron鈥� Lutteum鈥� and some un-named but lovely rain dappled early daffodils.
