Japanese Primulas
I’ve been immersed in plants and gardens for a long time now, but from time to time I still come across groups of plants that I don’t know much about - and until last year, Japanese primulas (Primula sieboldii) were on that list. In Japan, as with other groups of plants, they are known as sakurasoo and have an almost cult following, having been grown since at least the Edo period. In popular myth, the Japanese gods are said to have created the flowers from the petals of the ephemeral cherry blossom as it fell to the ground and the plant is sometimes called the cherry blossom primula for its blossom-like flowers. Last spring I went to interview Penny and Melvyn Jones (Penny’s Primulas) who hold the largest National Collection of P. sielboldii, and I was introduced to a whole polytunnel full of flowers, each one slightly different. In Japan, the flowers are classified according to their shape, which may be flat and rounded, ball-shaped, fringed, twisted or deeply notched like snowflakes, and the more unusual the flower, the more cherished it is. Colours can be deep magenta pink, lavender-mauve, palest pink or pure white, and often the flowers are darker on the reverse of the petals.
They may look delicate, but they are reasonably easy to grow in the UK or coolish temperate climates - as long as you heed some fairly specific requirements. In the wild Primula sieboldii grows on the edge of woodland, in moist but well-drained grassy meadows, so its ideal home is in dappled shade, perhaps along a hedgerow. In deep shade, they won’t flower. They are quite forgiving about soil type, as long as the soil isn’t too waterlogged or dry, but they don’t like extreme heat, and their root runs prefer to be kept cool, so it’s a good idea to grow them where other plants can grow up and shield them from the hottest sun in summer. The Jones gave me a small seed tray with some seedlings to take away with me, and I thought I’d lost them over the summer, as they completely disappeared - but then I remembered that they had told me that the plants often disappear completely underground in summer in their period of dormancy, and in the spring when I saw tiny green shoots emerging, I pulled the seedlings apart and potted some of them up, and planted others in a shady border. And they are all flowering now! I’m displaying the potted plants on my auricula theatre in a shady corner, and they seem to be happy, while the others are nestled among ferns, and look even happier. I would thoroughly recommend trying them. Because mine are unknown seedlings, they don’t have cultivar names - but have a look at Penny’s Primulas for a huge range of cultivars. They do mail order too.
