Primulas January 2009

[Giles]

Some primulas in flower:
Back left:     P.moupinensis
Back right:   P. x scapeosa  (P.scapigera x P. bracteosa)
Front:         P.petiolaris 

[Lesley Cox]

Giles, do you find that P. x Scapeosa is or can be stoloniferous? I no longer have this hybrid but a few Australian friends have one which looks exactly like it but sends stolons out freely, especially along the edge of a concrete path, or along wooden sleepers or fallen tree fern trunks and grows into quite large mats. They aren't sure of its source and can't remember a name - if it ever had one for them. It would be good to identify it properly.

[Giles]

Dear Lesley,
I only got the P. x scapeosa from Ron McB last June, and it hasn't produced any stolons so far.
I have both of its parents P. bracteosa and P. scapigera and both of them do produce stolons with me, so it might just be a matter of time.
The worst one for stolons with me is P.hoffmaniana which becomes a total mess in no time at all.
Giles

[Maggi Young]

Primula hoffmaniana .....don't know that name... is it syonymous with something else, Giles?

[Giles]

ummmm...
I gather it was decided that what was originally introduced and labelled as P.moupinensis wasn't really a P.moupinensis (and it was renamed P.hoffmaniana)
and then they found something far more exciting to call the 'real' P.moupinensis.
P.hoffmanina is little more than a weed/rampant ground cover.

[Maggi Young]

Thanks, Giles, I really must pay more attention when "they" fiddle with the names!

[Lesley Cox]

You mean there's actually a "bad" primula? And I assumed every p was a good p.

In view of the x Scapeosa parent making stolons, it's possible either one of those is the Australian plant. I'll keep that in mind next time I'm over there. (Love the way I say that, as if it could be next week.)

[Otto Fauser]

You mean there's actually a "bad" primula? And I assumed every p was a good p.

In view of the x Scapeosa parent making stolons, it's possible either one of those is the Australian plant. I'll keep that in mind next time I'm over there. (Love the way I say that, as if it could be next week.)

     Lesley,
 I think we have the name now , P.x scapeosa , the one that romps over wooden sleepers in my garden ,and it tolerated the 43C heat reasonably well today .

[Paul T]

OK, I'm late reading this..... there are stoloniferous Primulas??? 

[Lesley Cox]

Well, yes, actually. That is, they are creeping perhaps rather than truly stoloniferous, crawling over the ground (or sleepers in Otto's garden) to make a nice patch. Seems to apply to generallylow plants such as P. juliae and some of the Petiolares section such as the hybrid x Scapeosa (scapigera x bracteosa).

[Paul T]

It never ceases to amaze me the things you can learn here.  Before this topic I honestly never would have thought there were creeping Primulas. 

[Luc Gilgemyn]

There's much more things you don't know yet Paul.. 

[Paul T]

Luc,

If I thought I knew everything there is to know, I'd likely top myself.  No point living if there's nothing new to learn.