Prim and proper

Along with the wildflowers, Peter Dowdall says we might enjoy the blend of tradition and innovation in new Irish primroses.

How many of us wander down garden paths and walkways and stop in our tracks when we spot a wild primrose or dog’s tooth violet? It reminds us how long it has been since we saw them truly growing wild.

Can anyone reading really remember when last they saw wild cowslips? The sweetly-scented, nodding yellow, and sometimes but rarely, red flowers atop proud stems holding the blooms aloft over the rosette of green foliage beneath. Indeed I can’t remember.

I have planted many as an adult gardener and sure enough they are naturalising, but they are not truly wild. Increased use of herbicides in agriculture and more land used for development over the last 30 to 40 years are the main reasons for this decline in wildflowers.

Thankfully, many gardens are establishing wild flower meadows now and the balance is being restored somewhat but I would urge you to sow some wild flowers anywhere in your garden, and particularly if you are hoping to grow fruit bushes and trees, as the wildflowers are invaluable in attracting insects essential for pollination, namely bees and ladybirds.

Be that as it may, for the last 35 years dedicated amateur breeder Joe Kennedy has been developing new varieties of primrose.

In 2006, Joe began a collaboration with well-known nurseryman, Pat Fitzgerald. This has resulted over the last few years in the introduction of several new varieties of primrose. These new forms exhibit particular flower and leaf colours born out of the old Irish robust selections.

The first of these new plants was launched in 2011, the 50th Anniversary of the inauguration of John F Kennedy: the collaboration between a Fitzgerald and a Kennedy to bring Irish primroses all the way from Co Wexford near the old Kennedy homestead is a typically Irish coincidence.

Primrose ‘Moneygall’ which has very similar flower colour and habit to the traditional yellow primrose was presented to President Obama on St Patrick’s Day 2013 and since then this variety has found its way into the White House garden.

Many of the new varieties are dark-leafed forms and you will have seen these cropping up in garden centres around the country. Indeed I have started a bed of ‘Drumcliff ’ under my beech hedge and I am delighted so far with the effect, the purple leaves and pink flowers creating a lovely harmony underneath the coppery winter foliage, reminding me that spring is arriving, and the garden is once more awake.

Keep an eye out too for the velvety red flowers of ‘Inisfree’, it is quite simply stunning, regal primrose.

I have got my hands on several of the new varieties but two that I have yet to get, but are on my wishlist are primrose ‘Claddagh’ with its buttery yellow flowers nestled among the purple foliage, and Primula ‘Glengarriff ’ which produces deep pink flowers held on stems a few inches above the rosettes of leaves.

This year has seen the introduction of a superb new variety which will be of interest to all gardeners, but particularly those based in Cork.

Primula ‘Blarney Castle’ produces masses of flowers which are primarily rose pink in colour.

This is a low growing and spreading variety and to see it at its best, then take a trip soon to the gardens at Blarney Castle, as head gardener, Adam Whitbourn has just planted several hundred in the grounds.

Whether you want to keep your home and garden witch and evil spirit-free (and let’s face it, who doesn’t?), or maybe you just want to support a great development in Irish flora and horticulture, or you simply want a terrific flowering garden plant, whatever the reason, look out for these new plants and introduce some traditional favourites with a modern twist.