Barnhaven Cowichans
These stunning strains of Polyanthus Primula are real historical gems bred by Florence Bellis in the 1950s and kept going ever since by painstaking hand-pollination. They have astonishing glowing colours with either no eye at all or the tiniest yellow eyelet. Most of the plants have bronze foliage.
The original Cowichan plant arrived by chance in a garden in the Canadian hamlet of Cowichan Station. It had dark bronzy leaves and flowers of an intense ruby red which was continued solidly into the centre of the flower, unrelieved by the normal yellow eye. The plant appeared to be sterile. By the time that Florence Bellis bought her plant, it had been weakened by over-enthusiastic division for commercial production. Florence's plant flowered only once, but she managed to coax some pollen out of it which she used on her famous polyanthus ''Kwan Yin''. After a number of years of hand-pollination and selection she produced the Barnhaven strain of Cowichan polyanthus.
Flowering period: Late Winter – mid-spring.
Height: 15-20cm.
Culture: Barnhaven Cowichan polyanthus can be grown in pots or in semi-shade in the garden. They look stunning with spring bulbs in contrasting colours.
For tips on growing polyanthus Cowichans see the section on Primroses.
