Unnamed Double Primroses
Florence Bellis began working on the Barnhaven double primroses in the 1950’s after finding a few specks of pollen clinging to the petals of the old variety ‘Marie Crousse’, and this exciting adventure has continued ever since with each successor of Barnhaven.
Breeding double primroses has been Lynne Lawsons’s passion since 2001. Basing her work on the rich source of genes that her predecessors at Barnhaven had developed, she has spent many a spring searching for scraps of pollen in the complicated flowers of the double primroses, patiently crossing and recrossing double pollen onto single flowers in the search for that perfect pink or the ultimate stripey blue or that special something that really stands out.
Double primroses don’t carry seed and have very little pollen and therefore necessitate a complicated breeding programme. Each crop takes 2 seasons of hand pollination to produce and then the proportion of double seedlings over the whole crop is roughly 25%. It is incredibly labour intensive but you should see our faces in the nursery when the first seedlings begin to flower…
From time to time, after several seasons of careful selection, observation and patient dividing (sometimes it can take up to ten years), we will decide that one or two extra special plants are worth naming and propagating. However, the hundreds of other seedlings that are not selected are still beautiful, hardy double primroses that come in a huge variety of colours and forms. These are the plants that we are offering for sale here.
Please note that although you can choose the colours, there will still be a wide varying degree of different shades and double forms. The plants in the photos are only representatives of what you may receive.
Flowering period: Early - late spring.
Height: 10-15cm.
Culture: As double primroses don’t produce seed they will produce lots of flowers for a longer period. This means they will need extra feeding and watering to keep them healthy. We also recommend dividing them every couple of years to renew the root stock.
For tips on growing Double Primroses, see this section.
