New varieties

An important period for the development of the primrose was 1930-60. During this period, an American, Florence Bellis, set about breeding new and unique colours. Hand-pollinating her plants, she was able to create strains of colours never seen before. Among the most famous of her primroses are ‘Osiered Amber’ with bronzed leaves and amber yellow flowers and the sweetly scented ‘Barnhaven Gold’ with large, richly coloured blooms. Her work continues thanks to Lynne and David Lawson at Barnhaven Primroses in France. Another boost for these lovely flowers came more recently with the Kennedy Irish primroses. Joe Kennedy has been breeding primroses for 35 years. His aim is to bring back some of the old charm of traditional varieties in modern, healthy long-lived garden plants. Many of the large primroses sold in spring have been bred to bloom quickly from seed, to provide early colour. Their large, floppy flowers have no resistance to spring rain and cold. They cannot survive the rigours of a British spring, and rarely last more than one season. Joe wanted to create varieties that were both showy and colourful, but also good garden plants. The first of his introductions were made available commercially in 2013. These were ‘Innisfree’, with rich red flowers above dark leaves, and ‘Drumcliffe,’ with larger, lilac pink blooms. Some of the old varieties grown today are of Irish origins. These include the deep pink ‘Kinlough Beauty’. This has passed its white star markings to Kennedy’s new ‘Avondale’.