Unusual Cowslip seeding
I grow cowslips from my own collected seed each year as its just so easy and they are great spring plants. I know that they can cross pollinate quite readily and often find variations in the flower colour, size and form.
This year, I came across this one. It has flowers bourne on upright stems although not as tall as cowslips. It looks great, the white edging to the petals real make the flower stand out. The downside is that the slugs love the flowers and regulary find the flowers gone within a day of flowering.
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The genes for those colours must be in the somewhere. I've just had a palish pink appeared, looks primrose in shape rather than cowslip but both are growing nearby and both could be involved.
That looks a nice one though
In the sticks near Peterborough
This is a bee caused hybrid betwixt the native Cowslip and one of the coloured monstrosities sold as Primula. There is a problem in that the genes which causes the colour are contaminating the native stock. There are patches of pale pink Primroses down our lane. Sad to lose the native ones to these hybrids.
Should I cull mine do you think Berghill? It's not an improvement on the original.
And what about those primrose/cowslip crosses? Primrose colour but like a oversized cowslip.
In the sticks near Peterborough
Primulas will do these sort of things - basically, keep it if you like it, pull it out if you don't - can't stop bees doing their thing - thank goodness!
Exactly, keep them if they are nice, dispose if you do not like them.
Primula veris and Primula vulgaris cross in the wild to form False Oxlip.
We are however, into the same problem area as with Spanish Bluebells and our Natives ones. How long before there are no truly wild unconntaminated Primula veris'vulgaris/scotia/ elatior left in the wild?
It is a major problemin many ways, that our small native flora (and comnpared to our European neighbours, the number of endemic species here is tiny) is being overwhelmed by 'strangers' as well as habitat loss.
There is a local market stall that is selling deep orange "cowslips" and have to say they are vile things. There is something elegant about the native cowslip.
Now thats pretty,as for slugs have you tried coarse sand around the base of your plants as snails and slugs wont crawl on sand they hate it.Or diatomaceous earth which looks like flower to us but is broken glass to slugs.
Bill