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Cowslip dying?

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  • SwedboySwedboy Posts: 394

    My red one came from a nursery who sold it with a lable saying Primula Veris Orange with Yellow.

    To me it looks like a cowslip but from the photos I have seen its really had to tell the difference. Sadly  I have no photos of my red one only one I found via google.

  • AirwavesAirwaves Posts: 82

    A friend , who is a keen gardener, visited the the other day. One of the first questions she asked was if I had any cowslips surviving. She in previous years had many , this year there is no sign of any healthy growth. I am more fortunate as a few of my plants have survived although there is mush where others were. We live in the north of England, normally members of the primrose family do well so perhaps it will be 'one of those years' we will be recalling in future

  • Jim MacdJim Macd Posts: 750
    Swedboy wrote (see)

    My red one came from a nursery who sold it with a lable saying Primula Veris Orange with Yellow.

    To me it looks like a cowslip but from the photos I have seen its really had to tell the difference. Sadly  I have no photos of my red one only one I found via google.

    Well, you can't rely on nurseries to label accurately unfortunately. They will more often than not 'dumb down' their labels because people like to 'know' what they're buying.  I have never seen a true orange or red Cowslip. You have to remember that primulas are one of the most promiscuous plants in the garden. They even have two other 'genders'. Pin and thrum. 

  • SwedboySwedboy Posts: 394

    Oh well. I hope it will establish itself where I planted it. It reminds me of home and chat's why I bought it. The old one is still looking very unhealthy. I doubt it will survive.

    I'd love the ones I have to cross. I am very fascinated by hybridization.

  • landgirl100landgirl100 Posts: 655

    Jim Macd, there are definitely red and orangey true Primula veris in the wild, I've seen some twice this year at different sites - and I can tell the difference!

  • Jim MacdJim Macd Posts: 750

    Hi lg I'm sure you have. According to Stace, 'New Flora of the British Isles', the red-brown form does exist albeit rarely, but I think it's more likely if it's being sold in a GC to be a hybrid, and without a genetic test we'd never know if it were a pure P. veris. However this

    https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3212/4554645585_4a1021edc0_z.jpg

     

    that Swedboy linked is most definitely a hybrid. And an ex-cowslip.

  • That is really beautiful - native wild cowslip or whatever!  

    Whilst on the subject of ID please could anyone tell me the names

    of the three species of wildflowers which have popped up in my

    wildflower garden uninvited, but nevertheless very welcome!!  Hoping

    I can post these photos as I haven't tried it in a while!!  Thanks for

    any help you can give in advance.  image

    image

     

    image

     

    image

     Sorry these pictures aren't very close up - maybe you could zoom in

    to see them better.  I would really like to know if I should keep them

    for the butterflies/bees or discard them as weeds and a nuisance.

    The top one is really weird - not really a flower but a cluster of

    little nobbles (a bit like an unripe blackberry on a long stalk, but pink)

    the second one is in front of the corn marigold in the foreground and has

    dark brown little cones surrounded at the base by tiny little white frilly

    things which I can't really describe as flowers either!   The last one is

    pinkish purple flowers growing in a mass on sprawling stems with alternate

    green leaves.  Hope this helps as it sounds rather vague! 

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,128

    The third one is Common Fumitory http://www.wildlifetrusts.org/species/fumitory 

    The second one shows what could be Corn Marigold but looks more like Hawkbit, Ribwort Plantain and Red Campion.  I can't zoom in on them.

    The first one shows some White Campion and something else I don't recognise - I shall consult my Keble Martin but hopefully someone else will recognise it ........ 


    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,441

    That's all looking great ffb.

    You've got Sanguisorba minor, salad burnet (small pang of jealousy here)

    Which one in 2?

    Some nice pink fumitory  in 3



    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • Flowersforbees, I can't get the pictures to enlarge, but from squinting and your descriptions I think these might be what you have.

    1 Salad burnet (or something similar)

    2 Ribwort

    3 Common Fumitory

    In terms of being good for wildlife Ribwort is eaten by certain moth caterpillars, but I don't think the flowers attract bees or butterflies, I am not sure about the other two, I am sure someone will know, but I think they are good for bees. They are all wildflowers/weeds. I would keep them image

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