Primula Colibri With Orange Eye - Oxlip

Primula elatior 'Colibri With Orange Eye' enriches this collection of sensational Colibri primroses with its beautiful white colour with an orange eye. With an exceptionally long and beautifully 'layered' flowering, this tall primrose creates a fabulous effect. It also stands out with a more perennial character than standard primroses. Very hardy, floriferous, and unusual, this plant will make a sensation near a pathway or on a window sill, to be admired at leisure. Adorned with bright red flowers, it will enliven any semi-shaded setting, planted in a humus-rich, fertile, and moist soil.

Primroses belong to the primrose family. Primula elatior, also known as Oxlip, is a perennial herbaceous plant that belongs to our native flora and is mostly found in semi-shaded clearings or at the edge of forests. When abundant, this species is an indicator of ancient forests little disturbed by human activity.

This plant has produced many short-lived perennial hybrids, often grown as biennial plants, through hybridisation with the Common primrose (Primula vulgaris). This 'Colibri With Orange Eye' primrose blooms from early January for 11 weeks, until late March or early April. Each plant produces a multitude of more or less short flower stalks, 10 to 20 cm (4 to 8 in) tall, bearing umbels filled with single, cup-shaped flowers, 4 cm (2 in) in size, composed of rounded petals, pure white in colour with an orange centre. Their colour is well highlighted by evergreen foliage in rosettes of large, deeply veined leaves with a very fresh green colour, ornamental even outside of the flowering period.

Elatior primroses are less well known than stemless primroses, but they have their own advantages: they are taller, hardier and more perennial, and their flowering is also more spectacular. They are excellent companions for shade-loving and cool semi-shaded perennials such as heucheras, Brunnera, forget-me-nots, violets, and hostas. They can also decorate a terrace, window, or balcony, planted in planters that will brighten up spring scenes. They also look fabulous in a simple bouquet, mixed with forget-me-nots or early tulips.