Primula eliator Violet Laced - Oxlip

The Primula eliator 'Violet Laced' is a improved variety of primrose, with excellent hardiness and an unusually abundant flowering. It produces upright stems from spring, adorned with flowers with pink-violet petals edged in white, centred around a beautiful yellow-orange throat. This is an ideal perennial plant for creating beautiful spring scenes. It can be placed near a pathway to allow for leisurely contemplation of its flower patterns. It will bring life to the partially shaded areas of the garden, in a humus-rich, fertile, and moist soil.

The Primula eliator, also known as Oxlip or Woodland Primrose, is a herbaceous perennial plant that belongs to our native flora and is most commonly found in the semi-shade of open woodlands or at the forest edge. When abundant, the oxlip is an indicator of ancient forests, relatively undisturbed by human activity.

This plant has produced many short-lived perennial hybrids through hybridisation with the Common Primrose (Primula vulgaris), which are often cultivated as biennial plants. This 'Violet Laced' primrose is quite long-lasting, faithfully returning for several years. This variety blooms from April to June-July, depending on the climate, for approximately two months. Each plant bears 2 or 3 flowering stems, 25 cm (10in) tall, each carrying bouquets of 4 to 6 single, cup-shaped flowers with slightly lobed rounded petals. Their highly contrasting colours are well highlighted by a rosette of large, deeply-veined dark green leaves, which are ornamental even outside of the flowering period. The foliage often persists in winter, if the conditions are not too severe.

The eliator primroses are less well-known than the stemless primroses, but they have their own advantages: they are taller, hardier, more perennial, and their flowering is also more spectacular. They make excellent companions for shade-loving and cool woodland perennials such as heucheras, brunnera, Anemone nemorosa, pansies, horned violets, and hostas. They can also be used to decorate the terrace, window, or balcony, planted in containers that will brighten up the gloomy winter days. They also hold up very well in a simple bouquet, a rare gift that is always a pleasure to give or receive.