Primula Fireflies - Primrose

The 'Fireflies' primrose is a new variety of Caucasian Primrose, a small, vigorous and hardy plant that quickly forms beautiful dense mats, covered with bicoloured flowers ranging from intense blue to blue-violet, around a large orange-yellow centre. The petals are finely edged and streaked with light yellow. It blooms from January-February to April-May on a clump of dark green wavy foliage. This very long-lasting, small creeping perennial is easy to place in borders, damp rockeries, at the edge of woodland, or at the edge of a pond, planted in humus-bearing, moist soil.

Primula 'Fireflies' is a recent horticultural creation, prolific and robust. The species Primula acaulis (synonymous with P. vulgaris) is a small native wild primrose, characterised by excellent hardiness, with flowers carried just above the foliage. Primroses belong to the Primulaceae family. The beautiful foliage of 'Fireflies' develops in small ground-level rosettes, emerging from the underground rhizome, to form a slowly spreading mat. The leaves, more or less evergreen, measuring 5 to 7 cm long, with a wavy and glossy appearance, are green to varying degrees depending on the nature of the soil.
'Fireflies' primrose thrives well in humus-bearing soil, consistently moist but well-drained, not too shaded, conditions that can be found in damp rockeries or rocky areas bordering a small stream. From February to April, in successive waves, short, 10 cm tall flower stalks appear, bearing terminal clusters of blue-violet flowers with an orange-yellow centre, almost covering the foliage. It tolerates short periods of drought quite well, which abruptly halt its flowering.

Primroses are versatile plants, colourful and truly easy to grow. They deserve a place in every garden and on every balcony. Colourful and floriferous, they herald and precede the return of spring. In borders or in containers on a balcony, these small plants are ideal companions for tulips, pansies, horned violets, and forget-me-nots. Under the shade of deciduous trees, in rockeries and lawns, they mingle among snowdrops and violets.