Primula pulverulenta - Mealy Primrose

The Primula pulverulenta is a particularly ornamental Candelabra Primrose. This perennial species from China produces tall flowering stems covered in a white bloom, a characteristic that earned it the name Pulverulent, or powdery, Primrose. They are adorned with beautiful clusters of flowers arranged in tiers, a deep purple-red color that contrasts beautifully with the white stems. This astonishing primrose thrives in partial shade or shade, in moist to wet, fertile, neutral to acidic soil, ideally at the edge of a shaded pond.

The Primula pulverulenta belongs to the primrose family, like all primroses. It grows in the wild in damp high-altitude meadows in the Chinese provinces of Sichuan. This perennial first produces a rosette of deciduous leaves, light green to acidic green, slender and dentate, measuring about twenty centimetres in length, including the petiole. The veins are visible on the leaves, which have a wavy appearance. Flowering occurs in June-July, in the form of tall, sturdy stems measuring 45 to 60 cm (18 to 24in), adorned with 4 to 10 whorls (clusters) each containing 4 to 12 tubular flowers, tightly packed together, typical of primroses. Their colour is a pure pinkish-red to cherry red or amaranth red, enclosed in a more or less pruinose jade green calyx. This vigorous and sturdy perennial readily self-seeds in moist soil.

This candelabra primrose is not widely spread in European gardens, but it is true that it has some requirements that may not be easy to meet everywhere. Resembling a red cuckoo, it appreciates moist to even waterlogged soils, humus-rich, with little or no limestone, even clayey. Hardy down to -15°C (5°F), it will enjoy the immediate proximity of a stream or pond, preferably in a semi-shaded location. Low maintenance, it thrives on its own by self-seeding randomly. In moist borders, it adds height and lightness to the broad foliage of rodgersias, Hart's-tongue Fern, or hostas. It also pairs well with its candelabra cousins Primula bulleyana and P. beesiana, Alchemilla mollis, Artemisia lactiflora, filipendulas, lysimachias, and astilbes. It can also be grown in a pot, in a consistently moist and organic-rich substrate.