Creating A Primrose Path

“We have a real ‘primrose path,’ with lots and lots of primroses! Although at first you may feel that any large tended planting is incompatible with my constant emphasis on carefree gardening, you’ll soon know it is not. That’s chiefly because primroses are so easy and obliging.

At any rate, it all began one recent April-with spring fever in the air, warmth penetrating the soil, and three delightful primrose plants in a grocery store window. Large and lush and yellow they were as they caught the sunlight that golden morning. It was one of those days when anything could happen and all of it good-but how could I have anticipated where just three primroses would lead?

They traveled home, packed carefully among the butter and carrots and chile sauce. The groceries disappeared in due course. But by the second season those three primroses, planted informally in the wooded area along our brook, had doubled their size and number of blooms. Obviously they liked their environment. In England the hedgerows glow with primroses which receive only ordinary care. Why not have an “English Woods” on our Connecticut acres, with not dozens but hundreds-maybe someday even thousands-of primroses running riot in sweeps, in clusters, and with utter abandon? Why not indeed?

And thus the Primrose Path was born. And it winds on and on growing lovelier and longer each year.

A primrose (primula) is a herbaceous perennial, and a fine plant in every way. Primula comes from primus, meaning first, alluding to its early bloom. The foliage, attractive all through the growing season, has an interesting rough texture and deep pure green color.

The plant itself simply vanishes in July, and you sigh and say, “Well, it was a lovely spring.” But lo and behold, come late August, appealing green leaves perk up from the supposedly dead center. By fall a fine plant, completely resurrected, is ready for a winter lull and a flamboyant spring.

Primroses make a fine ground-cover. In the north the plants go dormant in winter. In warmer climates they remain green all year. For us they die down in December after many hard frosts, and reappear in very early March. The flowers commence in April and are coming and going for nearly two months. Their colors include yellows, from rich gold to pale green; rusts, apricots, and all the tawny shades; reds, purples and mahoganies; deep and pale blues, and white. And some have contrasting eyes. While just about every rainbow color is represented, we let the yellows predominate. For every plant of a different hue we have two or three gold-flowered specimens. Vivid and alive are the gold ones, and so very welcome in the spring when we all yearn for anything that suggests the bright warm sun.

Our Primrose Path follows along the brook edge. Years ago we cleared brush there under the tall maples, hemlocks, hornbeam, oak and dogwood, and made a casual path. The area is perhaps twenty feet wide by two hundred feet long but it winds and wanders. About half of the area at the moment is enhanced by primroses-the rest one day will be.