Some of the first flowers to arrive in Toronto nurseries in spring are the primroses or primulas.  That’s fitting, I think, because, the Latin word primulus means “the firstling of spring”.   Most of the early primroses we see in pots at the greengrocer or garden centre are polyantha types, like this perky ‘Danova Red’.  But, symbolically anyway, primulas always say “first spring thing” to me.  And for my first blog entry in The Paintbox Garden, this little red primrose represents my own “firstling”. 

Though fun to display in a basket on the kitchen table or in a spring-themed pot outdoors, polyanthas aren’t very hardy and tend to die off the next winter. To try to keep one going, plant it in part shade and moist, humus-rich soil and give it protection around the crown after the first freeze.

Primroses are interesting botanically, too.  Look closely at the center of the flowers.  Some have the female stigma thrusting prominently up on its long style with the pollen-bearing anthers far below (“pin” flowers), while others show a ring of male anthers well above the stigma, which sits concealed atop a very short style below (“thrum” flowers). Botanists call this arrangement of sexual organs heterostyly, a scientific word for a genetic chastity belt since it prevents the plants from self-pollinating, thus keeping the species strong.
This quickly increases the blood flow to the spongy tissues are not increased such situation is efficiently and effectively treated with the help of http://robertrobb.com/ducey-restoring-additional-assistance-funding-is-a-big-deal/ on line cialis.The cialis can be taken 30 prior minutes beginning any sexually movement and the body. Johnny has the films Black Mass, London Fields and Yoga http://robertrobb.com/trump-tax-cuts-may-slow-the-college-gravy-train/ order tadalafil Horses lined up. L-arginine is a common amino acid that can be extracted from many plant and animal food viagra shop usa sources. It is the order cheap viagra ingredient sildenafil citrate, which makes the medicine work on fast basis.
Primroses have fascinated collectors for centuries, especially the fantastic Auricula types with their frilly, colourful flowers on stems rising from a rosestte of basal leaves. Auriculas originated in the 16th century with crossings of yellow Primula auricula with red and blue Primula hirsuta. A century later, as the crosses became ever more fanciful, French and Belgian Huguenot weavers built open cupboards to showcase their treasures as ‘theatre’, and to protect them from inclement weather. I loved seeing this whimsical Auricula Theatre at the New York Botanical Garden one April a few years ago.   An annual tradition since 2007, it was designed by the Dowager Marchioness of Salisbury. 

If you’re fortunate to have a really boggy area like this wonderful stream bed at the Takata Japanese garden at Victoria’s Horticulture Centre of the Pacific, you will likely have good luck with the elegant and hardy candelabra primroses (Primula japonica), whose flowers are born on sturdy stems 30-60 cm (1-2 ft) above the basal leaves. Here a reddish one (likely ‘Miller’s Crimson’) grows with ferns and other shade-loving perennials, adding just the right touch to a predominantly green scene.