Just a short time after writing the post about the bog garden, there is now more colour with the reds, oranges, yellows and purples joining in.
Candelabra primula “Inverewe”
An orange candelabra type bought when garden visiting last year.
Peach coloured primulas looking pretty at the back.
I also bought this yellow one when garden visiting.
The purples are joining in.
Red, yellow and orange.
Either Primula florindae or sikkimensis, I can never remember which. Whatever it is, it has a gorgeous perfume and the flowers are clustered at the top of the stem.
Also, some other plants have started to flower, besides the primulas.
Zantedeschia aethiopica with its huge flowers.
Stunning flowers.
Iris pseudacorus looking small next to the Zantedeschia.
Rodgersia about to flower.
The header photo was taken last year, but I think the bog is now almost at the same stage.
Lots of colour and soon there will be more when the astilbes start flowering.
But this is my favourite view of the bog, with all the hostas and ferns contrasting with the colourful candelabra primulas.
So very pretty! My candelabra Primulas are right at the end of their flowering. I never thought to put in Zantedeschia as a companion. I’ll have to see if I can find room next year.
I have quite a few different companions for them Alison, they all need the same damp soil all year round.
Quite beautiful Pauline – I love the candelabras !
Thanks Rosemarie, they just keep getting better and better.
Beautiful – I love the orange and yellow Primulas.
Yes Jason, so do I! The garden we bought them from had thousands by a stream, it was an amazing sight.
They looks so nice, I love all the color.
I tried to add a few primula this spring but as of today they have officially filed a complaint against dry soil and high temperatures. I’m going to have to hope for the best for the next few weeks and maybe even water them a little here and there!
Mine only get sun from very early morning Frank, until about 10 am, after that they are in shade, but more importantly, they are in permanently damp soil, which does make a difference. I hope yours perk up with extra watering!
Very beautiful Pauline. Years ago when I started gardening I never knew so much could be acheived in wet and shade. It took a good friend of mine to point me in the right direction, so my thanks to her. I introduced her to your garden blog so I hope she has seen your post too.
It was a steep learning curve for me too Denise when we moved here, our previous garden was on sand! I was so glad that the first gardening book that I bought was by Beth Chatto, who always says that if you put the right plant in the right place, then it will be happy. I refer to her books all the time, she is a great inspiration to me when buying plants for the garden here.
I love Beth Chatto’s books!
Stunning Pauline. I love these primulas, just gorgeous. I recently saw Iris pseudacorus ‘ Berlin Tiger’ at a Plant Heritage sale and I am so cross that I didn’ t buy it. It has bronze stripes and is gorgeous. Do look out for it.
Thanks Chloris ! I will certainly look for Berlin Tiger, it sounds wonderful and would make a nice addition to the bog.
Hi Pauline,
Lovely primulas, every year I say I need some and get I never quite get round to it.
I love all the colours and regularly visit a water garden in norfolk which has many candelabras and lots of lovely hybrid variations.
My drumstick primulas disappeared this year; they were coming up very early in February then suddenly they went. I assume eaten by slugs but I’ve never had that happen before so who knows.
We’ve been to a few gardens Liz where they have thousands, mine seem just a few compared to them, but then the bog isn’t very big! So sorry to hear of the demise of your drumstick primulas, that seems strange, even if slugs were nibbling the leaves, I’ve not known them to disappear before, maybe they will come back next year if the roots are still there.
It all looks beautiful.
Thank you Wendy!
I didn’t it could get any better than your last post Pauline – but it has! Those Primulas are wonderful colours and definitely worth visiting other gardens if you can buy treasures like these and, I imagine, see them growing before you buy. Your bog garden is an inspiration to anyone who has a damp area in their gardens. I also agree about what you said about Beth Chatto. She is a wonderful plantswoman with a wonderful eye for design too. I use her Car Park planting as starting point for my plant choices here. Even though it is much hotter than in her Essex garden she doesn’t receive much more rain than I do here so many of her selections work very well.
It is certainly colourful in that area Christina, getting better each year as the primulas spread. I think I will be sowing seed of the orange and yellow ones, the red Inverewe is sterile so I’ll have to split that one. Beth Chatto has inspired us both, even though our gardens are so different. She has her woodland, boggy areas and her dry gravel areas all in the one garden and thank goodness she has written about them all. When our daughter lived in Essex, many years ago, we visited the garden many times, it was so inspirational and lots of plants came home with us from her nursery.
I love your favourite view too Pauline. With all our rain I may need my own bog garden soon! The different colours of all your candelabra primulas are wonderful!
At last we have had some rain Cathy, we were getting desperate, everything was so dry! But not the bog, that always seems to have moisture, even in the height of summer, that area has turned from a boggy mess into a delight!
Absolutely gorgeous Pauline – and don’ they spread well? I wasn’t sure about the varied colours when mine first flowered last year, but I am loving them now ☺
I love all the different colours Cathy, but hadn’t realised that they flower at different times, so some spreading out will be needed to get colour all the way through the border all the time they are flowering.
Just stunning, Pauline. When I see them grown this well it makes me wish I had the right conditions for the charming and colourful primulas.
Thanks Kate, it was a case of “needs must” when I found we had such a boggy area. Out came the books until I had a nice long list of plants that would enjoy the conditions. They have certainly grown and spread and all seem very happy now.
Lovely Pauline. Such a grand display. I am intrigued with Zantedeschia.
Zantedeschia are sometimes called Calla Lily Susie, they are wild flowers in South Africa and grow in ditches and boggy places. The first ones I saw were in Italy, in the garden at Ninfa, where there were thousands growing in a stream, I was hooked from then on!
What beautiful plans. I do like that orange candelabra and the peach primulas. You calla lily is stunning.xxx
Thanks Dina, I too like the orange candelabra which we bought at a garden visit last year. I think I’ll be splitting them to make more for next year, along with the yellow ones. I’m amazed at how huge the call lily is this year, both the flowers and the leaves are massive!