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brit5467

why do people hate evening primrose???

brit5467
9 years ago

I just bought this recently (pic is from Google, mine is just starting to bloom). This is the info on the ID tag:

Glowing Magenta Evening Primrose / Onagra Glowing Magenta / Oenothera kunthiana

{{gwi:213923}}

And here's a pic (also from Google) of what I bought a few years ago called Pink Evening Primerose. I don't have ID tag:

{{gwi:213924}}

I've been reading a few posts about how horrible evening primerose (EP) is because of how invasive they are. I know that the pink one I had did reseed my entire front garden. And that even tho the original plant is long gone and I even dug up and tilled one entire section (was 'remodling'...lol)...it still came back. But I didn't see anything wrong with that. I thought it was very pretty.

I didn't find the roots on the plants to be very deep, therefore I didn't feel they choked out other plants like others have complained about.

However, I noticed the leaves on the Magenta one I just bought are different than the pink ones are so wonder if maybe they have different growing habits. I recall one post about one type of EP having runners....??? I never saw runners on my pink one.

So question #1 is ~ why do (some) people hate this plant? What is all the fuss about? Mine came into bloom pretty early in the season so it was nice to have lots of flowers in a somewhat empty garden. But people talk about them like it's bamboo. Am I missing something here???

And question #2 - will my new Magenta EP reseed like the pink one did....or does it propagate differently? I just don't want to leave the plant planted if I am in for some sort of nightmare.

And lastly, anyone grow the Magenta EP and what do you think of it? Any tips for growing it?

Thanks !
bonnie

This post was edited by brit5467 on Sun, Apr 20, 14 at 21:56

Comments (53)

  • ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    i didnt know they come in colors.. other than yellow ..

    and that might tell you.. that they lose fertility.. as the hybridizers take them further from their natural color ...

    that is to say.. they might be either sterile or near sterile.. so they wouldnt produce and abundance of seed...

    just a guess ...

    i had a few over the years in my MI ..... never saw a seedling ... and dont recall them coming back religiously [meaning i dont know whatever happened to them.. lol] ... so they must not favor winter .. meaning.. one mans invasive reseeder.. might not be everyones ...

    ken

  • brit5467
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Texas...u r right. It WAS Rose Champion. I recognized the name as soon as you said it! Funny thing was, I googled to see what plant family it was in and guess what I ran across? My old post on GW from 2010, when I was still pretty much a newbie....lol. Made me sad because I saw how pretty it used to be (gone to plant heaven now).

    Floral...I totally agree with you on all counts !!

    Ken....I wish I could find the post I had referred to, about how "invasive" it is. Someone from Texas was asking what the name of a particular yellow one was. Must be very prevalent in TX...lol.

    And then others joined in, talking about the pink ones. So after reading your post, I'm inclined to think that maybe it's the yellow ones that people struggle with removing and that it's more like a natural wildflower with deeper roots. Whereas what I have is like you said, hybridized.

    Nevertheless, it sure does reseed !! Like I think I said, the original plant is long gone but the 'babies' keep coming back every year and then I guess they seed and come back the next.

    I started with one quart plant in far left corner in either 2011 or 2012, and this is what I ended up with last year:

    May 2013
    {{gwi:213925}}

    May 2013
    {{gwi:213926}}

    June 2013
    {{gwi:213927}}

    bonnie

  • floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    'Just a guess' - you're dead right it's a guess, Ken. There are a lot of different species and a lot of different colours. Plant breeders are not responsible.

  • gyr_falcon
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Even running bamboo has its place. The problem with some plants that have been asterisked as invasive is that they are not always planted in locations where they are appropriate for use. Plants can behave very differently in different climates and under various growing conditions. So it is not a problem for you, in your climate, in your gardening application. That does not invalidate that it can be a serious problem for native species and gardeners located in a different climate, or country, in a different gardening situation, with a different set of needs.

    Rhododendron ponticum isn't invasive here at all. In fact, it would be a challenge to keep healthy, so vigorous or rampant aren't even appropriate adjectives. But I certainly don't discount the validity of floral considering it invasive.

    Pink evening primrose is a pretty plant with great attributes for certain applications in a variety of climates. I can hate it for my garden, while loving it growing on the dry hillside. I don't even dislike it in appropriate garden bed applications. It isn't the plant; it is the problems caused when the application isn't appropriate for the plant chosen.

  • TexasRanger10
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Ken, I don't know about hybrids but Oenothera is a big group, there are many different native varieties in all parts of the country. The fluttermills put out pods that don't open until late winter for the most part so you can clean out under the plants & easily gather them up. They are kind of hard to open in fall & the seeds are fairly big, they look like small bb's. These are not spreading types like the Mexican Primrose, they all form neat compact clumps. Missouri primrose (O. macrocarpa) is the most well known.

    O. caespitosa needs perfect drainage & has slow sporadic germination. This is one I want to try in a dry spot sometime. It has grey green fuzzy leaves with 4" light pink flowers.

    Yellow Evening Primrose (O. elata ssp. hirsutissima) can get unmanageable under wet conditions. Mexican primrose (O. speciosa) & Pale Evening Primrose (O. pallida), these 3 are all spreaders that seed about more.

    Brit, it looks like you have lanceleaf coreopsis in that planting. That is a plant that seeds a lot & forms thick clumps. I have an area I'm using it in just for that purpose. I dug some weed-whacked clumps of plants up out of a gravel parking lot last summer. You just plunk them in, they grow forming a nice mat ground cover.

    I just I.D.'ed the silver leaf primrose, its the Missouri primrose type but has silver leaves instead of green, the flowers are bigger & lighter yellow, stems are red ----O. macrocarpa var. incana. (link & photo below). It comes true from seed.

    floral uk, you hit the nail square on the head. Its exactly like buying furniture to some people. Some even ask for suggestions of plants that will need no care, trimming, are evergreen, won't grow larger etc as if they expect to have them installed & then they can just forget about it forever like its a permanently done deal. I say, why not just pour concrete & get some sculptures to set into it or maybe plastic plants? There is that nice artificial grass out now also. You just lay it like carpet. Imagine the condition of the dirt underneath after a while........

    Here is a link that might be useful: http://search.aol.com/aol/imageDetails?s_it=imageDetails&q=silver+leaf+oenothera&img=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wildflower.org%2Fimage_archive%2F320x240%2FJAM6151%2F6151_IMG04018.JPG&v_t=nscpsearch&host=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wildflower.org%2Fplants%2Fresult.php%3Fid_plant%3DOEMAI2&width=181&height=135&thumbUrl=http%3A%2F%2Ft2.gstatic.com%2Fimages%3Fq%3Dtbn%3AANd9GcQIGKl2oEghJZ_NkDQF-MQ8co2BW5W4eLsj8KYV68eNr9IKXqclm20YBv92bA%3Awww.wildflower.org%2Fimage_archive%2F320x240%2FJAM6151%2F6151_IMG04018.JPG&b=image%3Fq%3Ds%3DimageResultsBack%26v_t%3Dnscpsearch%26oreq%3Dfe0949f4e324454ea7bb06a11ed70fd7&imgHeight=240&imgWidth=320&imgTitle=Silver+leaf+primrose&imgSize=130016&hostName=www.wildflower.org

    This post was edited by TexasRanger10 on Mon, Apr 21, 14 at 17:04

  • wantonamara Z8 CenTex
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Nice plant. Looks just like some that a real nice person gave me. Mine are getting ready to bud. Still a littles young. I like how people just grow it in their lawn. It comes up and blooms and when they are bloomed out, they mow and that is that. Appropriate use for that plant. It ranges through my garden and does not stress out the salvias and penstemons that are growing there. They will climb above it and then the EP will disappear for the year. I don't get worked up over plants outside "THE PLAN". I like planned accidents and unplanned surprises…. Oh yea, all surprises are unplanned.

  • echinaceamaniac
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    These are awesome plants. I grow the pink and the yellow too.

  • texaslynn
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    What's that saying about "any plant is a weed if it isn't growing where it's wanted".

    I love these (the light pink ones) growing out wild but hate them in my garden where I have other stuff planned. But at least they add beauty unlike other "unwanteds" that are growing uninvited.

    I do have some wild property near Austin that I want to encourage these to grow.......including and especially the yellow ones! I've been looking at bulk seed.

  • brit5467
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks for the link and all the names of other varieties.. I googled many of them...learned a lot!
    bonnie

  • lauren02 02
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I'm glad this thread exists! I just came home to find my glowing magenta evening primrose all wilty. Mine is in a dry, sunny (noon onward) spot, but I thought that is the habitat it wants. It even rained a little last night! Has this happened to anyone else??

  • Campanula UK Z8
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Ah well, I have been all over the place regarding EP. It went from being quite beloved, to being utterly despised but has been creeping back into favour again - as have all enthusaistic self-propagators, even the fearful campanula rapunculoides. (so I laugh at the 'invasive' EP) And thinking about it, I can pretty much say that this love hate thing has happened with literally dozens of entire plant families. I am fairly certain that most of us have evolved some sort of gardening style - I have been motivated by personal whims and fancies as much as anyone but latterly, I am guided more by a sense of place and a common vernacular. I look back on my early garden experiments with a mixture of nostalgic fondness (the innocence) but mostly queasy horror (the ignorance). The years of insane plant collecting, zone pushing, entire renovations. :I guess what I am saying is that everything comes back round.....and although I am still vastly opinionated by what I like, it is entirely possible that this can change from abiding love to complete disdain at the drop of a trowel......but also, if done with a certain brio, I also like all sorts of plants and styles which I wouldn't, couldn't consider for a nano-second in MY garden.

  • TexasRanger10
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I don't think there is a gardener out there who hasn't had a plant(s) wilt then up & die for no good reason.

    I look at this sort of thing as part and parcel of gardening -- some deaths are always expected each year but a new planting space is a new planting space so if it dies, I plant something else. Maybe it just didn't like that spot? who knows. It happens in nature too.

    I just had a beautiful 2yr old sand penstemon leaf out nicely, then suddenly get all wilty on me, then it died, for no earthly reason whatsoever. Rats, I only had two but at least I still have the one & they have proven quite difficult from seed. My two lonely seedlings that came up out of the many I planted also died. Maybe some I direct sowed will surprise me & next year I will plant seeds again.

    This post was edited by TexasRanger10 on Tue, May 13, 14 at 21:30

  • lauren02 02
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Oh mine is nice and happy now after a bit of water!!

  • Kippy
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I should post a photo of a yard I walk past regularly.

    It started out as a designed low maintenance/water yard (someone probably paid some good money) Now it has a couple of months of the white/pink EP in bloom...in bloom in the hedges...in bloom in the gutters...in bloom in the cracks of the sidewalk...in bloom in the middle of any plant near the original. The rest of the year the yard is full of brown dead twigs, guess they should clean that up but it is a low (no) maintenance yard right :)

  • brit5467
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Lauren02...I noticed mine looks "wilty" too. I just planted about a month ago and it seemed happy. It's also splaying out and has yellow leaves in the middle. I thought it was getting enough water...we"ve had plenty of rain. mine too gets plenty of sun. Dunno????

    I just might get in there and do some hard pruning. Can't look any worse. Also noticed the blooms are much smaller than when I first got it. Pretty disappointed in it, honestly.

    Bonnie

  • lauren02 02
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Brit5467 let me know how the pruning goes! Mine doesn't seem big enough to really prune... but you never know. The mysteries of gardening :)

  • brit5467
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Lauren...u got that right...lol. gonna go out rite now before the rwin and see if I do dare cut it. Mines not that big either.

    Bonnie

  • shadeyplace
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I had a biennial called glazioviana and that literally opened at 8 pm every evening.. It was a fun plant...seeded about, but for some reason, it is no longer in my garden.

  • brit5467
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Lauren...u got that right...lol. gonna go out rite now before the rwin and see if I do dare cut it. Mines not that big either.

    Well, decided against it. I did a few snips in the center to see if I coukd get it to fill in but it just had too many new buds so I couldn't bear to cut it...lol

    Bonnie

  • imscattered
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    When I moved to a house in central Indiana I had a lovely spring blooming yellow flower that I have now identified as looking like 'sun drops' Whatever these were they did not spread or multiply. I moved from that location and have never forgotten them and I hope to find them and try them out again.

    Here is a link that might be useful: sun drops

  • TexasRanger10
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Plants of the Southwest carries seed for 'Fendler's Sundrops' (Calyophus hartwegii), a slightly different variety of sundrops which is a compact, perennial bush type primrose, it has thinner leaves than the one you had. It forms a woody base & has abundant blooms. They self sow only slightly which is rather nice since you can get some free plants that way. They also carry Missouri Primrose which forms a neat mound, blooms large yellow. Both need to be sowed in fall for 2-3 months cold stratification but come up easily.

    I have had both growing here for some time that I started from seed. Now if I want a new one elsewhere, I dig up a volunteer seedling in spring & transplant it, there are usually 3 or 4.

    Personally, unless I had a large field or acreage I would not grow Pink Evening Primrose myself.

    This post was edited by TexasRanger10 on Fri, May 16, 14 at 14:40

  • davids10 z7a nv.
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    oenothera tetragona is i ferocious seeder and prone to mildew but its scent in the evening is amazing-it also looks kind of raggedy ass because of its bloom habit. as for o. berlandieri it was everywhere when it came out(20 years ago) i think people got tired of it and a little plant snobbery came in. with the millions and millions of plants that were sold if it were as big a thug as all that the country would be covered with it-actually cant think the last time i saw it in someones garden

  • mori1
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I really like evening primrose. I tried growing the mexican kind but they won't come back the following season and after two attempts I gave up. I had a nice patch of pink evening primrose growing around the sweet gum tree so I won't have to mow. They didn't like this last winter because my nice patch is no more. I have a total of five plants blooming, that just looks sad. I'll get the patch back its just going to take awhile.

  • david883
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I never had much an opinion on them until today when I saw some at a nursery (I need to stop going by to "just look"....) when I saw them; big, broad leaves, ribbed and rippled. They looked like dinosaur kale leaves. That was enough for me to fall for them. They're definitely on my list of things to get in the future.

  • TexasRanger10
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    david, that sounds like some kind of Primula which is also called primrose. Its definitely not Evening Primrose, which has small narrow leaves with a sprawling habit. Evening Primrose is in the Oenothera family.

  • brit5467
    Original Author
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Well all I have to say is....I'm the OP and the Glowing Magenta I was so excited about is a huge disappointment. Hardly any blooms and what I do get are about the size of a quarter, if even that big. So where I expected a big flush of sprawling color....I just have mainly foliage. Not at all what I expected :(

    Bonnie

  • david883
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    TexasRanger10 - you're absolutely correct! My mistake. thanks

  • cenepk10
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hate evening primrose ? The pale pink are one of my all time favorite flowers ! I love they are popping up all over. They are so dainty & are great fillers !

  • rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a)
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Here are my stand of Evening Primrose as of today. Such bright yellow in a much less than full sun location.

  • lilsprout
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I'm not much of a yellow lover but I've found that I really do like these. I have 3 and learned they grow tall and are floppers. Here is one I caged...

    My pink one I have been able to contain(so far) to a small area. I'm sure being in less than ideal conditions (close to maple tree) has helped.

  • cenepk10
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    So gorgeous

  • ryseryse_2004
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I love the yellow ones and stick them in among the different perennials for a flash of color. I dislike the pink because it re-seeds everywhere - the yellow stays in one spot. It spreads but doesn't seem to re-seed for me.

  • Cindy Harrod
    7 years ago

    The light pink ones are Missouri evening primrose. They are very invasive, I've never had a problem with the yellow ones. Very interesting, good conversation plant!

  • wantonamara Z8 CenTex
    7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    I hate to disagree but,.....Missouri Primrose Is the Yellow Oenothera macrocarpa var missouriensis, n. Now they drop the missouriensis. The pinks are Oenothera speciosa. I think the Oenothera neomexican can bloom a light pink also, but the huge spreader is N. speciosa. other pink blooms O. tetraptera and O. kunthiana but they are not huge on the market are in large areas of the wild.

  • Leah Dairy Branford
    7 years ago

    I had to dig out my pink evening primrose because it spread everywhere. I planted two quart-sized plants and in the span of one year they took over my entire flower bed (about 8'x6'), sprouting up out of my hens and chicks among other things and looking terrible. I loved them at first, but their aggressive spreading didn't work for me. If I could keep them grouped together, I'd love to have kept them, but they had to go.

  • arcy_gw
    7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    Mine are just now fading, I have the same yellow lilsprout has. Yellow has been very difficult to find for the shadier garden. I LOVE mine!! The patch where they grow is spreading..and I now have so many babies coming I dig the and transplant them all over. They are early and short lived color. They have begun invading the hosta so I will now go pull out those. I tried a lot of varieties and this one is the only one that has decided to stay in my garden. The rest died with in a few years.

  • NHBabs z4b-5a NH
    7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    For me a thread like this is truly frustrating because the majority of postings don't use scientific names or even the common names that distinguish species.

    So talking about "evening primrose" without discussing the variety is kind of like talking about dogwoods or roses or Penstemons or hummingbird mint/Agastaches without distinguishing the type. Some are self-seeders, some are spreaders, some like dry, some prefer moist, some are perennials, some are shrubby.

    Missouri Botanical Garden lists 5 species of yellow Oenothera plus two cultivars, and two species of pink, but there are several yellow and pink often used in gardens not listed there. The USDA plant database has a huge list (though not all may be used in gardens) that include 3 different genera. So to me this discussion is so much at cross purposes, not only because as several folks mentioned that different plants behave differently as growing conditions vary, but without a clear photo or a scientific name, I don't know what plants many posters are referring to.

    So consider this a plea to include either a clear photo or a scientific name (most plant tags have them.) If the name is unknown, there's always the Name that Plant forum which has some incredibly knowledgeable folks who sometimes can ID plants even without a photo, with a good description.

    I think the answer to the original poster's question is "because they aren't growing the same plant as you in the same conditions with the same aesthetic standards."

    Thanks for letting me vent . . . I don't want to discourage anyone from posting, but I think most folks can manage either a photo or find the plant tags.

    Barb the curmudgeon

  • texasranger2
    7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    Really? Its threads like this one that invite interesting conversation due to the fact that there is confusion and questions and it brings in variety of types of plants, correction of botanical names, aesthetic standards, personal experiences, different regions etc.

    I always keep in mind that people who post here have vastly different levels of gardening experience and you will always have posts like this. Personally, I get irritated with the idea of strict and sometimes arbitrary rules about how to correctly post or the idea of being closely monitored or slapped down by members for technically slipping off topic or doing something 'wrong' in posting or just getting on someone's nerves. Different people get irritated by different things, life is just like that.

    I usually find single topic threads about a single plant someone purchased describing how successful it is or how much the person likes the plant (or is disappointed), pictures of its loveliness in their garden, exact specifications of size, color etc boring and dead-end conversation-wise, they typically end up with responses that are one liner polite comments like "Lovely!" or "Great pictures, I want one" "Me too", While thats all fine and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it, its usually not too interesting.

    I guess what it comes down to is, there are as many different personalities and priorities as there are tastes in garden styles and plant choices. What one person thinks of as tedious or irritating, others will consider interesting conversation.

    One thing I have noticed is that after hanging around long enough, you start to see from photos that people's garden styles often reflect their personalities and I find that quite interesting.

    Tex the Rebel

  • rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a)
    7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    One thing I have noticed is that after hanging around long enough, you start to see from photos that people's garden styles often reflect their personalities

    Now don't start this most interesting of threads till I go get my popcorn.

  • texasranger2
    7 years ago

    I thought it would be interesting as a thread done in the spirit of fun, like those observations about "Do people look like their dogs?"

  • rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a)
    7 years ago

    done in the spirit of fun

    That doesn't sound like "Tex the Rebel" ;).

  • wantonamara Z8 CenTex
    7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    I find the changing topic and confusion interesting since 4 or 5 varieties of the evening primrose grow wild on my land. Telling the O speciosa from the O kunthiana can be hard.. It is confusing out there in the front field. Normal wild Oenothera Kuntianas are a paler pink than this magenta creation which has been hybridized and jerked with. The OP plant is not representative of the wild plants around here.

    The spreading characteristic of O. speciosa will drive the orderly gardener bonkers but the one who likes to work with plant characteristics in their design will appreciate this and the accidents that enrich garden.. My first garden that I saw with it used years and years ago was a really sensitive example of plant characteristics used appropriately. It was a tall bluff with a rock wall about 6' tall and the "lawn"(I use that term loosely) rose in a grade above i the wall. The owner mowed the grass pretty short in early spring and the grass grew and the EP grew up through it and the rocks on the wall making a beautiful cascading effect and covering the grass completely where it grew . Then as summer drew near it disappeared and the owner mowed her grass again. It made me search it out years ago and , believe me, at the time it was not very available in the trade, except by raiding the fields. I got my start from her of the tall bluff. Here in Texas The pink Oenotheras are "spring ephemeral of sorts. It goes dormant and disappears with the beginning of EARLY summer.. SO do not get this plant and expect it to last through the summer. This is its behavior in Texas. Maybe it's behavior is different in Concord New Hampshire or Lansing Michigan. Heat does make it go away till the next year..Also the caterpillars love to eat its foliage. They are long gone in my garden right now.

    I like the idea for this "does your garden look like your character Thread". YES, YES AND YES. Mine is as disorderly as I am, absolutely.Good thread idea.

    I think that all should have tolerance of the latin name/common name confusions. Besides, Those latin names change with the mounting regularity these days pushed by the committees of arguing scientists. They do help but there is as much name confusions in them as there is in the common names. Eupatorium, ageratatina, conoclinium , what is it? I asked a salvia guy was it Salvia Reptans or Salvia leptophylla . It seemed like a simple question but he could not give me a simple answer because he did not know what one was the days right one today. The committees were't clear in their last statement... We can educate people to loose their fear of the mysterious latin name. and we can be tolerant of those like me who abuse all language that is given them. I think it is a mark of an intelligent person who is fluid and fills in the blanks and looks for the intended meaning , even when it is through muddy waters.

    - Mara, Queen of the Maraprop ( I mean malaprop)

  • texasranger2
    7 years ago
    last modified: 7 years ago

    That response made me feel all prim-rosey inside.

    Common O speciosa is gorgeous and quite common along the Oklahoma roadside where it forms large swaths of pink (sometimes white) and it also disappears when the heat sets in. This is the primrose 99% of people would be talking about when they say Evening Primrose in these parts. The yellow are called Missouri Primrose because thats whats common, I've never heard it called Evening Primrose. I suppose its a regional thing.

    Seeing O. speciosa in nature tells you what you need to know, a seriously HUGE swath of pink is created by each plant.

    Those other weird ones wantanamara listed aren't talked about except by plant nerds.

  • NHBabs z4b-5a NH
    7 years ago

    I don't want to be misunderstood - I didn't say everyone should use the scientific name - photos are OK, or even a clear common name such as Mexican evening primrose would tell me what plant someone is talking about, and I usually try to give the most frequently heard common name in my area along with the scientific name. I like that there are a bunch of different evening primroses (Oenothera) that behave differently, but unless I know what you are talking about I find it difficult to talk about it.

  • wantonamara Z8 CenTex
    7 years ago

    Mexican evening primrose could be missunderstood with New Mexican evening primrose and it even looks like Mexican evening primrose and so does the Kunthiana one. It is all very confusing. I don't think they spread like the Mexican and that is why those are used in the hybrids. Plants are just confusing.

  • arcy_gw
    7 years ago

    Curious, NHBabs I myself HATE threads where I read a lot of scientific names. I know NONE and if I desire information those that do use them I often bypass because I have no idea what they are talking about!! I STRUGGLE to remember the common name. By August when my memory has been dusted off and I have the names at the ready on the tip of my tongue WINTER hits and they all get shelved. People who don't really KNOW me see my yard/gardens and ASS-U-Me I am a master gardener, THEY know the scientific names, I have found. I AM NOT. This is just a hobby that went terribly awry! Does my garden reveal my personality? Fun question. If I like something I am more likely to have 5 than one, so that fits, I tend to be FESTIVE and my garden does celebrate spring and summer patriotism with its bird houses and chachkie adornments. They actually point to my impatience more than anything. When just starting, my garden was sparse IMHO and I wanted it FULL so I added a lot of "garden junk" I mostly made or collected just to fill the voids. Most of them hold places in early spring but by now the plants have swallowed them up and I won't see them again until after the first hard freeze!!

    Here is a picture from a few years ago. "Christmas" deer family which I think makes more sense NOT at Christmas, a few bird houses (one made by a woodpecker) and one of MANY angels that hang out--gift from a neighbor who does chain saw carving...Where the lattice fence sits used to be a wagon wheel--but they died due to my watering....Today you wouldn't be able to see two of these three deer as the hosta have GROWN. CHEAP my garden may disclose how cheap I am if a looker knew I gathered the rock boarder (with permission) from a near by farmer's field rock pile, I worked at a green house--for plants--the rest were gifts from my boss out of HIS garden, the deer and bird houses got at garage sales..you get the idea.

  • rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a)
    7 years ago

    I did smile to myself, recalling this thread, as this morning I picked out Oenothera tetragone 'Sonnewende' and Oenothera fruticosa 'FIREWORKS'. I just cant resist those so in your face yellow flowers.

  • Dianna Fenton
    7 years ago

    About the early comment on pine needles- I'm lucky, there are 5 GIANT pine trees at the edge of my yard, and they dump all their needles on my lawn. I just rake it all into my gardens.

    About wanting a full garden quickly- If you can get another gardener to divide their perennials and give you starts, do so. These will become full sized plants by the seasons end (spring planted), by next season they'll be huge. Seeds and starts from nurseries take years to reach maturity. Lots of divisions will make your garden looks years older than it is. A great example of this is the peony- I got fall divisions from my Mamaw, and they bloomed profusely the very next spring. Peonies grown from starts can take 3 years to bloom.

  • Dianna Fenton
    7 years ago

    Oh, right pink evening primrose- zone6B, Louisville KY. My primrose likes to escape but not to much, and it's easy to pull up. It's less of a pain than my lambs ear's that's for sure. Blooms like crazy in spring, foliage gets heavily streaked w red during summer, and scraggly, so I just cut it back. Grows back pretty quick and reblooms in fall.

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