by Leslie Cox; Sunday; May 7, 2017
Well, the weather stats are in. April 2017 is one for the record books, to be sure. Average overnight low was 4 °C (39.2 °F)…2 °C lower than the average for April 2016. Average high was 13.6 °C (56.5 °F)…4.5 °C lower than in April 2016.
But what really shocked me were the temperatures recorded for the greenhouse. Average low was not too bad at 5.4 °C (41.7 °F)…a mere drop of 0.6 °C from April 2016. Average high, however, was merely 13.2 °C (55.8 °F) …a whopping 10 °C difference between April 2017 and 2016! Absolutely incredible.
(I believe the Rhododendron PJM on the right is ‘Elite’, however, the label does not confirm. It only states ‘PJM’.)
If that were not depressing enough…total rainfall for the month of April: 305 mm (12.2 inches). That works out to almost eight times the total rainfall for April 2016! Not only that, but this month’s total is barely under the total amount of rainfall for April 2013, 2014, and 2016 combined.
Small wonder our gardens are lagging behind this year!
Even so, now the temperatures are warming, the plants are starting to strut their stuff. Although progress is still a little slow given overnight temperatures of 0 °C and 0.5 °C (32 °F) this last week.
What is noticeable in my garden right now are the primulas. I am amassing quite an assortment of species and cultivars so there is variety in the floral display from the colourful simplicity of the single-petalled Primula vulgaris to the newest frilly double additions in the Belarina series.
A real beacon in the front bed, wondrously visible from the livingroom window, is the swath of red Primula vulgaris with their bright yellow eye. Accompanying clumps of the low mounding grass, Milium effusum ‘Aureum’, (golden wood millet), help to make the yellow eye in the centre of the red flowers vibrate on a grey day. (As you can see in the photo, the weather is putting me behind in my annual spring cleanup!)
Off to the left in this bed, is my Primula vulgaris ‘Belarina Nectarine’…very stunning with its floral tone of yellow centre on multiple petals fading outwards through shades of tangerine and orange to end with the orange-red ripeness of a nectarine at the petal edges. Just to clarify…some references list the Belarinas in the species, Primula acaulis. It is generally known P. acaulis is synonymous with P. vulgaris, however.
I do like the multiple yellow and orange floral tones in ‘Belarina Nectarine’ and picked up three single-petalled primulas, as yet properly unidentified, in a darker yellow colour with a splash of orange in the flowers’ throat. These should look nice grouped around ‘Belarina Nectarine’, I am thinking. However, at time of acquisition, it had been too wet to work in that bed so I went on to other chores. Now the soil has dried out and I have wrapped up those other chores, the flowers on those new primulas have finished. Between Murphy’s Law and the fact the new primulas were grown in the warmth of a greenhouse for early flowering, their flowers are now spent. I will have to wait for another flush to test out my landscaping placement idea on this combination.
