Evening Primrose

 

These two Oenethera are different in some of their habits, but the flowers have the same characteristics. That's how you know they are evening primroses. I grew the yellow ones 2 years ago. They are apparently biennial because they didn't bloom til the second summer. They close in the day and open in the evening. They are real charmers and wonderful to enjoy on an evening garden stroll. I had no flowers from them last summer but this year there looks like there will be a bumper crop.One of the tallest plants this year is already four feet tall.
The pink primroses (Oenethera speciosa) are a familiar sight blooming along the roadside and in waste places. I made the mistake of collecting some seed from a particularly beautiful patch several years ago in Waverly. I cast the seed into my rose bed and have fought them ever since. This year, I said what the heck and let them grow and they were beautiful. They die back after blooming anyway. Now I wonder why I wasted so much effort trying to eradicate something so hardy and beautiful. I even made cut flowers of some and they held up as well as day lilies. Mother always called these pink ones cornbread flowers. She never said why, but I assumed it was because they are so plain and simple. Here in the deep south these primroses are a staple, just like cornbread.