Thursday, March 27, 2008

Primula 'Elizabeth Killelay': flowers

Primula, known in English as "primroses" and in French as primevère, is a genus of herbaceous perennials native to the northern Hemisphere, as well as mountains in Ethiopia and southeast Asia, and temperate South America.

This cultivar, 'Elizabeth Killelay', has very dark red-black petals edged in white. (The flowers are actually double but I guess this specimen hasn't reached that stage of development yet.} It was on display at Toronto Botanical Garden at Canada Blooms.

Canada Blooms 2008

I went to Canada Blooms for the first time this year. I was hoping to see unusual new varieties, but almost all the exhibitors stuck with a handful of species, I guess because they were best able to survive being in the convention centre--tulips, daffodills, crocuses, gerbera daisies, Himalayan birch (why not a native birch?), etc.

[Photo: dried wildflowers at Canada Blooms.]I was intrigued to see this exhibitor (some national wildlife charity, I should have written it down) got their dried flowers from Almonte! (Almonte is my hometown, in eastern Ontario.)

[Photo: Generation Gap by Nancy Wahorn.]Floral arrangement, 'Generation Gap', by Nancy Wahorn, won 2nd prize in this category, and also the Helen Chochran Novice Award--Design. Plants include Pleomele reflexa variegate, Amaranthus viridis, Strelitzia.

Photos of individual plants at Canada Blooms have their own entries.

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