These cool-weather beauties have a delicate appearance, with their furry and textured leaf rosettes and slender flower stalks bearing tiers of flowers with heart-shaped petals in shades of white, rose, pink, lavender, purple and burgundy, but they are surprisingly tough and quite easy to propagate from seed.
How to use your fairies
The fairy primrose is one of the first little flowering plants to sniff that spring might be in the air, and will start flowering even in midwinter depending on the time they were planted. They can flower from May to October.
The best way to show them off is to plant them in masses in flower borders, but they also combine very well with spring-flowering bulbs like daffodils and with other annuals such as violas, pansies, phloxes and Iceland poppies.
If you have a glut of fairy primula seedlings, grow some in pots to display inside the home. Simply place the pots inside a large container or basket and add some moss around it to emulate a woodland scene in a cool room with good light.
Do this:
This story is from the April 2020 edition of The Gardener.
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This story is from the April 2020 edition of The Gardener.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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FIRE AND Feathers!
On a dreary winter's day, a screen of fiery and feathery leaves puts up a fight against dullness!
GET THE ladies in!
At this time of year, early-flowering shrubs vie with each other to get the most attention. We say: Trust those with female names for frills and butterflies. They go the extra mile to flower their hearts out.
Vegetable Soups and dumplings
Vegetables make the most delicious soups and classic combinations are always a winner.
Yummy sweet potatoes for your good health
Boiled, baked or braaied, sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) are a delicious and healthy winter comfort food. Just a dollop of butter, a little seasoning and you are good to go.
Pretty and functional
If cooking is your main thing, you would probably be more interested in the culinary value of the three herbs and some of their varieties we are describing.
Dried Seedheads & Pods
Autumn and winter are the best times to see what flowers produce the best seedheads that can be left on the plants to feed the birds and bugs and for harvesting for dried arrangements.
SO MANY FACES and so many choices...
Whoever associated a Cotyledon orbiculata (pig's ear) with the ear of a pig obviously did not know about all the varieties and cultivars this species in the genus Cotyledon has.
COLOURFUL Cold Weather WINNERS!
If it comes to a vote, these dependable shrubs will be the top candidates for prime performance in winter and in other seasons...
What makes a garden sustainable?
It is interesting to note that the United Nations defines sustainable development as: “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”.
Nurturing NATURE-The Story of Kraal Garden's Transformation
Nestled within Prince Albert's rustic embrace lies a gem that is a testament to the transformative power of human vision and nature's bounty.
