Primula eliator Victoriana Silver Lace Black - Oxlip

The Primula eliator 'Silver Lace Black' is a brand-new primrose with an unusual flowering, offering a stunning contrast of colours. It produces upright stems, adorned with tricoloured flowers, with almost black petals, edged in white, centred on a beautiful yellow throat. It is also a very hardy, flowering and unusual perennial or biennial plant, which can be placed near a walkway to admire the graphic design of its flowers. It will illuminate the partially shaded areas of the garden, in a humus-rich, fertile and fresh soil. 

The Primula eliator, also known as the Oxlip or Woodland Primrose, is a herbaceous perennial plant that belongs to our native flora and is mostly found in the semi-shade of clear undergrowth or on the edge of forests. When it is abundant, the primrose is an indicator of old forests, little disturbed by human activity.

This plant has given rise to many short-lived perennial hybrids, mostly cultivated as biennial plants, through hybridisation with the Common Primrose (Primula vulgaris). This 'Silver Lace Black' primrose blooms from May to July, depending on the climate, for about two months. On each plant, 2 or 3 flowering stems 25 cm (10in) tall each bear bouquets consisting of 4 to 5 single, slightly fragrant flowers, of beautiful size, composed of rounded petals, of almost black brown, finely edged in white-cream, arranged in a collar around a bright yellow centre. Their highly contrasting colour is well highlighted by evergreen foliage in rosettes of large, deeply crinkled dark green leaves, which are decorative even outside of the flowering period.

The eliator primroses are less well-known than the stemless primroses, but they have their own advantages: they are taller, hardier, more perennial and their flowering is also more spectacular. They are excellent companions for shade-loving and cool semi-shade-loving perennials such as heucheras, Brunnera, Anemone nemorosa, pansies, horned violets or hostas. They can also be used to decorate the terrace, window or balcony, when planted in garden planters that brighten up the gloomy winter days. They also hold up very well in a simple bouquet, a rare gift that is always a pleasure to give or receive at this time of year.