Evening Primrose Plant Facts
Evening Primrose: All That You Wanted to Know About Oenothera Speciosa
If you are thinking as to what the Oenothera speciose is, then this plant is commonly called by different names like pink evening Primrose, pink ladies, Mexican primrose or showy evening primrose. This plant adds great looks and attraction to an ordinary looking garden. The evening primrose can be used as a garden bed and borders and also form excellent ground cover plants throughout the year. They are well suited for garden styles like meadow type garden, rock garden, coastal garden or prairie garden. The showy flowers make them a must in every garden. The Oenothera speciose belongs to the Onagraceae family and is an herbaceous perennial flowering plant. These plants can easily turn into invasive plants thereby you need to take great care of it from overspreading in the garden. Hint: Don’t water your evening primrose plant too often.
Description of Oenothera Speciose
The pink evening primrose is a perennial wild flowering plant that comes out with multitudes of fragrance filled satin like white flowers. The flowers have a very delicate structure and feels like crumpled silk. The flowers are the major attractions of this plant and are about 2 to 3 inches wide. They generally will turn to rose-pink shade as they age with the flower veins turning deeper pink in colour. The flower contains plenty of stamens and four broad petals with star shaped stigma. The flowers are cup shaped that face skywards. The evening primrose will start to bloom during the late spring and will extend its bloom during most of the hot summer. The flowers will open in the evening and will close late morning. The stems are upright and sometimes sprawling and the leaves of the plant are oblong to lance shaped. These perennials can grow up to a height of 10 to 24 inches tall. The plant will spread aggressively and form large colonies. They are the best for ground covers. They are drought tolerant and can grow well in any kind of soil.
How to Grow Evening Primrose?
The pink evening primrose thrives in full sun and will need the soil to be having dry to medium moisture. They can grow in all types of soils, but the soil needs to be a well-drained one. They will tolerate light shade, but will bloom more when placed in full sun.
Growing from Seeds
- The seeds of the evening primrose can be sown in a sunny or light shaded area outdoors. The soil should be a well-draining one and must be slightly acidic.
- Loosen the soil in the area where you are going to sow the seeds.
- Sowing the seeds during early spring is a good idea. The seeds need to be scattered over the prepared soil. Just cover the seeds lightly with the soil and then water it lightly.
Caring Tips for Oenothera Speciose
It is very easy to take care of the evening primrose once it starts to grow. The plant needs to be watered during the dry periods. As they can spread quickly, either by seed, self sown or underground runners. Wind or birds can easily scatter or broadcast seeds to nearby gardens or other parts of your garden. This is why you should prune them back after the flowering period to prevent the seeds from getting produced. The best time to provide manure to the plant is during the spring time. Make sure the manure is not at all, fresh. Fresh manures and composts contains diseases and fungal pathogens. If you are looking at growing more plants, then you can propagate the plant during the spring time.
