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Cultivation Advice
Cultivation Daphne Grafting
Cultivation-Fishboxes
Cardiocrinum giganteum
Cremanthodium ellisii
Primula buryana
Primula dickieana
Primula scotica
Saxifraga oppositifolia

Plant portraits - Primula scotica

The Scottish primrose, Primula scotica, a relative of Primula farinosa and Primula scandinavica, was first found by a Mr Gibb of Inverness in 1819 on the high cliffs of Holborn Head, Scrabster, on the northern Caithness coastline. It may be found in slightly calcareous substrate anywhere along the north coast from north-west Sutherland and Caithness around to Wick and onwards to the Orkney Islands, in the areas of North Hill, Rousay, Stromness heath & coast, and West Westray. The known populations have all been growing in stony, short and sparse vegetation, managed by winter-grazing sheep and, in some cases, helpful rabbits that restrict the vegetation to around two or three centimetres or less. Only very rarely is it found in lush vegetative ground. However, I have found no plants wherever rabbit activity has been too great. A clue to its habitat is its plant association with a number of maritime lime-tolerant indicator plants according to season: Festuca rubra, Thymus praecox, Carex flacca, Succisa pratensis, Linum catharticum, Lotus corniculatus, Gentianella campestris, Anthyllis vulneraria, Prunella vulgaris, Galium verum and the semi-parasitic Euphrasia officinalis. 

Primula scotica usually has two flowering periods in May to June and July to August; it is said to be biennial or a short lived perennial. The flowering stalk (one to six cm, sometimes taller) extends from a basal rosette (one to five cm) of untoothed and almost stalkless leaves. The stem is topped by one to six violet-red to purple flowers (one or two cm in diameter) with notched petals and a golden yellow throat that has a narrow white surround. The leaves, stalk and seed head are coated with a white to cream-coloured farina. They have the ability to self-pollinate and in fruit they can extend to a height of twelve cm or more. Some populations can number upwards of sixty per square metre, thereby raising the possibility of cross pollination and an increase in the longevity of plants - as I have found at home, where I have plants from several sources. The number of my plants that have survived for numerous years has increased in 2011, and I now have a pan of five-year-old plants. 

Over the years I have grown P. scotica in various composts, such as loam-based John Innes, proprietary peat base with added John Innes, straight peat composts, not forgetting germinating in a seed-formulated compost - with varying degrees of success. All the resulting plants were short lived, whether pot grown or in the open garden. 

It wasn’t until I remembered being on a training exercise with RAF Kinloss Mountain Rescue Team in North Sutherland in the early 1970s that I hit upon a more successful method. While sunbathing during that mission I was able to observe a number of colonies on the Kyle of Durness. The memory of the wee primula remained dormant in my mind’s eye until it suddenly dawned on me when thinking back to the first time I had seen it, subconsciously reinforced by many subsequent sightings. 

I managed to acquire a piece of maritime turf, gave it a haircut, cutting the grass to approximately two cm, and laid it onto a base of gritty sand in a twenty five cm pan. I trimmed off the excess turf and watered the pan from above, using rain water with added dolomitic lime. I sowed seed from different stock thinly on the surface of the turf, giving the pot a gentle knock to settle the seed amongst the blades of grass; I then waited for germination. In due course the seed germinated and grew on to flowering, without thinning out the germinated seedlings. Five years on, they have flowered well. The rosettes vary in width and the height of the flowering plants varies; they are certainly not uniform. 

The only aftercare is to keep the grass short at two to three cm and to ensure that the primulas are never short of water. I am now in the process of trying another variation. Here, I have sown seed from another source in gritty compost. I will prick the seedlings out and put them in a pan and deep seed tray containing maritime turf with mixed vegetation. Then I will sit back and see.

I lived and worked in Orkney for 25 years and am fortunate to know of a site where Primula scotica grows near one of my favourite walks along the cliff tops at Yesnaby. Here it grows in the short maritime heath, some 150 to 200 metres back from the cliff edge but well within the salt spray debris area. From observation I would describe the soil in the area as a thin layer of clayish soil over a base of Stromness flagstone. The immediate area looks relatively level but Parnassia palustris (Grass of Parnassus) may also be found here, indicating that the drainage is not uniform. The area is stripped of soil at the cliff edge and, as the cliff is unfenced, the vegetation is not grazed by cattle or sheep. In addition to the wind, a few rabbits perhaps help to keep the vegetation under control.

Suitable Primula scotica habitat at Yesnaby, Orkney, northern Scotland.