Plant Doctor Archive

Primroses changed colour

I HAD a clump of lovely yellow primroses for several years, which I moved to a new position last year. Now I've noticed the flowers have changed to white with a yellow centre. Is this normal?

IT'S unusual for the flower on any plant to change colour over time, but not impossible. I checked with plant breeder Noel McMillan who has lots of experience with primroses and he has not heard of a colour change happening as you describe. He does suggest that perhaps the original plant set seed and then died and what you see flowering now are actually seedlings, in which case there is the likelihood that a colour change could occur. With hybrid plants the seedling offspring often have different characteristics to their parents, which can include flower colour.

Reproduced with permission from the former Weekend Gardener magazine. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the RNZIH.