I am trying to figure out what variety of Evening Primrose I have all over my garden. (It spreads quickly.) I think it might just be plain old common evening primrose:

From Wikipedia:

It is a biennial flowering plant growing to 30–150 cm tall. The leaves are lanceolate, 5–20 cm long and 1–2.5 cm broad, produced in a tight rosette in the first year, and spirally on the stem in the second year. The flowers are pale yellow, 2.5–5 cm diameter, with four petals; they are hermaphrodite, and produced on a tall spike from late spring to late summer. They open in the evening, hence the name "evening primrose", and close by the following noon. The flower has a bright nectar guide pattern, invisible in visible light, but apparent under ultraviolet light, which assists its pollinated by Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) and bees. The fruit is a capsule 2–4 cm long and 4–6 mm broad, containing numerous 1–2 mm long seeds, released when the capsule splits into four sections at maturity.^[2][3][4][5]

It is also known as Weedy evening-primrose, German rampion, hog weed, King's cure-all, and fever-plant.^[6]

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It's lovely but I don't have any pictures of it in flower. Here is what I think it looks like, in case anyone can help me identify it.

This is pretty cool...a video someone took of an evening primrose actually opening, in real time. Check it out:

Evening Primrose Flower Opening 1

Real time (not time-lapse) recording of an evening primrose ...
1 min 44 sec -

'Popsicle Blue' Lupine

Purchased at Bachman's

Spikes of pea like flowers rise above rich green compact foliage. An established clump will have several stems rising from a single base. Blooms in early summer. Rich, neutral to slightly acid well-drained soil. Remove faded blooms. Mulch around plant to keep roots cool.

I've planted it in a sunny spot right behind the bird bath.

Here's hoping.

Oenothera Biennis

As night falls and the moon rises, the Evening Primrose blooms, and a lemon-scented fragrance radiates from its yellow petals.  By daybreak, the flowers fade and await the new blossoms that will bloom the next evening.  Evening Primrose is a hardy, erect biennial herb that thrives in dry soil and may reach a height of six feet.  During its second year, showy yellow flowers appear and bloom in diminished light or in the darkness, and in optimum conditions this ornamental plant will self-seed. Evening Primrose is a North American native that grows in dry meadows from Canada to Texas and east of the Rockies to the Atlantic.   It was brought to Europe in the seventeenth century, where it continues to be used in herbal medicine.  The entire plant is edible, and it was once a popular food for North American Indians who also used it as a painkiller and as an asthma treatment.  The oil derived from the seeds contains rare gamma linolenic acid, mucilage, tannin, lignin, amino acids, calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, essential fatty acids, B-vitamins and vitamin E.

Two successful plants from seed. Neither is growing very well and not even close to blooming.

But they're still alive.

Here's hoping for next year.

Seed from GardenMakers

Large crimson-scarlet flowers with a black mark at the base of each petal. Flowers may be 8 inches across!

Ht. 36-48"

Bloom late spring/early summer

Full sun

I successfully started a ton of this from seed. It is already blooming and very tall in its first year.

Seed from GardenMakers

Color: Blue Height: 24 in.

Summer bloom

Full sun/partial shade

Profuse bloomer with dense, tapering racemes of blue flowers.

I was able to create about a dozen healthy Jacob's Ladder plants from seed (GardenMakers). They are doing great, but most especially on the yard side of the fence bed near Ron and Mary's. No flowers this year, but next summer should be glorious.

Color: Blue Height: 24"

Bloom: Late Spring/ Early Summer

Part shade/full shade

Zone: 3-9

Nodding lavender-blue blossoms on erect stems.

Still on hand...

Echnipos bannaticus 'Blue Glow'

Nigella hispanica 'Exotica'

Anemone sylvestris (Snowdrop Anemone)

Lobelia cardinalis

Papaver orientale 'Beauty of Livermere'

Lysimachia punctata Yellow Loosestrife

Coreopsis grandiflora 'Early Sunrise'

Physostegia virginiana 'Crown of Snow'

Clematis tangutica 'Russian Virgin's Bower'

Cosmos bipinnatus 'Sensation Purity'

Black Hollyhock (biennial) 6-8' sun

Silybum marianum (St. Mary's Milk Thistle) Striking, marbled, edible leaves, medicinal

Peach Hollyhock (Alcea - biennial) 6-8' sun

Aster shortii (Short's Aster)
A good species for woodland restoration projects. Lower stem leaves are narrow and heart-shaped.  Produces pale violet flowers in the fall. A good companion under Oaks on a dry sunny site.  Spreads vigorously to form a large colony. Attracts butterflies. An aggressive and quickly spreading species of Aster. Perennial • 2-4 feet • Light shade to sun • Average soil • Blooms September to October.  Habitat: Open woodlands & rocky slopes

This native perennial plant is 2–3½' tall, branching occasionally in the upper half. It is more or less erect, although the weight of the inflorescence often causes the stems to lean sideways. The stems are round and slender, often with lines of small white hairs. The alternate leaves are up to 6" long and 2" across, becoming gradually smaller as they ascend the stems. Their petioles are very slender and about 1" long on the lower leaves, while the upper leaves are nearly sessile. The petioles are often hairy. The lower leaves are narrowly cordate with heart-shaped bases, while the upper leaves are narrowly cordate or lanceolate. The upper surface of each leaf is smooth and hairless (not rough), while the lower surface is often covered with fine short hairs, especially along the central vein. The lower surface of the leaves also has a reticulated network of fine secondary veins. The leaf margins are smooth, or nearly so.

The upper stems terminate in panicles of composite flowers up to 1' long. Each composite flower is about ¾–1" across, and consists of 10-20 ray florets that surround numerous disk florets. The ray florets are lavender or pale blue-violet, while the disk florets are initially yellow, becoming reddish purple with age. On unusual specimens, the ray florets are light pink or white. The overlapping involucral bracts are narrow and finely pubescent. Each bract has a small dark green diamond toward its tip. The blooming period occurs from late summer through the fall, and lasts about 1–1½ months. Both the ray and disk florets can produce fertile seeds, each equipped with a small tuft of light brown hair. They are distributed by the wind. On mature plants, the root system consists of a caudex with coarse secondary roots, and short rhizomes are occasionally produced. This plant can form small vegetative colonies.

Cultivation: The preference is partial sun, mesic to slightly dry conditions, and a woodland soil that is loamy or rocky. Calcareous ground with a higher than normal pH is tolerated. Like many other asters, the foliage can be attacked by insects or disease. The plants have a tendency to flop over while in bloom.




Comments: This is one of the more attractive woodland asters with flowers that are larger than average in size. Short's Aster can be distinguished from other Aster spp. by carefully considering the appearance of the foliage and the size of the flowers. 

Like all its relatives, Swamp Milkweed has a distinctive flower that is shaped rather like an hourglass (right)--wide at the top and base, but constricted in the middle. The "base" is formed by five pigmented sepals that fold away from the rest of the flower, which includes five united petals. Each petal forms a "hood" over a stamen, or "horn," and the relative configurations of these two structures are useful in identifying various milkweed species. In the case of Swamp Milkweed, the horn is longer than its hood and curves away from it toward the flower center.

Within each milkweed flower there are two ovaries, which is why the plant's awl-shaped seed pods occur in pairs. These pods--green and often prickly to the touch (below left, photographed in early September)-- turn brown and brittle with age and burst open to reveal contain many silky-haired seeds that glisten in late summer sunlight (below left). The seeds are dispersed primarily by wind but also float on ponds and streams.

Swamp Milkweed grows to four feet in height (below right), its flowers forming an umbel-like cluster at the top of the stalk; side branching may occur in large, robust plants. Like the rest of its relatives, Swamp Milkweed's showy multiple flowers are easily found by bees and butterflies, which dine on milkweed nectar. But, as noted above, milkweeds play an even more important role for the larvae of some butterflies, most notably the Monarch.

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The milkweed gets its name from its white sap--although Swamp Milkweed is far less sappy than many of its relatives. Milkweed sap is a viscous fluid that flows through the plant's vascular system and oozes out when a stem or flower is damaged (bottom photo). Some animals decline to browse on milkweed foliage because of the bitter sap, which is laden with glycosides that are at leas t mildly toxic. However, Monarch caterpillars in particular thrive on milkweed and concentrate those glycosides in their own bodies--which in turn makes them unpalatable to potential predators.