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One of a range of primroses with dark foliage that have recently become available. Barnhaven Primroses say: "Dark chocolate foliage with a slight purple sheen. Light pink/purple flowers on single stems. Like a lot of the dark foliage primroses this is lovely in containers and pots. Clump forming. Bred by Joe Kennedy. Touch of Class Plants add: "The new Primula High Tea Irish Primrose range has been developed in Ireland from varieties dating back to at least the early 1900’s and have been slowly bred in outdoor conditions over a period of 38 years. Included in the range are Primula High Tea Avoca, Primula High Tea Avondale, Primula High Tea Carrigdale, Primula High Tea Claddagh, Primula High Tea Drumcliff, Primula High Tea Dunbeg, Primula High Tea Glengariff, Primula High Tea Innisfree, and Primula High Tea Tara." Writing on One Bean Row website, Jane Powers said of her visit to an AGS show in Dublin in 2005: "And then, I was stopped short by a more than usually magnificent sight. It was a long table crowded with primulas: dozens and dozens of them in full flower. Some had a familiar look about them, but others were unlike anything I’d seen before. “New Irish Primrose Hybrids”, proclaimed the sign: “All Bred Over the Past 25 Years by Joe Kennedy, Ballycastle”. Alas, Joe Kennedy’s plants were not for sale at that show in 2005. He had created them purely for his own pleasure. They had occupied him since the late 1970s, and when he took early retirement from dentistry in the eighties, they consumed him entirely. Each year, he would breed about 2,000 new plants, and at least 1,900 would end up as “compost for the future”. He kept only those that offered desirable traits for his back garden breeding programme. His sole raw materials — the ancestors of all his progeny — were “wee pieces” of about twenty old Irish cultivars collected over the years from gardeners throughout Ireland. In the beginning, his pollinating choices were random, but as the years went on, he began to breed for specific attributes: darker leaves, larger blooms, distinct flower shape and colour, and of course, hardiness. The Kennedy primroses may well have remained a private passion, shared only with a few envious people at plant shows, as their creator is a self-contained person. “I’m a bit of a recluse. I just work here on my own. I have a job to do.” And then, with refreshing candour: “People coming around are only a bloody nuisance.” Kernnedy's plants were introduced to the trade by Pat FitzGerald of FitzGerald Nurseries in Kilkenny. |
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| 8th March 2014 | ||