Primula auricula

I don't know which of the many varieties this is, it is certainly one of the darkest. My father grew it and I brought it from my family home as small potted plant. It did show some die-back in the long, cold and snowy winter but I am relieved to see plenty of blossom and healthy foliage.

I have had a fondness for these since I appeared, as a young girl, in our village pageant as Peaseblossom and wore a floral headdress containing Auriculas, which I thought very sophisticated grown-up. Sadly, I have no other recollection of the day, apart from my puzzlement that the girl who played Titania was not even a resident of the village. (My brother tells me it was because she was very pretty - which says a lot for the older girls I grew up with).