Pink Evening Primrose | Garden Tuesday

Pink Evening Primrose is an easy to grow perennial that naturalizes freely. 

I've shared this story before, but it explains how these beautiful simple flowers are not spread throughout my flower beds.  When the girls were little they were outside playing, also known as life before video games.  They had rambled down to the corner of the street and were talking to the lady that was out gardening.  She was pulling these pink flowers out like weeds, which I admit, you might have to do.  She gave some to my daughters, who came running home, stems crushed in their hot little hands, roots dangling.

I remember being a little flustered because I thought she had sent me a hopeless endeavor.  The girls had bright smiley faces, filled with pride at the new additions they brought me for my flower beds.  I took the bedraggled stems from their hands and dug small holes to plant them in.  I figured it was a doomed proposition, and I only hoped that the girls would soon forget about them.

That was probably about 20 years ago, and as you can see they are still going strong.  According to Wikipedia, they are Oenothera speciosa  a species of evening primrose known by several common names, including pinkladies, pink evening primrose, showy evening primrose, Mexican primrose, and amapola.  Whatever you call them, they a pretty pale pink flower that fits in perfect in any kind of cottage garden.  In the above photo you can see them paired with catmint walker's low for a lovely combination.

According to Wikipedia, it's wild habitat includes rocky prairies, open woodlands, slopes, roadsides, meadows and disturbed areas. While it makes an attractive garden plant, care should be taken with it as it can become invasive, spreading by runners and seeds. This drought-resistant plant prefers loose, fast-draining soil and full sun.  Ours has not really become invasive.  Some years it comes back very strong and other years it's more sparse.