Plan now for an evening primrose party
Evening primrose has been flowering in some spots along Carrboro’s main streets for several weeks. I’ve been trying to capture a photograph because the plants in my yard don’t yet have flower buds, but I’ve not been up early enough in the mornings or out on the streets late enough in the evenings to have succeeded.
Finally, one evening this past week, I boldly knocked on the door of Bill Derey, one of Carr-boro’s premier gardeners. Bill’s garden, on the west side of North Greensboro Street near Southern States, has been lit up at night by several evening primroses. I learned from Bill that these flowers don’t fully open until well after sunset. He knows because he invited a friend over to view the evening primrose flower opening and they had to wait and watch until 8:30 p.m. When those brilliant, butter-yellow flowers finally do open to the pleasure of night-flying pollinators, the plants literally glow in the dark. For a photograph, Bill advised that I should return in the early morning.
So there I was the next morning at 6:30, to discover that most of the flowers had already begun closing. This is truly a flower of the nighttime and well worth going outdoors to view. Having several near one’s porch, as Bill has, makes night viewing really convenient.
Don’t be confused if you hear someone showing off with the Latin name, Oenothera biennis, saying either [ee-noth-EE-ra by-ENN-is] or [ee-NOTH-er-a by-ENN-is], because both pronunciations seem to be acceptable. The first part of the name, the genus, from Greek, means “wine booty.†Eating the root was thought to increase one’s capacity for wine. I don’t recommend this, though a number of Native-American tribes used root teas and poultices for medicinal purposes.
The second part of the name, the species epithet, describes the plant as a biennial. It grows as a leafy rosette the first year; the second year, it grows up to 4 or more feet, flowers, sets seed and dies. If you are not a real tidy gardener, new plants will always be present somewhere. In Bill’s case, he makes certain that he has a few plants coming along each year. He obtained seeds of this wild plant years ago when he lived and gardened a little ways out of town. At his Greensboro Street location, he scattered seed in his back garden, where they thrived until the town’s deer ate them. Fortunately, the plants moved themselves out to the front-street side, where the deer have let them be.
Bill and I share a long-time appreciation for this native American plant and we have no difficulty recognizing it in its first-year, leafy rosette stage. I generally look for a cream colored mid-vein on each leaf, but Bill simply recognizes the leaf as, “That’s just the way it looks.â€
I remember years ago my botany mentor responding similarly when I asked how to recognize a certain oak tree. He replied, “That’s just the way it looks!†Once you’ve identified it for yourself, you will most likely remember it that way too.
Evening primroses flower throughout the summer. I’m looking forward to having my own evening primrose viewing party in a few weeks.


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