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Oenothera glazioviana |
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| | 'Tina James Magic' at dusk |
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| | Coarse rosettes the year before our plants flowered |
| Synonym(s) |
Oenothera erythrosepala |
| Common name |
red-sepal evening primrose |
| Family |
onagraceae |
| Life cycle |
biennial/perennial (Z3) |
| Flowers |
yellow |
| Size |
4' |
| Light |
sun |
From seed  |
germinate at room temperature
detailed seed-starting info below
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Much larger and coarser than most of the evening primroses I've grown. In fact, it's rather like O. biennis, which we consider to be a weed.
More recently, I've been trying a named variety, 'Tina James' Magic', which is known for the speed at which its flowers open in the evening. For some reason, it took my plants three years to come into bloom: the second year, they just made large rosettes of course leaves. Year three, they grew tall and bushy, with lots of flowers by mid-late June. I'm not sure if/how I'll make them work in the garden in future years, but it's cool to have witnessed their exuberant bloom. The photo above was taken on a late evening around summer solstice, mid-way into dusk; in the low light, the pale yellow flowers really lit up the scene, stealing the show from clear across the yard. Unlike some other oenotheras whose blooms fade quickly, the flowers are still open to admire in the early morning, but then wilt to make room for new ones.
The next day, I was determined to catch the flowers in their act of spiral-opening. With the help of my camera and a tripod, I was able to capture the time series below; the first photo was taken at 8:25pm, with several minutes elapsed between the early photos; the last six are all from 8:49-8:50pm. It really was cool to watch the flowers pop open one by one (my daughter Lily was delighted, too).
Time series:
   
   
   
  
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| | Still perky in the early morning |
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We left this plant behind in our Pennsylvania garden (and wish it well); we don't grow it in Houston. Seed for this plant is included on my seed trade list About my plant portraits
PlantLinks to other web pages about Oenothera glazioviana
- Seed from '04 trade. Baggy 70F (65%G, 4-6d)
- Seed for 'Tina James Magic' from '09 trade. Baggy 70F (10%G, 4-8d)
- Seed from '11 garden. Baggy 70F (4%G, 8-11d)
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