After the mexican primrose

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JXStern - 04 Jul 2008 03:05 GMT

Two years ago an area in our front yard was invaded by the beautiful
mexican primrose, here in Long Beach, CA. The flowers are beautiful -
then die out about this time of year, leaving rhyzomes for next year.
I let them grow, but now that they're dying, I'm pulling out the dead
foliage and impressed by the sheer amount of material involved!

In spite of the flowers in season, I'm wondering if I should try to
eliminate this stuff, and if so how to go about it. Or, should I just
mix in a little extra topsoil and nutrients, go ahead and plant the
area with some ground-covering perennials, and let things go until the
primrose's return next spring?

Any advice, war stories, and the like?

Thanks.

Josh

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Jangchub - 04 Jul 2008 04:19 GMT

>Two years ago an area in our front yard was invaded by the beautiful
>mexican primrose, here in Long Beach, CA. The flowers are beautiful -
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
>
>Josh

If you pull the foliage you will not have flowers for many years
because the plant cannot photosynthesize and make and store enough
energy to flower. I am not sure what a Mexican primrose is. Can you
be more specific? I mean, around here they call everything from
Ruellia to winecups Mexican primroses.

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Paulo da Costa - 04 Jul 2008 04:55 GMT

> If you pull the foliage you will not have flowers for many years
> because the plant cannot photosynthesize and make and store enough
> energy to flower. I am not sure what a Mexican primrose is. Can you
> be more specific? I mean, around here they call everything from
> Ruellia to winecups Mexican primroses.

Here in California, "Mexican evening primrose" is Oenothera speciosa.

It does die back, although here in Northern California it's still
blooming. I don't think there's any problem in removing (dead) foliage,
it is part of its natural cycle. I would plant something else in hat
area and wait for it to come back the following year, it may be too much
trouble to try to eliminate it.

Paulo

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zzznot - 05 Jul 2008 03:52 GMT

> Here in California, "Mexican evening primrose" is Oenothera speciosa.

Yes.

This will do:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oenothera_speciosa

I've actually done them in pots,
a skimpy, mostly flowerless foliage
will last until late summer, and it
appears gone, but the rhizomes survive
and are very vigorous. Even so, I can
mix in some more potting soil, plant another
six weeks of annuals, until the pots go fallow
towards the end of October, or even through
February - when the rhizomes sprout again!

But it's a whole different thing when they're
in the ground, have to fear the rhizomes and
roots go very deep and have drained the soil.

Josh

>> If you pull the foliage you will not have flowers for many years
>> because the plant cannot photosynthesize and make and store enough
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>
> Paulo

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Homeowner Forum / Lawn and Garden / July 2008

After the mexican primrose