Primula

Primula found among the ruins of the Viking church

One morning back in March, I spied small containers of primula displayed on a plant rack in front of the nearby Trader Joe’s grocery store. The one I bought sported deep blue flowers, the hue of its petals bordering on purple. At home, after adding the primula to a circular bed under the big live oak out front, I used a digital camera to photograph the blossoms.  The petals photographed as blue, but not the proper shade of blue, not even after I changed the settings on the camera multiple times, nor after I fiddled with the color saturation on my computer.

Still missing the hint of purple

As I sat at my computer trying to get the colors right, I remembered the pale yellow primula I spotted on an April day several years ago on the Orkney island of Egilsay. I found the primula growing wild among the ruins of the round-towered Viking church where, according to some accounts, Saint Magnus was brutally murdered in 1117.

In March when I bought the primrose, the sunshine, the chill in the air, and the wind made me feel as though I were back on Egilsay, although here in coastal South Carolina wind is less pervasive.

Primroses growing in the wild on Skye

Last month I traveled to Scotland again. This time it was near Elgol on the Isle of Skye that I came across the pale yellow primula growing in the wild.  This time the day was overcast. This time the primrose climbed hills.