Missouri evening primrose
Oenothera macrocarpa ·
Huge, lemon-yellow flowers as wide as a hand open in late afternoon on a low, sprawling plant with narrow leaves and red stems. Large winged seed pods follow.
- Size
- 10 in tall, 24 in wide
- Zones
- 3 to 7
- Light
- Full sun
- Flowers
- Late May to early August
- Pets
- Not checked
- Job in a bed
- Carpet
A bed built around Missouri evening primrose
The planner designed this bed around Missouri evening primrose when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) English border in zone 6, full sun. It chose the other plants from the 715 that suit those conditions and its dry soil, and says below why Missouri evening primrose stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Missouri evening primrose × 11, yellow
- 2 Sea thrift × 5, pink
- 3 Little bluestem 'The Blues' × 3, tan
- 4 Stiff goldenrod × 3, yellow
- 5 Dwarf English boxwood × 1, dark green leaves
- 6 Sunset hyssop × 3, orange
- 7 Grecian windflower × 12, blue
- 8 Star of Persia × 3, purple
Why this plant
- The only open bowls. The others are globes, spires, flat plates and others. Shape reads at a distance, where colours blur.
- The only medium leaves here. The rest are fine and bold. A change of leaf keeps plants distinct when nothing is in flower.
Why here
- Under the taller plants. It runs back between them as living mulch: there its job is to cover the soil, not to be looked at.
- 11 plants in 3 groups (5, 3 and 3). Seen again further along, the same plant ties the bed together.
Why now
- In flower for 12 weeks. From late May to early August.
- Fills a gap. For two of those weeks nothing else on the plan is in flower.
Planned as an English border: 4 of the 5 groups (80%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. Missouri evening primrose repeats along the bed to tie it together. The front edge is finished with Missouri evening primrose and sea thrift.
The planner's own design check: 14 Excellent, 3 Good. It flags one thing to watch: Nothing on this plan is highly poisonous or an aggressive spreader.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where Missouri evening primrose goes in a border
At 10 in it belongs at the front of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is low (6 to 12 in).
Its job: carpet. A groundcover planted in threes and fives to cover the soil: along the front, and just behind it.
The flowers are enormous for the size of the plant. It needs poor, dry, limy soil and full sun, and rots in wet clay.
- Hot, dry banks and wall tops
- Rock and gravel gardens
- Evening gardens
What to plant with Missouri evening primrose
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Winecups: purple against yellow, opposite each other on the colour wheel, in flower together for 11 weeks; happy in the same dry soil.
- Blue fescue: its blue-green leaves are a setting for the flowers, before and after; happy in the same dry soil.
- Prairie smoke: in flower together for two weeks, from late May; happy in the same dry soil.
Questions about Missouri evening primrose
Does Missouri evening primrose need sun or shade?
Missouri evening primrose grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day).
It wants dry, sharply drained soil, on the lean side, with no feeding, and little watering once settled.
What zones does Missouri evening primrose grow in?
USDA zones 3 to 7. It is hardy to zone 3, which means it survives winter nights down to about −30 °F (−34 °C).
Above zone 7 it struggles: the zones measure winter cold, but a plant's top zone usually means the summers are too hot or the winters too mild for it to rest.
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does Missouri evening primrose flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers late May to early August. As a spring flower it moves about a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer, later where it is colder.
| Zone 3 | Early June to mid August |
|---|---|
| Zone 4 | Late May to mid August |
| Zone 5 | Late May to early August |
| Zone 6 | Mid May to early August |
| Zone 7 | Early May to early August |
Worked out from Hopkins' bioclimatic law: spring arrives about four days later for each degree of latitude north, and one zone is roughly two degrees. A warm spring or a cold one moves any garden two weeks either way.
How far apart should Missouri evening primrose be planted?
18 in (45 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 24 in (60 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 10 in (25 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many Missouri evening primrose plants do I need?
At 18 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 5 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 7 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 17 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as threes and fives, along the front and just behind it.
In the bed above, the planner used 11 in three groups.
Is there a native plant like Missouri evening primrose?
Missouri evening primrose is not native to North America. These North American natives come closest to doing its job:
- Seaside daisy: the same job in a bed, the same size and the same flowering time; lavender, not yellow, keeps its leaves in winter.
- Woolly yarrow: the same job in a bed and the same colour; 6 in narrower, flowers late May to early July.
- Beach wormwood 'Silver Brocade': the same job in a bed and the same size; grown for its leaves, not its flowers.
Matched the way the planner's Swap button matches plants: the same job in a bed, then size, then flowering time.
What flowers after Missouri evening primrose?
Missouri evening primrose is over by early August. These start as it finishes and carry the same spot on, so it never goes flat:
- Lilyturf: from early August to mid September, 16 in tall.
- Sedum 'Autumn Joy': from mid August to mid October, 24 in tall.
- Little bluestem 'Standing Ovation': from early August to mid September, 3½ ft tall.
What does Missouri evening primrose look like in winter?
Missouri evening primrose dies down to the ground and there is nothing to see until spring. The old stems can be cut in autumn, or left until spring as shelter for overwintering insects.
More Oenothera
- Gaura 'Siskiyou Pink' Oenothera lindheimeri 'Siskiyou Pink'
- Gaura 'Whirling Butterflies' Oenothera lindheimeri 'Whirling Butterflies'
- Pink evening primrose Oenothera speciosa
- Sundrops Oenothera fruticosa
- Sundrops 'Fireworks' Oenothera fruticosa 'Fyrverkeri'
In these guides
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial (groundcover)
- Size
- 10 in (25 cm) tall, 24 in (60 cm) wide
- Plant
- 18 in (45 cm) apart
- Height class
- Low (6 to 12 in)
- Place in the bed
- Front
- Flowers
- Late May to early August; open bowls; yellow
- Leaves
- Medium texture, herbaceous; green
- Shape
- Mat-forming, clumping
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 3 to 7
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil
- Lean, dry and sharply drained
- Water
- Low
- Feeding
- None needed
Not yet checked against an outside reference: its figures rest on general horticultural knowledge. Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.