The candelabra primulas (the Proliferae section) are wonderful plants, originating from China and the Himalaya, for woodland or damp, even extremely wet, places. They make clumps of strong leaves, deciduous in some species and persisting through the winter in others, and then send up their tall stems. At intervals up the stems there are whorls of ten or so flowers, each ring opening in succession, perhaps one every five or six days, . As there can be up to six, even seven, whorls, that gives an exceptional flowering period. So there can be a mass of colour – and that colour can be brilliant orange or yellow, red, pink, white, even dark maroon.

Primula x anisodoxa 'Kevock Surprise' is an exceptionally good form of a hybrid that arises very rarely in the garden. The name comes from primulas anisodora and helodoxa - both of which have been replaced, but the hybrid name is still valid! Wilsonii flowers late in the season and has very deep red flowers with a yellow eye; prolifera is early, vigorous, and has bright yellow flowers. This hybrid can flower from June to August, and has dark red buds, just like wilsonii, but they open to a rich salmon pin, with a clear yellow eye, and they become paler as they mature. As several whorls of flowers can be open at any one time, there is a surprising range of colour.