Common Name: evening primrose
Type: Herbaceous perennial
Family: Onagraceae
Zone: 5 to 9
Height: 2.00 to 3.00 feet
Spread: 1.00 to 2.00 feet
Bloom Time: June to August
Bloom Description: Lemon yellow fading to sunset orange-red
Sun: Full sun
Water: Dry to medium
Maintenance: Low
Suggested Use: Naturalize
Flower: Showy
Tolerate: Drought
Culture
Easily grown in average, dry to medium moisture, well-drained soils in full sun. Tolerates some part afternoon shade and some drought.
'Lemon Sunset' may be grown from seed and may self-seed in optimum growing conditions.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Oenothera is a genus of about 125 species of annuals, biennials and herbaceous perennials mostly from North America with a few species from South America. They are grown from their lovely flowers in shades of yellow, white or pink depending upon the species.
Genus name is unclear but may have come from the Greek words oinos and theras meaning wine-seeker in probable reference to an ancient use of the roots of genus plants in scenting wine.
'Lemon Sunset' is an erect, leafy-stemmed perennial which typically grows 36-40" tall. Features 4-petaled, cup-shaped, lemon yellow flowers (to 4") which, as the cultivar name suggests, acquire the reddish tints of a sunset as they mature. Blooms in summer. Species or hybrid identity is apparently unknown.
Problems
No serious insect or disease problems.
Uses
Beds and borders. Foliage will form an attractive ground cover. Containers.