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Hooker's Evening Primrose (yellow) (Oenothera elata)

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Botanical name: Oenothera elata‍ ‍ • Bloom season: Summer‍ ‍ •

Bloom color: Lemon yellow ‍ • Pollinator value: Evening nectar for hawk moths, morning pollen for bees ‍ • Host plant (elsewhere in North America): white-lined sphinx, primrose moth

Large lemon-yellow cups that open at dusk on tall leafy stalks, a Great Basin native that runs the evening shift for hawk moths while bees take the leftover pollen in the morning. It is a streamside and meadow plant, so it brings a lusher look than most natives here, and it gets big enough to be visible at the back of a garden. Eighteen specialist bee species are recorded on evening primroses across the western US, taking the pollen in the morning after the moths have had the night.

Botanical name: Oenothera elata‍ ‍ • Bloom season: Summer‍ ‍ •

Bloom color: Lemon yellow ‍ • Pollinator value: Evening nectar for hawk moths, morning pollen for bees ‍ • Host plant (elsewhere in North America): white-lined sphinx, primrose moth

Large lemon-yellow cups that open at dusk on tall leafy stalks, a Great Basin native that runs the evening shift for hawk moths while bees take the leftover pollen in the morning. It is a streamside and meadow plant, so it brings a lusher look than most natives here, and it gets big enough to be visible at the back of a garden. Eighteen specialist bee species are recorded on evening primroses across the western US, taking the pollen in the morning after the moths have had the night.

Size:

Plant Characteristics

Botanical Name: Oenothera elata

Common Name: Hooker's Evening Primrose (yellow)

Native: Native

Sun: Full Sun

Water: Moderate

Bloom Time: Summer

Bloom Color: Yellow

Pollinators: Bees; Moths; Hummingbirds

Mature Size: W 1'-2' x H 3'-6'

Soil: Well-drained; tolerates seasonally moist ground and streamsides

Plant Type: Biennial

USDA Zones: 3 to 9

Spread Habit: Self-sows

Available As: Live plant

Native Region: Great Basin; Sierra Nevada; Southern Rocky Mountains; Mojave Desert; California Floristic Province; Colorado Plateau

Host Plant (Elsewhere in North America): white-lined sphinx, primrose moth

Growing Notes

Full sun with more moisture than the dry-slope natives want; it does well where the ground stays seasonally damp, along a swale or the wet end of an irrigated bed. Space about 2 feet apart. It is biennial, so expect a rosette in year one and a flowering stalk in year two.

  • Water: Moderate

  • Sun: Full Sun

  • Soil: Well-drained; tolerates seasonally moist ground

  • Mature size: W 1'-2' x H 3'-6'

Maintenance

Let it self-sow, because that is the only way a biennial planting continues. Do not deadhead. Leave the stalks standing through winter for seed and for the hollow stems that small native bees nest in, then pull them in spring. Thin volunteers where they are too thick.