Primroses

The primrose is among my favourite wild flowers. When I was young, my family lived in a big old ramshackle house on the marshes - my brother and his family live there still. Winters were often cold and rather harsh and the house had a rudimentary heating system. I remember often on winter mornings on waking, you could see the breath forming little clouds of water vapour.
As a child and into my teens I walked a lot, and often on my own along the coastal dykes, footpaths and farmtracks of East Essex. In early spring, the primrose is one of the first wildflowers I would see, clustered along the ditches and running down banks. I love the softness of the colour, such a delicate yellow.
Twenty years ago I planted a couple of primroses at the top of a bank, at the foot of a hedge in the garden. It is now completely covered in them.