Evening primrose gets its name from its large yellow flowers, which resemble primroses and open up late in the day. It has become a well-known name largely due to the precious skin-rejuvenating and hormone-balancing oil extracted from its seeds.
 
Classified as a biennial, evening primrose is a versatile species that is able to survive in a diverse range of challenging environments, from desert regions to riverbeds, seashores and mountains. In an English garden it will do best in full sunshine, but will most likely survive wherever you choose to grow it. The late opening of its flowers provide an important source of nectar to moths and other night-time pollinators.
 
As the short-lived flowers die a pod forms containing their gift of tiny fatty acid packed seeds. Each successive night another whorl of flowers opens gradually progressing skywards towards the tip of the tall stem.