A wildflower conundrum.

Background.
A few years ago the Council/Farmer/whoever cleaned out a drainage ditch along the lane on which we live. In doing so, they destroyed a thriving population of native Primroses, Primula vulgaris. We were lucky enough to rescue a single surviving clump and replant it back in the bank. With careful seed sowing we have now managed to increase the population to close to what it was before.
Now for the problem/conundrum. The latest ones to flower are the awful muddy pink which comes when the native Primula is contaminated with pollen from the Polyanthes Primulas planted in various gardens. So, and yes I do know the law about removing wild plants, I was wondering, do I leave the foreigners or do I remove them to try to keep the native strain reasonably pure?

 

You only need permission from the land owner, i'm sure if you told the council your intent, they wouldn't give a fig. Just wear a high vis jacket and no one will bat an eyelid.

There is not a lot of botanical interest around Hambridge, except for a bank of Early Purple Orchids which the council have just scraped away completely & sent to landfill so they could put in a new footpath

 

Now why does that not surprise me. The Environment Agency came along and scraped the bank of the river just down from us, no wild flowers worth talking about, but it was the nesting site for a Kingfisher which has never been seen since.

 

That'll be the same Environment Agency that ordered thousands of Yellow Water Lillies & planted them in rivers all over the country then

 

Personally, I'd just remove and destroy the hybrid types in this case. No point trying to talk to the council. Transplanting them defeats the whole object of the exercise, i.e. of trying to restore the native primroses, so I don't see the point in that.

If you planning to collect and sow more seed, why not try to get some from a nearby population with plenty of wild ones and no garden varieties nearby, so you could be sure of getting pure wild seed?

 

Talked to the local 'expert' and we came to the conclusion that by the time we had seen the rogue coloured flowers, it was too late and the bees would have been busy with them.
This IS the local population, there are no others that we can find within a bee flight.

 

Hard work getting a saddle and reins on a bee so one does not slip off in flight, I can tell you!