Showy Evening Primrose Oenothera Speciosa is a perennial plant that comes from the south-central United States. It is native to the rocky prairies and savannas of the lower Midwest, but now commonly seen along roadsides and in disturbed areas over a much broader region. This evening primrose produces white flowers that turn rosy pink from the outer edge of the petals inwards as they age. The showy flowers open up during the daytime, and are 2-4 inches across. Each flower has 4 broad petals, 8 white stamens with white or yellow anthers, and a long white stigma that is 4-cleft at its tip, resembling a white cross. The pubescent stems are erect or have a tendency to sprawl. The central stem is usually little branched, except near the apex of the plant where the flowers occur.

Showy Evening Primrose Oenothera Speciosa is useful in a wide variety of semi-wild garden settings: in rock gardens, wildflower meadows, and naturalistic borders and along the edges of roads and trails. Pink evening primrose is a wonderful wildflower for roadside beautification! It will readily form showy colonies on rocky highway rights of way and gravelly driveway edges. The plant is easy to grow from seed. Sow them outdoors late summer to fall or in early spring or sow indoors in early spring. The seeds can simply be scattered outdoors where they are to grow if the ground is not too hard or densely vegetated.

The plant is attractive to bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.