Beacons aglow
Primroses are declining in the wild, so give them a home in your garden, writes David Overend.
Even in these dark days there are always some small beacons of light – like primroses, those elegant and colourful little flowers that transform woodland edges and shady banks as well as making wonderful houseplants. Mostly, they bloom in spring, but in the perfect place and given the perfect conditions, primroses, notably the most common form, Primula vulgaris, can still be throwing out pale-yellow flowers in early summer.
This evergreen British native spreads by seeds that are often dispersed by ants, and it can still be found across Britain but it seems, sadly, to be becoming a rarer pleasure.
But the apparent decline of the wild variety hasn’t deterred many people from growing other varieties in their own gardens where many a cool and semishaded spot can provide the ideal home for one of the country’s most treasured flowers.
Hedge bottoms and areas under deciduous trees are excellent locations because they help protect these delicatelooking plants from direct sunlight.
Primroses (and polyanthus, whose flowers, unlike those of primroses, stand proud of their leaves) like cooler positions with some shade to emulate the woodlandedge position they love in the wild.
They need moist, well-drained, friable soil – most gardeners will lose plants because of drought, so it is important to add plenty of organic matter and leaf litter when planting and to mulch yearly.
Nursery-produced plants are often grown under cover in peaty compost so they are more difficult to grow in the garden. If you do plant them out, keep them watered during their first growing season.
Alternatively, keep them in a pot until they finish flowering and then take them out, split them and repot small sections into gritty compost.
Primroses are best divided every two to three years, or the plants tend to develop fleshy stems that open up at the base, making them brittle and vulnerable to vine weevil.
Early autumn is an ideal time, but you can also do it after flowering as long as you water until autumn.
A quick note on polyanthus, another much-loved member of the Primula genus. Polyanthus plants are known to be a natural hybrid between the cowslip (Primula veris) and the common primrose (Primula vulgaris) and they come in a wide range of colours and shades.