'A fairer nymph yet never saw mein eye
She is the pride and
primrose of the rest.'
Can you imagine life without primroses. Even in the Middle Ages they were being praised in literature - the name 'prime flower' meaning 'the fairest and the best'. Both the wild primrose (primula vulgaris) and its close relatives, the cowslip (primula veris) and oxlip (primula elatior), were used medicinally from very early times. The name 'Primula Veris' appeared way back in 1101 as one of the plants used for the cure of paralysis, while the name 'cowslip' goes way back before that when it was known as 'Cu Slyppen' and 'Cu Sloppe' ('Cu' for 'cow', and 'Sloppe', which is related to 'Slyppe', for a slimy substance like fresh cow-dung). The well-known Leonardo da Vinci once remarked that 'the leaves of the primrose were very appetizing but not very digestible', a statement on which I am not going to comment since I have never eaten them before and I don't intend to start now. Herbalists used the leaves boiled for stones in the bladder, and the roots 'stamped and strained, and the juice sniffed into the nose ... purgeth the brain and qualifieth the pain of the megrim'. What more could be asked of any plant.
Primula Vulgaris
Primroses, in general, are not difficult to grow, but, as with all plants, knowing something about them is an advantage if you want to get the best out of them. Now we all know that primroses are a plant of the woodland because we all saw them growing in the woods when we were young. That is, if you are old enough to have seen them growing in the woods when you were young. But that is not quite correct. They did grow in the woodland, but only round the edges and in clearings. You never saw them in flower in deep shade. They could also be seen in great drifts on sunny slopes in open fields, the sunny sides of sunken lanes and even railway embankments.
So what do all these different sites have in common. To start with, the woods were usually filled with deciduous trees, so that, in the spring when the trees had no or very little leaves, the sun got through to the floor of the wood. Later, when the primroses were building themselves up for the following year, the leaves on the trees spread themselves out and provided shade which protected the primrose from the hot summer sun and the desiccating winds. But, you say, out in the middle of the fields there were no trees to give them shade. You are right. There weren't. But grass must have been short during the flowering season or you wouldn't have seen them, but as the year progressed the grass and other wild flowers grew tall, and the primroses were engulfed in a cool, damp shade, thus getting the protection from the boiling sun and drying winds that they needed.
So there we have our clues as to the sort of environment that the primrose likes. In the spring, when the sun is relatively weak, lots of sunshine. Later in the year, when the sun is stronger, shelter from the hot, midday sun and the drying winds. So underneath a deciduous tree is as good a place as any. And if you haven't got any trees, don't give up. How about the north side of a clump of herbaceous perennials which will grow tall in the summer and so give the dear little primroses the protection that they need, and in fact, deserve after their glorious show of flowers.
And what of the soil they prefer. To start with it needs to be well-drained (remember the grassy bank). Moist as well, with no drying out by the hot summer sun. It also needs to be good, deep loam, just like the result of being covered in leaf mould (or cow slops) every year for a few hundred years. Primroses and their kin have long roots. Try getting to the end of the roots of a drumstick primula. Long roots and clay baked hard as brick just do not go together. Also, although primroses do not object to the cold too much, what they do not like is long periods of cold and wet. So a bit of protection from the rain for your most treasured plants won't come amiss.
Propagating primroses is not difficult. If you want a job lot you can plant seed. You might be surprised by what you get. Then again, you might not. Primroses are pretty promiscuous. In the wild you may be able to find the False Oxlip. This is a fairly variable plant, being the result of cross-pollination between the cowslip and the primrose. And all primroses are not yellow. They can have one of up to fifty different hues - white, pale lilac, purple, rose and occasionally blue. Plant breeders have taken these and, by cross-pollination and selection, have produced the most vivid colours. However, if you have a nice one which you would like to turn into two or three (or more) identical plants then division is the answer. When the plant has finished flowering, cosset it for a few weeks. Plenty of water and feed, and not too much sun. And a top dressing of mulch. A mixture of equal parts of well-rotted manure and moist peat well mixed and sieved is ideal. I did say moist peat - not dry peat or sopping-wet peat. Make sure to tuck the top-dressing well under the leaves up to the neck of the plant, because that is where the new roots will come from. Then, when the plant is growing strongly, dig it up and pull it apart carefully so that you finish up with several pieces each with its own separate root system. Each of these separate pieces can then be planted in its own little hole and well watered in. The centre of the old plant is usually not much good, especially if it is more than three years old, so you can either throw it away or plant it somewhere out of the way and hope that it will produce more off-shoots which can be cut off and replanted next spring.
Happy Gardening.
Bill Hutchings
Return to the March 2000 Features page
return to Home page and main index
page last updated 3 MARCH 2000