Primrose Plant Profile

Primroses (Primula hybrids) are a cold-hardy perennial to USDA zones 4-8. They come in an array of flower colors including reds, whites, yellows, oranges, purples or pinks with yellow centers and scalloped green foliage.

They are widely sold as a houseplant at local supermarkets and garden centers in late winter and early spring. At just $2-5 each, I buy several and use them to decorate my home with flowers during the gray days of January and February.

When they stop flowering, I plant them out in the garden in a moist, part-shade spot. They come back reliably each year with little to no care and bloom about the same time outdoors as they did inside.

One extra step I do for them is that I pinch out any spent blooms as I come across them during regular watering (side note: never let them dry out!). This encourages more and longer flowering from the plants. You can also give them a few drops of liquid fertilizer to prompt more flower formation when they start to slow down.

Rather than compost these sweet little plants, why not plant them out in your garden and be rewarded with blooms for years to come?

Primrose: You Can Grow That!

The video was produced by Washington Gardener Magazine.

Audio, Photos, and Text by Kathy Jentz

Video and Editing by Hojung Ryu

 

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Primrose are a cold hardy perennial for us in the Mid-Atlantic USA, that is also widely sold as a houseplant at local supermarkets and garden centers. At just $2-4 each, I buy several and use them to decorate my home with flowers during the depths of the winter doldrums. Then, when they stop flowering, I plant then out in the garden in a moist, part-shade spot. They come back reliably each year with little/no care and bloom about the same time outdoors as they did inside.

One extra step I do for them inside is that I pinch out any spent blooms as I come across them during weekly waterings. This seems to encourage more and longer flowering from the plants.

This year, rather than compost these sweet little plants, why not plant them out in your garden and be rewarded with blooms for years to come?

zonal geranium

primrose

drumstick primrose

It is Garden Blogger's Bloom Day again! On the 15th of each month, we gardeners with blogs share a few bloom photos from our gardens. Here on the Mid-Atlantic USA (USDA zone 7) on the DC-MD border it snowed, so my garden is covered in 2-4 inches of white fluffy stuff and I did have Hellebore, Heather, and Winter Jasmine blooms I could have shared with you.


Instead I will share some of my indoor blooms, which include some Geraniums wintering over on a windowsill and grocery-store Primroses that popped back into flower this week. I also have Forsythia branches and Freesia bulbs that I am forcing.


What is blooming in your indoor or outdoor garden this week?