About Primroses

Primroses bloom in the early spring. Outdoors, they can be used as borders, container plants and in rock gardens. There are more than 20 genera containing more than 400 different varieties, giving the gardener a choice of tall or short plants and color choices including white, pink, orange, red, purple and striped. Primroses also make attractive house plants.

Indoor Primroses

Primroses can be grown indoors as well as outdoors. Keep them in bright, but not direct, sunlight, cool and moist. Try to keep them in a place with 60-degree temperatures during the day and 50s at night. At the least, keep them in a humid environment. It is hard to get primroses to re-bloom inside. Keep watering them after the flowers are gone, prune out the old stems, trim off the dead leaves and keep the Primrose in a cool place and you might have a chance.

Outdoor Primroses

Primroses that do well in an outdoor garden include Auricula primroses which are low growing with flowers that bloom in clusters; it is hardy as far north as zone 3. Candelabra primroses are a larger variety with leaves as long as 8 inches. The plant can grow 12 inches high and 12 inches wide for the leaves and 24 inches high for the flowers. Denticulata or drumstick primroses are hardy to zone 4 and produce an unusually large flower.

Planting

Plant primroses in a lightly shaded garden spot and make sure the soil is well drained. Adding organic compost or a commercial organic fertilizer will do the trick. Plant them about 6 to 12 inches apart. They tend to multiply, so they need the extra room. Plant them 4 to 6 inches deep and give them a good watering.. A good mulch will help keep the soil moist.

Care

Primroses like a moist but not wet soil, so if the drainage is the way it is supposed to be, they will need to be watered about once a week during the summer and more if there is a drought. Give them light feeding of a good organic fertilizer throughout the summer and prune off the dead branches and flowers. You can harvest the seeds from primroses in late summer and early fall. Keep them in a cool dry place through the winter and you can plant them in the spring.

Problems

Properly taken care of, Primroses are relatively problem free. Slugs, snails, spider mites and aphids can go after primroses. For the snails and slugs, use nontoxic slug bait, and for aphids and spider mites, spray them away with soapy water.
If there is no proper drainage, primroses will develop root rot, which can lead to a fungus infection.