transplanting primroses

Most beautiful of our wild flowers is the primrose - Primula vulgaris. Pale yellow with a yolk yellow centre, the flowers appear as short clusters of leaves and flowers from autumn but are most abundant in spring. The flowers bring to mind visits to Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust Treswell Wood. And Easter family holidays in the south west.

Our original 'stock' of primroses was bought as a single pot from a garden centre - plants in the wild are precious and mustn't be moved.

primrose divisions ready for planting out

Primroses work brilliantly as garden flowers but they do have a naughty habit of fraternising with gaily-coloured cultivars. Perhaps I'm a plant fascist but I weed out any oddly coloured or shaped ones in an attempt to retain the simple beauty of our native primroses. Propagation can be by seeds, but the plants also give generously after they have flowered. A garden fork gently beneath the roots brings up a thick clump of leaves and roots which on closer inspection are many small plants.

A sharp knife can be used to separate each small plant, then a little tidying of the roots and a trimming of the leaves and there you have your baby primrose plant.

This year I've potted the divisions (as they're called) into modules until they're ready for planting out. This wet June has made the soil good and damp and ready to receive my little plants.

So where I planted five divisions three years ago, I now have twenty five  that will be planted out to bulk up over the summer: nature is the queen of multiplication.

In the autumn the flowers will begin and then spring will be awaited with anticipation once again with even more primroses at our feet.