Spring is nearly here!

Lol, it's always so exciting when things start to pop up, isn't it! I have about 15 new little rose seedlings now and I'm tickled pink! I love primulas! I hope yours grow like weeds!

Well, last time I sowed any seeds, directly in a bed how stupid of me, I had forgotten all about it and then I took off all those 'weeds' come spring. Yes I did.
Nik

I need to learn how to sow seeds....congratulations!!

Great Suzy. I love it when the seeds first sprout and there is all that promise. Do take loads of photos, won't you?
Daisy

P.S. My one bulb of Tulipa sprengeri has completely disappeared. Boo Hoo.

Daisy - I will send you seeds - nothing is easier than T.sprengeri - it is a mystery to me why they are so expensive but also why, when you do buy seeds, you only get 10. Each flower produces hundreds of them. I will pm you because I still have spares and will have lots more in July.

Melissa, this autumn, I am trying a different method where I make small seed beds in situ (ie. in the woods), filled with potting mix so it is friable and well drained...... and sow directly into the prepared beds. Lets do it together.

I'll sow 50 alpine and garden auricula seeds soon, perhaps the only perennials I'll sow this year. Auriculas are my second plant passion, not least because they are so easy from seed.

Oh, Mariannese, auriculas - aren't they treasures? And fragrant. They have been life-savers for me in long winters - there is always the odd fugitive bloom - I creep off to the greenhouse for a furtive sniff.
I had an auricular 'theatre' but got fed up with the continual vine-weevil battle....and just replanted most of them at the allotment....where they are proving remarkably tough and resilient, edging one of the beds. I have some minuscule seedlings as well as the many offsets.
Ho Nik, been there....too many times.

How goes the transplanting? 3 days warning isn't much time.

I wanted a chamomile lawn so much. I sowed seed and got just a few batches of plants and the rest of the area was bald. This was after getting over flea beetles wiping out ( in just 2 weeks! ) my gorgeous dichondra that I had fussed over. Giving up on the chamomile, I planted a packet of mixed butterfly friendly flowers which looked great until they looked like weeds a month later after blooming. I tilled the whole thing under and raked out the plants and there were so many small chamomiles that had self sown. Can't win. So now it's a lasagne bed that's going to have wood mulch on it until I decide what to do in the fall after I remove the extra soil that I am composting under. It should be great soil after summer ends and I want to grow something wonderful there.

Gladiolus and dutch iris are starting to grow now and miniature daffodils are blooming. Peaches are the size of cherries and the plum tree is flowering. Strawberries are just starting to turn red. I am going to sow some carnations after the rain goes by. There are 5 good plants left from the last time I sowed seeds almost 4 years ago. The ones from seed last longer than the plants I bought in 4 and 6 inch pots.

Wow, thanks Campanula. I would love some seeds of Tulipa sprengeri. Only trouble is, every time I put my e-mail address on my profile page, it keeps disappearing. I will keep trying.
My Tulipa sylvestris has just started flowering. You should try those too. They have a very elegant flower.

Gorgeous auriculas Mariannese.
Daisy

Yeah, I have that going on too (or you could simply e.mail me). So here it is:
suzangreenfingers@hotmail.com

Obvs, I will get yours when you pm me.

Today, dierama pulcherrima, lathyrus aureum, geranium wallichianum 'Syabru' and verbascum phoeniceum are up.

Sounds wonderfully productive, Kitty-----almost making me salivate

Campanula, Are there sources for primula seeds in the UK that ship to the US? The UK seems to have such a lovely variety of plants and seeds that I'd like to acquire some seeds real soon to start them. I am looking for Primula sieboldii, candelabra, japonica. I would like to try some auriculas that you and Mariannese are so excited about. Look forward to hearing back.

Patty, check Burpees' site. I know I bought primula seeds from them a couple of years ago.

Patty- for years, I used Chiltern seeds but they have changed hands and appear to be downsizing their collection (and posting many glossy catalogues - always a dubious sign in horticulture world). However, both myself and Marloreana frequent Plantworld seeds in Devon (you have to be careful because there is a nursery site with the same name but absolutely not who I am recommending). Ray, the proprietor, is unbelievably helpful (for instance, he will replace packets which have poor germination) but most importantly, they have a great range and ship to the US. Unfortunately, I am a bit crapola at doing links but maybe Marloreana can chime in with better details.

After many years of fails in the primula department (too dry), I am finally in a place where they will flourish. So far, I have stuck with the tried and tested denticulata, candelabras, oxslips,cowslips, vulgaris and auriculas....but I can almost smell those asiatic possibilities - secundiflora et al. I have wilsonii growing (and hopefully even flowering this year)...and those himalayan giants - p.florindae.

Here is the link to Plant World Seeds in Devon. http://www.plant-world-seeds.com/

I used to call in there occasionally, when I lived next door in Cornwall. It was great seeing the plants in the flesh.

Daisy

...and don't forget to ''select your currency'', as it will give you the price in dollars...

...it's very tempting to order the weird and wonderful...

Thank you very much ladies for the responses. Hopefully I can get some and get them started.

Patty

I have a list of seeds picked out from Plant World. Could I kindly ask how you go about growing your primulas from seed please? I have read quite a bit about it but would love to hear your technique. I collect and grow other seeds from my flower/vegetable gardens, in which I find great pleasure in doing, so adding the primula will add to this enjoyment...even the fails.

Here is what I have in my cart. Would appreciate comments with some additions if you will from your experience. I will be growing these in Zone 6 in the mountains of NC in a damp woodland setting.

Bulleyana, Denticulata Best Blend, Japonica 'Apple Blossom', Japonica 'Postford White', Aurantiaca, Beesiana, Candelabra Rainbows and Harlow Car, Florindae, Aricula Gold-Laced Red Jack-in-Green, Heucherifolia, Oxlip - Elatior, Veris 'Gold Laced', Japonica Mix, Polyneura, Veris

Patty

If I am growing seeds from a seed seller (rather than from my own plants), I always assume that the seeds have already gone into dormancy and are going to need a period of cold stratification. I know people do this in the fridge but, being disorganised, I tend to forget, let them dry out, fail to check on the seeds and so forth...so I go for the simplest method of sowing in autumn and leaving the pots outside. I use a good loamy mix 0 here in the UK, John Innes recipes are always soil based and are infinitely better than using potting compost...but, if you can be bothered, you can make an excellent primula starting mix using sieved leaf compost, sterile topsoil and a bit of peat. As long as the mix does not contain a zillion weed seeds and is both free-draining but able to hold sufficient moisture, the actual medium is less important than its water-holding capacity.
I sow my seeds on the surface, having tamped it down and compressed it slightly. I don't cover with more soil but use chicken grit instead (make sure to use the flint based stuff not the oyster shell. This is finer (and cheaper) than horticultural grit, lets in enough light and maintains a level of moisture while preventing the growth of vast moss colonies. I water in from the top with a fine rose, to settle the seeds in around the grit crevices. Then I stash the pots out of the way all winter, checking every now and again that they have not dried out. The top of the pots often looks a bit grim by spring - crusty, greenish and never very promising. Even so, around April, the little seedlings should start to germinate (I do not use lights, heating mats or hormones).

Fresh seed.
I have increased my stock of vulgaris by splitting open the fat seed pods while the little seeds are still green and sticky (around May). I also sowed p.wilsonii in August (they flower much later than the early spring flowers) and again, fresh seed showed a willingness to germinate readily...but overwintering tiny seedlings can be problematic...I will wait till autumn and allow the seeds to sink into dormancy if I do these again.

Using a fingernail, I smear the seeds on the top of a moist medium (they are very sticky), cover lightly with grit, water in and wait. The seeds will often germinate in a couple of weeks. I think, in a very cold spring, there might be a use for heating mats or a covered propagator...but in the UK, primulas will often germinate outside in a sunny May/June.

I find division is a reliable way of increasing stock - you can do it every year with the common vulgaris and polys, while root cuttings are also easy and viable, especially the denticulata and some of the candelabra types.

Thank you Campanula for the solid advice on how you sow your seeds. Since it is early spring here in NC, I wonder if I have enough chilly nights to get them started or possibly use the fridge method which I have done in the past with others. I too would rather Mother Nature take care of her own seeds. I am the impatient one and may try a few seeds now and save some for fall potting.
I much rather do divisions of plants and do that amongst my garden beds and share with others. I don't know of anyone locally that grows these primulas or sells them, so I opt for seeds due to desiring the primulas in my own gardens.

Thank you much again, Campanula.

Patty