One of the first unusually beautiful flowers blooming in our flower gardens is the primrose perennial garden. It is even called the key of spring, opening fine days, or primrose. Once upon a time, having primrose in its flower garden was considered very prestigious. Now in some countries this flower is not just loved, they worship it, organize exhibitions, hold festivals, and create clubs. In Russia, primrose perennial gardening is also becoming more popular, but not everyone succeeds in bred it. The reason for this is some features of reproduction and cultivation. We will reveal to you all the secrets of this unique flower and tell you about the rules for caring for it in spring, summer and autumn.
Biological description
First, find out what primrose looks like. The photo shows several of its species, which number about 600, and still botanists discover new ones. Each species has its own external features. In general, we can say that the root system of primrose is a thickened rhizome, from which thin roots depart. Leaves form a lush basal rosette. Externally, in different species, they can vary significantly. So, there are primrose, in which the leaves are jagged, smooth, wrinkled, furrowed, tender or, conversely, hard and dense. In some species, leaves are sessile, in others petiolate; in some they are oval, in others they are lanceolate or ovoid. Flowers have even more differences. They are single or collected in inflorescences - umbrella, spherical, pyramidal, tier and others. The color of the petals is very different - from white to dark purple, and there are primroses in which the flowers have a distinctive contrasting center.
Habitat
The primrose perennial garden came to our flower beds from forest edges and meadows. You can meet her relatives on the banks of mountain streams, near forest streams, where there is a shadow and enough moisture. The geography of its distribution is quite wide. Primrose grows almost throughout Europe, including Russia, in the Americas, Africa, the Himalayas, Asia, Java, Iran, China, the Caucasus, and Turkey. It is pollinated with or without insects, and the flowers are arranged so that pollination between different and identical forms can occur, which leads to greater plant viability and the appearance of multiple hybrids.
Seed propagation
Primrose garden perennial able to reproduce vegetatively and by seed. They ripen in oval or spherical boxes. Now in stores you can freely buy bags of seeds of certain species of this plant or their mixture. Many gardeners wonder why purchased seeds germinate very poorly, and sometimes it happens that there is not a single seedling at all. The fact is that the primrose is a perennial garden - such a plant, the seeds of which unusually quickly lose their germination. Therefore, to obtain a good result, they are sown immediately after harvesting, and not on the beds, but in boxes with prepared soil. With a favorable outcome, seed primrose blooms in the second or third year.
Purchased seeds are sown in late winter, somewhere in mid-February. Soil is prepared in advance by mixing sheet soil, sand, turf soil in a ratio of 2: 1: 1. Some gardeners add vermiculite. The box is filled with prepared soil, seeds are placed on the surface of the substrate (no more than 4-5 pieces per cm 2 ), pressed, placed in a plastic bag and put in the freezer. Yes, it’s in the freezer, and not just in the refrigerator. In some regions, a box of seeds can also be taken outside, the main thing is that the ambient temperature is kept within -10 ºC. A month later, the box in the bag is brought into the house and hoisted on a windowsill, which does not fall into direct sunlight. When the seeds move slightly away from the frost, the soil is slightly moistened and maintained in this state throughout the entire germination period. This may take 2-3 weeks. As soon as the first shoots appear, the bag is opened, and after a while they are completely removed. Hatching sprouts will grow slowly. Important! Not all varieties of garden primrose require stratification in the freezer.
Planting seedlings on a flower bed
The whole process - from the moment the seed is baked to the planting of the plant in open ground - can stretch for two years, during which the sprouts repeatedly dive. This should be done as they grow, so that there is no strong thickening. Transplanting primrose from a box to a flower bed is carried out in late spring or early autumn. A place for her is chosen in a sparse shadow, for example, under the crowns of trees and shrubs. In open sunny areas, only alpine primroses love to grow. Plants are planted at a distance of 10-15 cm (small species) or 20-30 cm (large). The soil preferences of primrose are quite wide. It grows well on fertile chernozem, on loams, on loose substrates and on clay soils, the main thing is that it should be provided with sufficient moisture. If water stagnates in the place chosen for primrose, drainage is necessary. Too heavy soils can also be suitable for growing garden primrose, but in this case you need to add baking powder to the soil, for example, vermiculite, sand (up to 1 bucket per 1 m 2 ), manure or chopped moss.
Reproduction by dividing the bush
Given the difficulties of growing garden primrose from seeds, it is better to propagate it by dividing the bush. At the same time, flower growers receive new plants that bloom in the first year of planting. In addition, the division of the bush is necessary for the rejuvenation of old perennial primroses, since they tend to grow strongly and lose the splendor of flowering by 4-5 years of life. It is best to start dividing the bushes in late summer or early fall. To do this, dig up the primrose, wash the roots from the ground and cut the plant so that the renewal bud is preserved on each fragment. It is advisable to sprinkle the wounds with activated carbon. Planting primrose after the division procedure is carried out according to general rules, observing the desired distance between plants, with a drainage device and the addition of baking powder on heavy soils. After placing in the hole and sprinkling the rhizome with earth, the primrose divide must be abundantly watered.
Propagation by axillary shoot
This method is resorted to if the long-standing old primrose does not have a very powerful root system, or if there is only one outlet that cannot be cut into dividers. The leaf of primrose, so that a new bush grows from it, must be separated with a part of the shoot and a kidney. Place such a fragment of the plant in a box with soil, moisten it and put it on a bright window where direct sunlight does not fall. When several leaves appear from the kidney, a bush beginning to form can be transplanted into a narrow pot, but you can leave it in a drawer, and in the spring plant it on a flower bed.
Care Rules
An adult plant (primrose), unlike young shoots, is not whimsical at all. The main thing that he needs for life is moisture and weeding. He loves a green pet and cultivation, which is desirable to carry out at least once a week. In order for primrose to bloom splendidly and beautifully, it must be fed with complex mineral fertilizers. It is better to do this once every 7-10 days. But it is undesirable to get carried away with nitrogen fertilizers, which help grow green lush leaves, not flowers. Wintering primrose is left with leaves, and in the spring they are removed so that new ones grow. In regions with severe winters, primroses are covered with spruce branches or straw, and where winters are mild, cover is not necessary. In spring, it is important that primrose bushes are not covered by a crust of ice. If this happens, it is removed.
Pests
Primrose perennial gardening is liked not only by gardeners, but also by numerous pests. The plant is affected by root and stem rot, jaundice, rust, anthracnose, bacterial spotting, powdery mildew, cucumber mosaic, nematodes, spider mites, aphids, weevils, fleas, slugs. In case of viral and bacterial diseases, it is necessary to remove the affected leaves, and treat the plant with appropriate preparations. In autumn, it is also advisable to treat the primrose for the purpose of prophylaxis with Nitrofen by preparing a 1% solution. Large pests (slugs, weevils and others) are collected by hand, and then treated with primrose “Actelikom”, “Raptor” or other insecticide.
Primrose in a pot
Those who do not have a garden can grow primrose in the apartment. There are many recommendations for caring for her, sometimes directly opposite. This applies, for example, to humidity or top dressing. Some advise to water the primrose plentifully, even to put a pot with it on wet sand, while others, on the contrary, recommend maintaining very moderate watering. Some are sure that you need to feed homemade primrose every week, especially during the flowering period, others believe that it is enough to do this only 2 times a year. But there are general rules.
1. The size of the pot in which primrose feels comfortable. The photo shows the correct option, that is, the pot should be approximately twice as large as the ground part of the plant.
2. Illumination. It should be sufficient, but without direct sunlight.
3. The temperature of the medium. Primrose does not like heat. It is optimal when the indoor temperature does not exceed +20 ° C, and even better - it is kept within the range of +13 ... +15 ° C.
4. Transplant. Every year, the home primrose needs to be replanted in new soil (it is possible without replacing the pot), as well as the division of very overgrown bushes.
5. Summer and winter mode. It is advisable to plant primrose for the summer to plant on a flower bed with a shadow, and in the summer to put it back into the house. If this is not possible, you should at least take out the pots with primrose to the balcony.
Subject to these recommendations, the plant will delight flowering twice a year.