confused little primrose....

How lovely to see .. :o)

The didn't like the north side of the house. Put them near the stumps on the south end and they are looking much better. it's all in the location for primroses here!

It should be blooming soon.

We can plant primroses mid-Dec to around Christmas here in San Diego.

Delonix1...you make me smile. When all of us are preparing for the snow you are planting (what to us are) spring flowers! checked on it yesterday and it seems to be sitting still for now. Will have to nurse it thro April...but hopefully it will be the first blossom of spring 2013!

I know primroses are extremely hardy...just wasn't sure exactly how hardy, though.

So, the primrose will just sit there through winter and bloom in spring? Or will it die down to the ground and re-grow in spring?

I have seen them sitting in earth that is frozen solid...the hardest time for them is in April when the frost is coming out of the ground and the temps vary widely from day to night...April really is the cruelest month...Once the snow goes away I have to resist the urge to rake away the mulches ... they need to be kept covered and thaw very gradually so there is no damage to their roots. That little flower should still be there in the spring.

Wow! That's harsh!!!

So, basically it's frozen in time through winter?

The organic mechanism...(if that's not an oxymoron I don't know what is...lol...) or probably more accurately the natural process called dormancy is an amazing thing. Some plants produce their own anti-freeze! If I allow this little plant to accept the turn of the season, and THEN cover it with a dry mulch like oak leaves, it will survive the terrible cold period with a carpet of snow for insulation. The loss of the insulatory snow and my raking away the leaves in April is what makes their survival chancy...so I try to avoid being too neat in the early spring and leave the leaves there to do their job. The plant will survive the upheaval of freeze/thaw and thaw slowly to resume growth normally when the soil warms. I don't have to lift a finger...ain't nature wonderful?

Letting nature do the work, how novel! lol! :>)

;-)