Primulas, including cowslips, need their seeds to ripen in the pod Leigh. Better luck next time.

thanks bulba. so if the new buds open how do i know when the seeds are ready when they die? just when they are really brown and hanging off? :)

The flowers will dioe off and the petals will eventually fall off. The sun (???) will get to the seed pods which will fatten up and go brown. When the pods start to split open then the seed will be ripe.

Er, hate to be disagreeable, but in fact green Primula seed germinates far better than brown. Sow straight away and keep moist and they will germinate almost straight away. That is as long as the seed is viable in the first place.

Don't mind disagreement, Owdboggy, but that has not been my experience.

Just so you don't feel too bad about preventing seeding, I have just accidentally sprayed some beautiful cowslip plants with weedkiller while clearing a piece of ground where I want to put a gravel garden.
I'd realised they were there and was planning to move them, but now I feel like a murderer!
So others do even more stupid things!

When they strimmed the roadside verge along from us, they cut off the heads of the Primroses when the seed was still green. I took it and sowed it and got 100% germination. Since then I have tried this with various other Primulas, especially P. japonica with good results. Now if I could just keep the resulting plants alive I would be really happy.

If you've literally "just" sprayed your plants Bertie, you could wash the weedkiller off, probably. I'm not aware of any spray weedkillers that don't have the message "don't use within 6 hours of expected rain". I sprayed plants I wanted too some years ago - just got carried away with the sprayer, but watered the leaves and the plants continued as normal.

Sowing primula seed whilst 'green'is against any wisdom that I have heard before. However, I am not saying that Owdboggy is wrong, new methods are always being found. I sow the seeds as soon as they are ripe but will try Owdboggy's method this year. It could be useful for the more difficult species.

Ahh thats too bad Bertie ive been quite careful so far, will remember what Beatie said just incase! Well, there is a little experiment for us both here then bulba. and we will have to report and compare the findings! thanks everyone!

It may be against perceived wisdom, but it works for other things, like most Ranunculus and definitely for Eranthis hyemalis and E. cilicica. Also works for Anemone. The seed should be dark green rather than pale I would add.

I certainly agree about Ranunculacea, Owdboggy, collect and sow as soon as possible.

Forgot about Hepaticas, they really do grow better from green seed.
Our Cowslips are nowhere near seed producing yet otherwise I would post a picture of when I take and sow the seeds.

Ooh that would be great if you could when theyre ready owdboggy! :o)