PlantSowGrow
How to plant and care for Polyanthus (Primula)
Primula × polyantha
🌸 Flower
🔁 Perennial
Bright clusters of primrose flowers in every colour from late winter to May — cheerful in pots, window boxes and the front of shady borders.
When to plant and care for it
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Flowers
Timed for a typical UK garden (last frost mid-April). The app uses your own town's frost dates.
Growing Polyanthus (Primula): what it needs
- Light
- Part shade · 6+ hours a day
- Watering
- Water well until established, then in dry spells
- Soil
- Moist, humus-rich soil
- Spacing
- 20 cm
- Height
- 20 cm
- In pots
- Grows well in containers
- Feeding
- A little general feed in spring
- Hardiness
- USDA zones 5–8
Step by step
- On planting day
Plant
Plant at the same depth as it was in its pot, 20 cm apart, and firm in.
- 0–1 days after “Plant”
Water In Well
Give a full can of water, then keep moist for the first few weeks while roots establish.
- 7–14 days after “Water In Well”
Mulch Around the Base
Spread 5 cm of compost or bark around the plant, keeping it off the stems.
Every year
- MarchIn Flower
Bright spring colour.
- MayDivide Big Clumps
After flowering, lift and divide crowded clumps and replant in a shady, moist spot.
- SeptemberCheck for Vine Weevil
Wilting pot plants may have vine weevil grubs in the roots; tip out and check, or use a nematode drench.
