This charming winter-blooming plant was introduced into England in about 1820, where it was first grown as a tender garden plant. Later, improved forms of the Chinese primrose were developed as greenhouse plants, which are used entirely here.
There is much variation in both color and form. Pure white or shades of pink, blue, or red in fringed or crested and star-shaped, as well as the more straightforward original condition, may be found to suit the taste of any indoor gardener.
Growing Old-Time Chinese Primrose
Best of all, the plants are easily raised from seed, and with some foresight, one may have hundreds for the price of one plant purchased in bloom from the florist.
The seeds should be started indoors early as it takes 9 months to a year to get good blooming-sized plants.
Ordinary potting soil does very well to start the seeds and is less apt to bring about “damping off” than richer soil.
Fill the pots or flats to within 1/8″ inch of the edge to ensure good ventilation around the seedlings when they appear, which should be in two or three weeks.
After planting the seed thinly, barely cover it with a thin sifting of sand and water, either with a delicate spray or by standing the container in water until the surface of the soil appears moist.
Cover it with glass or a newspaper and put it where the temperature will remain constant and not too warm. Be sure they don’t dry out, but don’t keep them too wet.
With A Little Or No Sun
As soon as the seeds germinate, remove the covering. They do best in a light situation with little or no sun.
An east window where they get early morning sun is ideal. They will also do well in the south or west windows if a thin curtain is between them and the direct sunlight.
When the little plants have three or four leaves, they should be transplanted to flats and placed about one and a half inches apart.
A soil of equal parts of leaf mold and sand is good for them at this stage. They should be moved to 2″ or 2 1/2″ inch pots as soon as they become crowded.
After all danger of frost is past, the plants will do well if put out under a tree where they get a little early morning sun.
If the pots are placed in a flat with peat moss packed around them, it helps to prevent their drying out. Keep them adequately watered and repot them in larger pots when necessary.
Chinese Primrose Blooms Every Season
By fall, they should be good-sized plants ready to start blooming. It may seem like a lot of trouble, but you will be well repaid during the winter with windows full of cheery blossoms.
There probably will be more plants than one window gardener can handle, but they make lovely Christmas gifts, and there are many times when a plant will say more to a friend in trouble than words can express.
During most of the winter, they will flourish in the east, west, or south windows, but towards spring, as the sun’s heat grows in intensity, they will begin to wilt in the west and south windows and should be moved to north or east ones.
Through the summer, they may be kept in these windows or put outdoors under a tree with the seedlings. The plants will grow in size, and the crowns will multiply.
They may be carefully divided in the same way as their more hardy cousins in the garden, which is an excellent way to increase desirable ones.
The Chinese primrose may have a somewhat flat-topped flower cluster. Or the blossom heads may be pyramidal and elongated in shape.
Double-flowered forms exist in various conditions, arid colors, and degrees of doubling.
So there is variety among the plants “along with their other merits, and a beautiful array of the most desirable ones may be had in a few years.