Primula Belarina in our Fife garden

Thinking it would be a good addition to the Spring garden, we ordered plug plants of Primula Belarina. Wow, these double primroses have been a bonus.

The plugs arrived in early September. Six of them, reasonably sized, but would they put on enough growth to flower in Spring.

Anyway, I planted up a couple of decent looking tubs with three in each, and placed them in a sheltered position in the courtyard. That is where they remained until late February when I then placed the pots on the patio.

The plugs had developed into good sized rosettes with flower buds in the centre. Mid March and the flowers were opening. Come April, the pots of Belarina were looking sensational. I expect them to continue flowering well into May or even June after which I will place them in a less prominent position and come September I may have to split them and have even more of these great Spring flowering plants.

I am on a mission to end the use of annuals in our garden and make more use of perennials in pots. I am getting fed up with having to empty the pots at the end of September every year. In fact, I am having difficulty getting rid of all the old compost. I will continue to have some hanging baskets with annuals. There was a time when we were totally over the top with annuals.

About Primula Belerina

Primula Belarina is a hardy perennial plant which thrives in the Scottish climate.

Flowers and leaves

The fragrant flowers are fully double and come in a number of colours. Freely available as a mix or named varieties.

By the middle of April, or sooner the flowers become so numerous they almost totally hide the leaves. Blooms are produced from March until June.

The crumpled bright green leaves form a rosette.

Height and spread

Grows to a height of about 8in/20 cm (spread 30 cm/12in at the very most)

Soil

Belarina will grow in any soil, alkaline, neutral, acidic. In pots use a good quality garden compost, keep moist but ensure free drainage.

Position

Best in part shade but will cope well in full sun as long as the plants are kept moist.

Hardiness

Fully hardy throughout the UK

Propagating

Lift and divide your plants every second year, judge by the look of them in early September, some may benefit from dividing after the first year.

Those planted in pots, best to lift them in early September and replace the top few inches of compost. If the plants divide easily, then do so. Enjoy all of those extra plants which you will now have.

Mail order

Our Aberdeen front garden back in 2007

I mentioned earlier how we were over the top with annuals at one time, well, see what I mean. Don’t get me wrong, we loved it, and so did passers-by. This was the style of our gardening from 1992 until 2013, I have to mention there was always a strong background of shrubs, trees and perennials to temper the annuals.

April 21st, we are still in full lockdown, most people are complying and behaving sensibly. Quite a lot of unrest and criticism as to how the government has been handling the situation. Doctors and nurses are battling to cope, with the lack of essential protective clothing and masks etc, whilst the government tries to assure us that everything is being carried out as per instructions from so-called scientific experts and so defying common sense most of the time. One big concern is what appears to be a massive cover up of the loss of life in care homes. One promising development is a coronavirus vaccine has been developed at the University of Oxford, trials begin on Thursday 23rd April and if successful vaccine could be available in late Autumn of this year.