Whether as a bright, yellow ornament for the home garden or as a medicinal plant in the herb bed: cowslips are popular garden perennials. All types of heralds of spring are easy to plant and don't require too much care. Propagation is also very easy using seeds you have collected yourself or purchased commercially. However, neither the plants themselves nor their components, including the seeds, may be collected from wild populations. Cowslips are protected in Germany and many other countries.
When and how should you sow cowslips?
Autumn is ideal for successfully sowing cowslips. The seeds are cold germinators and require stratification with changing temperatures. Sow seeds in a lean substrate, seeds only lightly covered and the seedbed should be kept moist.
Primroses are cold germinators
First of all: Cowslips are extremely cold germinators and sprout best at temperatures of around 10 to 15 °C, although stratification should take place beforehand. The easiest way to achieve these conditions is to sow in the fall, which can easily be done directly outdoors. Stratification is best done according to this scheme:
- First store the seeds for about four weeks at approx. 15 to 20 °C, warm and humid.
- You can use a seed tray with moist sand and place it on the windowsill.
- The seeds are then stored at temperatures between -4 and +4 °C, preferably in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator.
- This phase should last about six weeks.
- After the cooling period, storage takes place at temperatures between 5 and 10 °C.
- This phase should also be maintained for a few weeks.
- Avoid strong temperature fluctuations and sudden, sudden increases to over 20 °C.
- It is best to increase temperatures slowly.
The seedlings are planted as quickly as possible either in pots or immediately outdoors. The pre-cultivation of the cowslips can be done from January.
It's best to sow seeds in autumn
If you want to propagate cowslips from seeds you have collected yourself, you should ideally sow them immediately after the harvest. Unfortunately, the seeds do not remain viable for long and cannot be stored for too long. If possible, sow seeds outdoors or in seed trays, whereby you should observe the following rules:
- The substrate/soil should be as lean as possible and well prepared.
- Cover the fine seeds only lightly with finely crumbled soil.
- Keep the sowing area slightly moist.
Tip
Like all primrose plants, cowslips tend to hybridize and quickly mix with other primrose species. The result can be exciting and decorative, but can also look quite strange. So if you don't want to breed hybrids but "pure" cowslips, you should keep a safe distance between different Primula species.
