-5°F to 0°F

0°F to 5°F

Full sun / Part shade

Moderate water

9"

A clump-forming spring meadow perennial that builds rosettes of crinkled, tongue-shaped leaves, from which rise slender stems bearing one-sided clusters of nodding, fragrant, deep-yellow tubular flowers marked with orange in the throat. It is a classic grassland/meadow wildflower, excellent for naturalising in unimproved grass — once common but much reduced in the wild by agricultural intensification, so a genuinely good plant to give back to a meadow. Unusually for this group the flowers and young leaves are EDIBLE and traditionally used (cowslip wine, salads), so it is treated as parts-edible rather than toxic. It is distylous (pin/thrum) and sets seed best with more than one plant nearby. Insect-pollinated: early nectar for long-tongued bees and a larval food plant for some moths.

Plant more than one — its pin/thrum distyly means good seed set needs cross-pollination between two plants.

Give it unimproved, not-too-rich soil; over-fed, heavily fertilised ground favours coarse grasses over the cowslip.

Let it seed where you want a drift; in a meadow or wild lawn delay mowing until seed has shed.

Plant in autumn or spring into moist but well-drained soil in full sun to part shade; it favours unimproved, not-too-rich grassland and meadow edges.

Move young plants or divisions in autumn or early spring while the soil is moist; settle the rosette crown at soil level and water in.

A leaf rosette forms first; given more than one plant for cross-pollination, flowering and seed set build over the first two springs.

Reaches a mature 6-to-10 inch clump within two to three years and, in grass it likes, naturalises by self-seeding into drifts.

Divide established clumps after flowering, or sow fresh seed — it needs more than one (pin and thrum) plant for good seed set; cold helps germination.