Primrose aren't difficult from seed - did you get your seed from Barnhaven?
The seed should NOT be covered with any thing after sowing, it needs the light to germinate. Keep the tempratures cool, 55 to 70F is good. Above 75 degrees the seed actually goes dormant so try to keep them as cool as possible. After you sow your seed put a sheet of plastic over them to keep the humidity high and so the soil stays evenly moist. Don't over saturate the soil to where it is dripping wet, and once the seedlings emerge and start growing their true leaves water the trays only when they look like they are starting to dry out a bit. I have had excellent germination starting the seed under florescent lights in January - by the time the weather has settled down around the end of April the plants were hardened off outside in a coldframe and then put into their permanent position in the garden. The plants won't bloom until the following spring, it is worth the wait!
Good luck to you and have fun with your Primrose!
- Jeff

I WS'ed some Primrose seeds not last Winter ('04-'05) but the year before ('03-'04). They did fairly well for me. I didn't have flowers until this summer but they were well worth the wait. As I recall, they were one of the last to germinate here so don't give up on them too quickly.

~Gillian

Thanks for the info. Yes Jeff they are from Barnhaven.
Wish me luck.

Here in the Pacific NW I just start them in a cool greenhouse in spring in covered flats with good light and they germinate well. I pot up, then line them out in a nursery row in a shady bed and by the next spring have large, usually blooming plants to put in place.

Two years ago, I winter sowed some cowslips, and got a lot. They bloomed the second year and did very well. Last winter I tried to grow some himalayan cowslips, but for some reason had no luck.