100,00 Reasons to Celebrate Spring at Squire’s
Spring arrives in full colour at Squire’s Garden Centres with the launch of the Festival of Primroses, running from 26 February – late March across their 17 centres. As Squire’s proudly celebrates its 90th anniversary year, the much-loved festival returns bigger and brighter than ever, marking the season with one of the most uplifting and recognisable joyful signs of spring.
A true highlight of early spring, Squire’s Festival of Primroses showcases a stunning range of locally grown primroses, with over 100,000 proudly produced at Squire’s own nurseries in West Sussex. With 85% of the plants sold by Squire’s grown in the UK, the festival reflects the garden centre group’s long-standing commitment to British horticulture, helping to reduce its carbon footprint – values that have been at the heart of the business for nine decades.
Visitors can expect an inspiring display of primroses in a wide spectrum of colours and forms with well-over 40 varieties featuring in the Festival, from much-loved classics to eye-catching new varieties including Flamenco Mix, Frilly Bicolour Pink & Lemon and Frilly Bicolour Salmon & Peach. Easy to grow and wonderfully versatile, primroses are perfect for refreshing beds, borders, containers, window boxes and doorstep displays, offering an instant lift as gardens awaken from winter.
Sarah Squire, Chairman of Squire’s Garden Centres, comments: “The Festival of Primroses is one of the most joyful ways to welcome spring, and it feels especially fitting to celebrate it as part of our 90th year. Growing so many of our plants at our own nurseries in West Sussex allows us to offer outstanding quality while supporting UK horticulture. Primroses are such reliable and cheerful plants – they really are joyful signs of spring, bringing colour and life to gardens just when it’s most needed.”
Ollie Turner, who heads up Squire’s West Sussex nursery operation, adds: “Each season brings something new, and it’s exciting to grow both much-loved favourites and newer varieties here in Sussex. Being able to supply Squire’s centres with plants grown so close to home is something we take great pride in, and it feels especially meaningful as the business celebrates 90 years of growing.”
Thriving in partial shade and best planted in peat-free multi-purpose compost, primroses reward gardeners with weeks of colourful blooms and are easy to care for with regular deadheading. With their long flowering season and instant impact, they remain a spring essential for gardens of all sizes.
Squire’s Festival of Primroses 2026 promises seasonal inspiration, sustainable growing and a celebration of British-grown plants – a joyful sign that spring has truly arrived, and a fitting way to mark 90 years of growing with Squire’s.
