These are close ups of some of the clumps of Pulsatilla we have. You would not believe the number of self sown seedlings we have to weed out.
(http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww32/Owdboggy/April2010/PullsatillaPapageno.jpg)
P. Papageno which is semi double and has fringed petals.
(http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww32/Owdboggy/April2010/Pulsatillagransiscloseup.jpg)
Pulsatilla grandis. This was grown from seed collected in Austria many years ago (not by me though). There was a really blue form of this called Budapest once upon a time.
(http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww32/Owdboggy/April2010/PulsatillaPapagenoalbacloseup.jpg)
A white form of P. Papageno, bought as P. grandis, but just as nice.
(http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww32/Owdboggy/April2010/Pulsatillarubra.jpg)
P. rubra. There are redder version of this.
(http://i703.photobucket.com/albums/ww32/Owdboggy/April2010/Pulsatillavulgarispinkform.jpg)
Pulsatilla vulgaris pink form. This could be one called Eva Constance.
Nice! It's surely better to have seedlings like that rather than none at all! :)
Oh how gorgeous!
such hairy lovely things,
I've tried to no avail to grow them from seed for years with no luck and they go for mega bucks at the garden centre have you thought about ebaying your potted up seedlings? Honestly i bet theyd go a bomb.
Beautiful!
x sunloving
have you thought about potting them up and giving them to your daughter?
I have a whole three now, two reds in the front and a purple in the back that came from Palustris. Mine just don't self seed at all which is such a shame.
think this has been a really good year for pasque flowers as mine have had a gazillion flowers and are still going mad.
Is it very fresh seed that makes the difference with germination?
They do look lovely, so delicate.
If Daughters want them, then they can come and get them!
Robert, fresh seed is a definite need. Even so the ones I have tried to grow in seed pots do not germinate anywhere near as well as the ones cast off by the plant naturally. They also do not like root disturbance so need to be pricked out, potted on when still small.
I wonder whether the roots gain from the presence of some fungus which is in the soil round the established plants? That could explain better germination there.
Don't think so, as the seeds germinate all over the place, not just next to the established plants. Mind if you think how many seeds each flower produces, it is not surprising that one gets some self seeding, even 1 in a 100 is going to mean a lot of new plants.