Meconopsis punicea seedlings. This is a plant that I have always done so well with in the past. Seed is sown as soon as ripe and kept moist until early spring when germination usually occurs easily. This year I had almost total failure which was hugely disappointing. I have a gardening friend just up the road - Carol Bairner - and she had a huge germination and even seedlings growing in the beds and with great generosity gave me two large pans of seedlings to prick on and I now have nearly 300 potential plants. I am pretty sure my home-made compost was defective and they are now planted on into a proprietary compost. They are small but with really careful handling while pricking on they should survive well. I have six to flower in the garden so I should get seed again this early autumn. They are normally always biennial and these will flower next June.