A long cold spring in the whole of the United Kingdom and especially here on the east coast of Scotland. Buds on M. punicea are now showing and the first noses of various Dactylorhiza are just poking through. Seed of M. punicea sown last June as each pod ripened, germinated on time in Mid January but the seedlings have hated the unending cold grey skies and we still have not had even a midday temperature above 7 C. The seedlings have had gentle heat from soil warming cables under the seed trays for the last six weeks but the surface of the trays has always been cold. Hard frosts recently have damaged some hellebores but last years extensive plantings of M. punicea are now showing flower buds and have survived -10 C. without blemish.
I have sown nearly 60 Meconopsis seed numbers, much of it wild collected seeds from both ends of the Himalayas. The only seed so far germinating is seed at least 3 years old from my seed bank which is kept at about - 15 C.
There are new images to post on the blog but I am still learning how to do this!
