Mixed up plants!

I wanted a record of when different species come into flower, but I'm being thwarted by mother nature! All the books say that Digitalis flower in June, but this one (that I grew from seed last year), is just blooming now (looking good with the Acanthus behind it). I guess that by planting it in a shady spot, the flower production has been delayed. I have further plants
in deep shade that haven't flowered at all - I guess I'll have to wait until next year to enjoy them. It seems that Digitalis do better with a bit of sun on their backs after all.

I also grew some white forget-me-not's (that I wasn't too keen on), which flowered in March/April. They seem to have crossed with the existing blue ones and already (again at the wrong time) they are flowering (in a horrible pale blue hue). I appear to have 'diluted' the pure blue type I had by adding the white ones, and will now have to weed out all the 'crosses' and start again from scratch.

Elsewhere, Echinacea (from seed last year) are just beginning to flower (I hope that the colour will get stronger). Whilst I've got loads of plants, only three have sent up flower heads (and they are frustratingly slow to open!)

The last image is of one of my two Echium wildpretii x E. pininana hybrids (started from seed in February). Chiltern Seed Catalogue describes them thus "These are spectacular plants, eventually producing a noble and spectacular stem up to 14 ft. in length with the thickness at its base of a man's leg, and bearing countless thousands of pale Wedgewood-blue flowers" - Who wouldn't want to try to grow it? Can't wait until next year!


Dickie