TOUCHWOOD

SEED-LIST 2010 

2011 seedlist is likely to be online by the end of December 2010,

Aquilegia seedlist is earlier.

Seed of unusual, rare & cottage garden plants.

£1.50/packet

15 or more: £1.25/packet 

30 or more: £1.00/packet            

Nearly 400 entries for 2010 including over 250 selections of Aquilegias. As seen on TV...Gardener's World June 1st, 2007.

I have a keen interest in unusual garden plants  (okay, okay, I’m obsessed with them!!).  I especially enjoy growing from seed as I am awed by the miraculous process of germination.  I love aquilegias (granny bonnets/ columbines), and I have the National Plant Collection® of the Aquilegia vulgaris cultivars and hybrids, here in Swansea. Perhaps you’ll be tempted by some of the seed, not just for singles, but also doubles, bicolours and scented forms.  

 TESTIMONIALS: "Your list of seeds is very impressive"  " Congratulations again on a wonderful seedlist" I M Miller, Galashiels "Order received safe and sound. I appreciated your generous choice of plant seeds  and the Aquilegia Connoisseur's Choice seeds included in my bumper bundle of Terrific Twenty* for £8, but I've noticed that Chiltern are selling them at £3.40/packet!" D Caldwell, Kent  2007.  "A pleasure to deal with, I feel like visiting your garden - and I would love to see pictures of it.  I hope to deal with you again very soon, kids, work, studying and of course - time permitting!  Once again, thanks, and I wish you continued success!" "Parfait ,Bon Produit Conforme Bien Emballé Envoi Rapide RECOM. à l'INTERNATIONAL"
 

SCROLL DOWN FOR  NON-AQUILEGIA SEED LISTS

What's in this year's list? There's some wonderful new additions, particularly of Aquilegia, Campanula (bellflowers), and Digitalis (foxgloves). There's also some wild-collected seed from the French alps.   -        Carrie Thomas- 

• The bees have had their fun, and as all my plants are open pollinated, aquilegias and many other cultivars cannot to guaranteed to come true to type, I select seed from the correct seed parent, but do not know what pollen fertilised it. 
• Often, I may only have a few packets of seed of a certain type. I don’t say which are in short supply because, magically, everyone suddenly ‘must have’ that plant!  So please give plenty of alternatives, or ring/e-mail for availability.
• HOW MANY SEEDS IN A PACKET? Usually 'enough'! At least 20 seeds and sometimes even double that amount.

   PHOTOGRAPHS are great, but COLOURS aren't always perfect: eg understand that ordinary photos tend to make blues look more purple and digital photos make the blues look clearer! So please use the photos with this in mind and take the written description as more realistic.  However, MOST of the photos are taken of the actual plant from which the seed was harvested....that's good, isn't it?   

KEY: 'NEW for 20xx'' means new this year, either for the first time or after a time of unavailability on the seedlist, ~ means seed (or some of the seed) has been sourced elsewhere (I can't guarantee germination rates etc!). A number (eg ex 234)  refers to the acquisition number or collection number of the plant in the national collection.                        Carrie Thomas-

 Prices for 2010

£1.50/packet  15 or more: £1.25/packet  30 or more: £1.00/packet

  UK Postage & Packing is £1, free for 20 or more packets. Overseas: £2 or£1 for 20(+); free at 40 pks

                                                              More payment details at bottom of this webpage.

You will get: an Aquilegia mix; a Campanula; a climbing Dactylicapnos (Dicentra), a Digitalis, a Geranium, and whatever else is easily and plentifully to hand for my selection. You may list up to 10 items that you DO NOT want, incl groups such as 'annuals' or 'grasses'.  Also available as just aquilegias when your selection will include at least one packet of: mix, a stellata form and several different doubles. 10 packets of YOUR OWN CHOICE would normally be £16 including postage.....but don't forget that 30 packets are only £30!

Last year's seeds Are listed below, or let me choose from all my left over last year's seeds, and go for: LUCKY FIVE £2.50 A lucky dip of 5 packs of last year’s seeds TERRIFIC TWENTY £8 or FANTASTIC FORTY £12  Strictly my choice, but I won’t include anything that you order at the same time, & you can choose  categories you want/don’t want from: annuals, biennials, perennials, trees and shrubs, alpines, bulbs, vegetables, climbers, herbs,  Aquilegias, Geraniums

  3. Also, dotted about the main seedlist and the aquilegia seedlist are some quizzes ...do have a go, you may be one of the lucky ones who wins a seed voucher....or better!

NB, free packets of seeds don't count regarding post and packing costs.

You're not alone!  However, many of these unusual and rare plants don't have a common name so I have to use Latin names.  Common names are also given wherever possible, you'll see it in this colour.  And if all else fails, perhaps your gardening club would like to know that I give an informative and FUN talk on Latin names!

follow this link to Vegetable Seeds

To order:  email me a list of seeds that you'd like, I'll check availability and confirm total costs with you. 

~AChillea	'Cloth of Gold'	hp	Good in the garden, spreading clump to about 4' high. Wonderful for flower arrangements, they dry themselves and last 'forever' with their strong colour lasting years.
~AChillea millefolium	'Cerise Queen'	hp	Pretty flat heads of white-centred red flowers, easy from seed. About 2 foot high, good strong colour form of this favourite plant.
ACONITUM	napellus	hp	Monkshood.  This species has beautiful new spring growth very early in the year, looking remarkably lovely near crocuses and other spring bulbs.  Soon the tall purple spires, choc-a-bloc full of strange ‘monkshood’ flowers create excitement.  I grow this as I can’t keep slugs away from delphiniums!  Poisonous.  Desirable.  Early flowers.
ACONITUM	?nepaulensis	hp	Monkshood.  Mid-season flowering, purple and wonderful. The tall purple spires of strange ‘monkshood’ flowers create wonderful excitement during the summer.   Poisonous.
~AMARANTHUS	caudatus	hha	Love lies bleeding. 3’ annual, sow March/April inside or May in ground for fantastic long crimson tails, great for flower arranging and drying.
ANTIRRHINUM	Tall, mixed	hha hb	Snapdragon  60-75cms Great for gardens, kids and cutting!
AQUILEGIA SEEDS TOUCHWOOD NATIONAL COLLECTION   Granny's Bonnets Columbines	Follow this link for a whole page!	hp
BLECHNUM	chilense	hp	A really ‘dinosaur habit’ of a fern.  Attractive, large, tough, shiny leaves. Clump-forming and spreading gently by stolons giving rise to new plants fairly close to the parent.  Fern sowing information.
BRIZA	maxima	ha	Growing to about 1 metre, this is the extraordinary giant quaking grass. Absolutely enormous quaking lockets, loads to each stem.  A hardy (naturalising) annual, great for fresh and dried flower arrangements.    article link
+CAMASSIA	ex white 'June Baker'	hblb	Quamash, Wild hyacinth. Early summer flowering, with white flowers which have a tracery of green on the backs of the petals.
CAREX	buchananii	hp	Eye-catching golden-russety grass foliage, good shape for containers
~CAMPANULA	alliariifolia NEW for 2010	hp	CAMPANULAS: buy any 4, choose another free! (includes last years' seeds, see below.) White bellflowers dangle on tallish stems to about 3' high.  I've not grown this for a few years, so want to re-introduce it,,,,,and I have some spare seeds from the supplier........
~CAMPANULA	pyramidalis mix of blues and white	hp	Chimney bellflower...so called because pots of it would be brought into the house to stand on the hearth in summer....and the flowers last even longer then as there are no pollinating insects there to hasten the procedure!
CAMPANULA	rotundifolia NEW for 2010	hp	Harebell. Blue flowers. British wildflower with a delicate beauty, can flower first year from seed.
CAMPANULA from Les Deux Alpes, France	?rotundifolia NEW for 2010	hp	Wild collection of harebell, or a similar short, dainty blue bellflower.
CAMPANULA from Mizoan, French Alps	rotundifolia NEW for 2010	hp	Wild collection of harebell, or a similar short, dainty blue bellflower. This plant was a particularly good dark colour. (The extra blue-ness compared to the above is probably a camera-hazard rather than real-life!)
CAMPANULA	trachelium	hp	Blue-purple flowers. The nettle-leaved bellflower, 2-3', resplendent in early summer..  A good ‘doer’, which gently self-seeds. And is slug-proof.
clematis	tangutica	hp	The orange peel clematis, yet its yellow flowers suggest lemon peel to be a more accurate description!  An easy-from-seed clematis, may even flower first year from an early sowing.   And just look how attractive the seed heads are.....glorious tresses!
chelidonium	majus fl.pl.	hp	Double form of the native greater celandine (absolutely no relation to, and nothing like the lesser celandine). Perky yellow flowers decorate a mound of great foliage over a long flowering season. Generously self-sows (if you let it!).
~cleome	spinosa ‘Colour Fountain’ mix	hha	Spider Flower. A most beautiful annual, 3’ or more with spidery, exotic flowers that just keep going. Colour mix includes red, pink, white and purple flowers from this mix.
DACTYLICAPNOS	macrocapnos	hp	One of my favourite climbing plants. Maidenhair-ferny foliage draped with  bunches of typical yellow-locket dicentra flowers.  Can flower first year at just about a metre high, then you’ll think that this delicate beauty has died, but in May you’ll realise it’s sprouted again and will achieve greater heights (and widths), yet never smothering its support.  Try it over that boring summer shrub.  I can’t guarantee it’s hardy in colder counties…..please try it and report back.
DACTYLICAPNOS	?roylei or ?lichiangensis	ha/b/p?	Another climbing yellow Dicentra....except that we now have to call all these plants Dactylicapnos. Yellow flowers and attractive chunky seedpods that gently colour up in the autumn, Name to be confirmed, I had it as either lichiangensis or ex CC3806. climbing dicentras article (NB out of date generic-name-wise now)
DACTYLICAPNOS	ventii	hp	How wonderful, the gentleman that informed me of the new generic name of these plants, also had some seed for me of D. ventii, with its extraordinary seedpods. There's a few spare, so this could be just your opportunity to grow a very unusual yellow-flowered climber. Photo by John Drawsfield (scan of a print, so the lack of quality is all my fault, but I hope it gives a suggestion of the treats in store).
DICENTRA	yellow, climbing		Now known as Dactylicapnos, see above
DIANTHUS	armeria Deptford pink	hb	Deepest pink flowers open individually over a long period. Deptford Pink article
DIERAMA	Mixed colours New for 2010	hb	Angel's fishing rods. Clumps of grass like foliage with long, elegantly swaying flowering stems towering over them in summer. Palest pink to deepest berry colours.
~DIGITALIS	ambigua      syn grandiflora	hb	Wonderful yellow foxglove..large flowers on 3' stems.  Perennial Buy any 4 digitalis, claim another free!
~DIGITALIS	lanata	hb	Woolly foxglove. With brown-netted flowers with a white lip. Also known as cafe creme foxglove. Photo taken at the National Botanic Garden of Wales.
~DIGITALIS	lutea	hp	Small yellow foxglove.  Easy to grow, small creamy-yellow flowers, and masses of them. Perennial
~DIGITALIS	?lutea	hp	Wild collected in the French alps. Therefore not in flower, so unsure of species. Gonna try it? I am.
~DIGITALIS	x mertonensis NEW FOR 2010	hb	Luscious, slightly flattened, magenta flowers, generously arrayed up the 3-4' stems
~DIGITALIS	parviflora NEW FOR 2010	hb	Chocolate Foxglove. Naturalises where happy: Welsh winters tend to be rather to wet and mild for them, they thrive especially well in the SE of England, and I'd appreciate information as to how they do elsewhere.
~DIGITALIS	purpurea alba NEW FOR 2010	hb	White form of the wild foxglove.
~DIGITALIS	Excelsior hybrids	hb	Aren't these great? Get them self-sowing in your garden for a yearly display. Understandably a cottage garden favourite.   Photo only shows one sort...there's masses of colours, all densely flowering up and around the tall stem.
~DIGITALIS	purpurea 'Apricot' NEW FOR 2010	hb	Also known as 'Sutton's Apricot, 'Apricot Delight' and probably many more! Sorry, no digital pic yet, but my slide pic shown at talks brings gasps of admiration!
~DIGITALIS	purpurea ssp heywoodii NEW FOR 2010	hb	Also known as 'Silver Fox' and 'Pink Champagne'. Furry, silvery leaves with pinky-purple flowers. Rather special. I remember it taking Chelsea by storm a few years back,
~DIGITALIS	'Red Skin' NEW FOR 2010	hp	Bred by Ray Brown at Plant World, Devon. I can't better his description of it (nor his photo) so here it is: A superb new, fertile hybrid developed here. Soundly perennial clumps produce strong spikes of shiny, waxy-looking, golden flowers, distinctly polished with red on the top, rather like a ripe apple.
DIPSACUS	fullonum	hp 5-8'	The teasel.  A biennial whose first year rosette suddenly ‘takes off’ in the second year to create a candelabra of masses of purple flower heads.  Use fresh or dried in flower arrangements, or leave on the plant for dramatic winter interest, birds will be grateful for the feed of seeds. Self sows year-to-year.  Unusual for the way it traps insects in leafy, watery graves to ensure nitrogen for growth. The photo shows how the leaf bases are joined around the central stem to form a watery moat.
~DORONICUM	orientale NEW FOR 2010	hp	Leopard's Bane Seed collected in the French Alps. Flowers early in the season with a welcome splash of colour.
ERYNGIUM	eburneum	hp	A perennial sea holly, with an exceedingly good winter rosette. The leaves are long with softish spines, looking quite exotic in the winter garden, and stunning in a pot.  In summer, architectural 5’-6’ high flower stems sport masses of green flower-heads. Oh, and it’s slug-proof.
~eschscholzia	'Mission bells' NEW for 2010	hha/b/p	Californian Poppy   Wonderful cacophony of colours in a pleasingly doubled flower form. Cream through pinks and oranges to red.
FOENICULUM	Fennel in flower.       vulgare, bronze form	hp	BRONZE FENNEL  The filamentous leaves are especially beautiful in the spring as they unfurl, darkly. Reaching head-height, all parts are edible, including the multiheaded flowerheads and the seeds. Oh, the roots, are they edible? Anyone know? But then you'd not want to eat them and loose a long season of interest: April til the frosts, and even then as seedheads for winter architectural interest and for feeding the birds.
GALEGA	officinalis	hp	French lilac. Goats Rue. Dramatic 4-6’ plants with flowerheads jam-packed full of lilac and white pea flowers. Flowers 1st year. Sold out 2010
GENTIANA	lutea NEW for 2010	hp	Great yellow gentian. Wild collected seed from the French alps. Growing to about a metre high...and flowers don't come much brighter than that, do they? Sunshine captured!
GERANIUM	palmatum (10)	hp	One of the most desirable of cranesbills, with lovely leaves and a smothering of pink flowers at about 3' high. Give it a sheltered spot...it can be killed in severe winter weather....and it may also happily self-sow into all the spots you couldn't possibly have grown things...even in dry-stone walls where it looks fantastic!
GERANIUM	‘Purple Haze’ (12)	hp	‘Plant World’ have been busy selecting this beautiful purple-leaved  Meadow Cranesbill.	Easy to select the ones with PURPLE leaves just after germination.  Delightful and different!
GERANIUM	pyrenaicum (20)	hp	Pyrenean Cranesbill. Masses of small pink flowers, and a long season are the attractions of this shorter hardy geranium. Particularly good in a pot, and flowering first year from seed.  Does tend to seed itself though… ………..beautifully!
GERANIUM	pyrenaicum f. albiflorum (20)	hp	Cranesbill.Masses of white flowers, and as good as its standard pink brother in all other ways.  A must-have!
GERANIUM	pyrenaicum ‘Isparta’ (20)	hp	Pyrenean Cranesbill.Masses of small and cheerful white-eyed purple flowers, very desirable! Flowers 1st year of sowing.
+  GERANIUM	pyrenaicum large form (15)	hp	Cranesbill. Larger in all its parts, than the normal form, even the leaves are particularly beautiful. I bought the mother plant tin 2007 - at a rare plant sale and am thrilled to offer just a few seeds.
+GERANIUM	rubescens (10)	hb/p	Like a lovely large herb Robert. Herb Robert on steroids, perhaps? Alternatively think of it as a petite (but hardy) Geranium canariense or maderense. The deeply dissected leaves redden in winter, hence the specific name.
HESPERIS	matronalis alba	hb	Sweet Rocket. Cottage garden biennial: sweet rocket, with clove scented, edible flowers at 1m or more, will self seed gently if allowed.  Seed from (mainly) white forms.
HIBISCUS	trionum	(h)ha	Upright, rapid growth and creamy white flowers with a contrasting dark centre.
HYPERICUM	olympicum	hp	A St John’s Wort for the rock garden with neat clumps reaching about 30cm high, with large yellow flowers.
IMPATIENS	balfourii NEW for 2010	ha	Is that an orchid? people ask.  I am sooo pleased to be growing this plant again. I had it many years back and found it self-sowed in a wonderfully serendipitous way....I'd never have THOUGHT to have grown plants in the nooks and crannys it provided itself with, let alone tried to have sown seeds there. I had 2 plants in my annual border and they quickly matured to form a shapely constantly-flowering mound for months.
Lunaria	annua	hb	Honesty. Purple flowers in early spring.  And, of course, ornamental seedpods which can be peeled  for the silver pennies for dried arrangements.
~LYCHNIS	coronaria alba	hp	Silvery, furry leaves, with white flowers, very cool.
meconopsis	cambrica	hp	The native wildflower: Welsh Poppy. A hardy perennial with yellow flowers on waving wand stems.  If you want to buy the Welsh Poppy, where better than from Wales!	It's BRIGHT yellow, ignore orange cast to photo!
meconopsis	cambrica aurantica	hp	The pretty orangey-red form of the Welsh Poppy. May be doubles as well.
Millium	effuseum var. aureum	hp	Bowles Golden Grass.  Brightest yellow springtime foliage, airy flower-heads.
+~MIMOSA	pudica (10) NEW FOR 2010	hha	The sensitive plant to delight children up to the age of 90 years old...and possibly older unless they've lost their zest for life by then! Fancy filigree foliage that responds to touch by rapidly folding up each leaflet, then, dropping the whole leaf stem and playing dead. Never fails to amaze me. Then again, I'm not yet in my nineties (I hereby squash any rumour to the contrary). The final act before seeding is a froth of pink fluffy flowers. Perfect!
mirabilis	jalapa, ex white(10)	(h)hp	‘Marvel of Peru’ , or the ‘Four o’Clock Plant’.  A nearly hardy perennial which flowers first year from seed.  Its hardiness is similar to dahlias…..and the root thongs may be similarly stored over winter. My plants merrily takes over my cold greenhouse, so are perennial with just a bit of protection.  Flowers at over a metre high, in red, yellow or white. The trumpet flowers open in the evening and overnight with a most lovely penetrating fragrance, try one in your conservatory.
mirabilis	jalapa,  ex red (12)	(h)hp	Seed from the red flowered form of ‘Marvel of Peru’. All colours of flowers are fragrant.    Sold out 2010
+ mirabilis	jalapa,  ex yellow (10)	(h)hp	Seed from the yellow  flowered form of ‘Marvel of Peru’. All colours of flowers are fragrant.
Myrrhis	odorata	h p	Sweet cicely: herb with lacy white flowers, aromatic leaves and tasty large seeds when they are still green. The pic shows white sweet cicely with Aquilegia No 13, black double. Look good together, don't they?
nicotiana	sylvestris	hha	ENORMOUS trumpets that have a most beautiful scent....do grow some in your conservatory where it will scent the room, especially during the evening.  NEW FOR 2009
Nigella white blue Rose or MIX	damascena Miss Jekyll forms	ha	Love-in-a-mist, here in Miss Jekyll Blue, Rose, or White forms, or choose a mix. The strange horned pods (‘devil-in-a-bush’) are also good for flower arranging, fresh or dried.
OENOTHERA ordinary sized packets and scatter packs available	biennis	hb	Evening primrose.  Large, bright yellow scented flowers. 2010 proved an abundant harvest. For twice the price of 1 packet you can get a SCATTER PACK of 4x the amount. Great for covering bare ground rapidly with colour.
PASSIFLORA	caerulea (15)	hp cl	The incredible hardy climbing passionflower. Can flower first year from a warm, early sowing. Passion refers to  the Passion of Christ on the cross. The 72 radial filaments (or corona) represent the Crown of Thorns. The ten petals and sepals represent the ten faithful apostles. The three stigma represent the three nails (and rather look like them) and the five anthers represent the five wounds. The leaves: the hands of the persecutors and the tendrils their whips.
~PHYSOSTEGIA	virginiana white 'Alba'	hp	Obedient plant, as each flower stays where you put it!  Sparkling spires of white flowers in summer.  Long flowering season. 3-4’ I've been after the white form for a long time, and have some spare seeds from my purchase.	actually seed is from white form!!!
polemonium	caeruleum	hp	Jacob’s ladder. Attractive, ladder-like leaves and heads of white flowers during the summer months. About 18"-2' Photo doesn't show how lovely the flower really is...yellow-centred blue blooms.
+ POTENTILLA	recta NEW FOR 2010	hp	Most potentillas creep but this is erect ('recta') to about 12-18", and so the flowers can better be appreciated. Has a quiet charm and is a perfect foil for other flowers over most of the summer months.
schizostylis	coccinea	hp	The astounding and slug-proof Kaffir Lily, with crimson flowers in October when most plants are going to sleep for winter. Trouble-free, beautiful, and evergreen.
schizostylis	coccinea pink form	hp	Kaffir Lily with pink flowers, again, slug-proof. LATE MATURING seeds, about Dec/Jan!
silybum	marianum Seed pod	hp	One worth growing for the name alone!  That’s the common name, of course, which is Holy or Milk Thistle, in allusion to the leaves being liberally and beautifully laced with the silver-white of Mary’s milk. Gorgeously glamorous flowers offset by the ruff of spiky bracts. This is the plant that has everyone asking 'what's that!' when they see the beautiful large silver-variegated leaves.  And that's before  the flowering stem shoots up to produce a cascade of architectural blooms.  I love them!  Even then there's more to come with attractive seedpods and parachuted seeds that are beautifully mottled. Mind you the best bit is the visitors' faces when I reply to their 'What's that!' query, with the latin name 'Silybum!'	The seed is the source of an oil that's full of healthy constituents, and commercially known as 'silymarin' (a condensing of the name 'Silybum marianum' ...well who'd swallow silybum capsules let alone tell anyone that you're taking them???)
TELLIMA	grandiflora	hp	Fringecups.  Evergreen shade-lover that also does well in the sun!  Tall waving wands of tiny fringed flowers with a delicate scent that I liken to azaleas.	I
THALICTRUM	aquilegifolium	hp	A tall hardy perennial that doesn’t usually need staking, it has amazing froths of purple fluffy flowers, as well as attractive seed heads.   Very reliable.	Ignore pink cast to the pic! It's purple.
~THYMUS	serpyllum New for 2010	hp	Wild Thyme. Decorative, slightly woolly leaves, purple flowers, creeping habit. Useful in cooking as well as the garden.
verbascum	chaixii or nigrum  yellow	hp	A perennial, steadily increasing clump, a verbascum with many spires of flowers with yellow petals, and purple centres. Each exquisite flower has a central tuft of furry (yes, furry) purple stamens. Why? I guess we'll never know, but the bees should appreciate the way they have a remarkable landing-platform during their sorties for nectar and pollen.
verbascum	chaixii or nigrum album	hp	In this version, the spires of flowers have white petals to offset the purple centres. Brilliant!
Veronica	spicata	hp	Spiked speedwell.  2’, spires of purpley-blue flowers.   Sold out 2010
VIOLA mix	mix	ha/b/p	A dazzling and joyful mix of all sorts of colours.  Flowers in a few weeks. Phenomenally good value in the garden or in containers. NB These are violas not large-flowered pansies.
SPARES from SWAPS ETC			THE FOLLOWING ARE A FEW PACKETS I HAVE SURPLUS TO MY NEEDS FROM SWAPS AND PURCHASES THIS YEAR. To order just quote 'Spares' then the seed name

LAST YEAR'S SEEDS  Here are some that I have left over from last year's harvest....they cost the same BUT you will receive LARGE packets to make up for any reduced viability! My 'old' seed is often fresher than the normal lots from many seed companies!  NOTE, the numbers of seeds in the packets mentioned below are LAST YEARS' numbers, you'll get at least double this.  Or let me choose from all my left over last year's seeds, and go for: LUCKY FIVE £2.50 A lucky dip of 5 packs of last year’s seeds TERRIFIC TWENTY £8 or FANTASTIC FORTY £12  Strictly my choice, but I won’t include anything that you order at the same time, & you can choose  categories you want/don’t want from: annuals, biennials, perennials, trees and shrubs, alpines, bulbs, vegetables, climbers, herbs,  Aquilegias, Geraniums.

~ANAGALLIS	coerulea NEW FOR 2009	hha	Perky annual, that scrambles and tumbles, either for annual beds or in pots and hanging baskets etc. I love blue flowers, especially when this clear.
AMARANTHUS	upright NEW FOR 2009	hha	4’ annual, sow March/April inside or May in ground for fantastic upright crimson plumes, great for flower arranging and drying.
ARTEMESIA	princeps	hp	Yomogi. Aromatic foliage that Chilterns say is edible, but I harvest for making smudge.
ASARINA	barclayana NEW FOR 2009	hpcl	Flowering first year from seed, and surviving indoors over winter. Climbs or clambers, or, with me, I put it to tumble over a large planter. Beautiful.
atriplex	hortensis rubra	ha	Purple Orache: a hardy annual that self-seeds each year.  Ornamental foliage plant to 1m or more with luscious deep purple-black leaves.  Luscious?  Yes, edible as a leaf to mix into salads, where the almost black leaves contrast fantastically with green salad leaves. The colour is rather darker than the camera shows. The seed-heads are fantastic in flower arrangements.
~CAMPANULA	medium NEW for 2009	hb	Canterbury Bells, the wonderful cup-and-saucer doubles. In spring the 2' plants are COVERED with these flowers.
~CAMPANULA	latifolia alba NEW for 2009	hp	....and the white form Canterbury bells, the wonderful cup-and-saucer doubles.
CERINTHE	major 'Purpurascens' (15)	ha/b/p	Honeywort. Extremely popular, fashionable even, and what a darling with its dusky purple leaf-bracts (coloured rather like a purple grape, complete with bloom, but more blue). Flowers it's socks off for many months. Plants get bigger and better, and if you can grow it as a biennial then you start with good sized plants and end up with huge ones. Seeds are set individually and are fiddly to harvest, hence small packets, sorry.    ...hey, why not buy two?
COSMEA	ex 'Double Click'	hha	Cosmea. New type of a favourite annual of mine. Long flowering tall to 5'. My gardens not the same without it!
DIERAMA	ex pink	hb	Angel's fishing rods. Clumps of grass like foliage with long, elegantly swaying flowering stems towering over them in summer.
CYPERUS	rotundus	ha/p	Wonderful ‘grass’, flowering first year with rounded brown spiky pom-poms. Flower arranger’s dream!
DACTYLICAPNOS	torulosa	ha	Another climbing yellow Dicentra....except that we now have to call all these plants Dactylicapnos. Grown more for the strange terracotta seed pods, which break open to reveal strings of black-and-white seeds. Captivating! Although an annual, it will remain in your garden yearly through its self-seeding capabilities.  Pods stain hands yellow, so unwise garden guests will get more than they bargain for if they desire seed!
ECCREMOCARPUS	scaber NEW FOR 2009	hha cl	Chilean glory flower Flowering the first year from seed, and surviving mild winters in a sheltered spot or in a greenhouse, is this exciting climber with waves of crimson flowers, and attractive seed-pods.
~GYPSOPHILA	Covent Garden NEW FOR 2009	ha	Easy, peasy annual. Good en masse, also good to show up other flowers and colours.
~GYPSOPHILA	elegans 'rosea' NEW FOR 2009	ha	Pink form of the above.
~HELICHRYSUM	Bright Bikinis mixed NEW FOR 2009	hha	Great mix of these everlasting straw flowers. Pick when half open and dry for colourful flowers for years to come.  But leave plenty in the garden to attract the bees, and summer visitors!
~LAVATERA	trimestris 'Silver Cup' NEW for 2009	ha	One of the most popular hardy annuals...and deservedly so. 2” (or more!) wonderfully smothered with open pink trumpets for many weeks!
~LAVATERA	trimestris 'Mont Blanc' NEW for 2009	ha	...and the white version
~LEONTOPODIUM	alpinum	hb/p	Edelweiss  No need to rock-climb in the Alps to pick (tut tut, definitely not allowed) this most sentimental of flowers to prove your love. No, just sow on the surface of a pot of compost from January to April and wait for this woolly alpine to flower in your own garden. Now, to accompany it with a yodel, or the song? Your choice!
LINARIA	Fairy Bouquet	ha	Plants to flower their socks off over the summer months. Photo shows just one of a huge range of colours in this mix. NEW for 2009
~LYCHNIS	coronaria	hp	With cerise flowers, and contrasting grey felted foliage NEW for 2009
~LYCHNIS	coronaria alba	hp	With white flowers, very cool. NEW for 2009
~LYCHNIS	coronaria occulata group 'Angel's Blush'	hp	Pink-centred white flowers. Absolutely lovely.
MATTHIOLA	perennial	hp	Very attractive, evergreen foliage, fragrant white flowers. NEW for 2009
NICANDRA	physalodes 'Violacea'	ha	Shoo-fly plant . Huge annuals at about 3' x 3', and even I can translate that to metric: 1m x 1m ! Shrubby growth with blue and white flowers, but it's the stupendous almost-black buds and Chinese lantern-shaped seedpods that makes this cultivar a real showstopper.
nicotiana	rustica	hha	A large half-hardy annual with green ‘mob-cap’ flowers at 1m or more.
STIPA	arundinacea	hp	Pheasant-tail grass WOW! One of these in flower is a wondrous show…..the rest of the year the red-tinged arching stems make this an indispensable grass.
+verbascum	phoeniceum hybrid	hp/b	Light wands of  white flowers arise from a neat rosette of foliage. May flower first year from seed.
VESTIA	foetida	(h)h sh	Extraordinary: almost fuchsia-like yellow flowers in spring, arch down from this evergreen shrub, which is hardy in sheltered spots.  If cut back by the cold, it may well sprout from ground level. Astonishing...and arresting.HINT: I may over-winter first-year seedlings under cold glass, letting them grow in a sheltered spot in the open garden from then on. They also self-sow.

VEGETABLES

Not very many offered again this year, due to lack of interest in veg during the last three years.

At the end of the list is seed remaining from last years list (double sized packets).

~Basil	Italian large leaf.	Really likes the heat...grow outside (after frosts) or in greenhouse. Sow April/May White flowers are also edible!  New for 2010
~Carrot	f1 'Buror'	Cylindrical or tapered roots, resists bolting. Sow March-May or August Sept. New for 2010
~Celery	Golden self-blanching	Sow late March-April under glass, transplant out after frosts. New for 2010
~ coriander	'Santo' organic	Grow in your garden for that lovely 'musky orange' flavoured leaf. Well, that's how I describe it, what would you say?
~Corn salad	'Verte do cambrai'	Tender salad leaves. Sow Aug-Sept ready November when all other salads over. To tenderise further cover (box, bucket etc) for a few days before harvesting. New for 2010
~Cress	Choose plain leaf or curled leaf	As easy to grow as cress! Broadcast quite thickly is a small area of the garden and keep cutting-and-coming-again over many weeks. I love this spicey flavour, totally unlike the 'growing salad' punnets from supermarkets which is usually rape seedlings.
~Cress	American OR Land CRESS	Tastes as close to watercress as you can grow in an ordinary garden, unless you have water flowing through it. Totally unfazed by frosts, you can keep picking right through the winter months. Biennial, with clouds of yellow flowers, this will self-sow each year for you.
~ Rhubarb Chard Leaf Beet	Bright LIghts	Beat the cabbage white butterflies! Tastes like spinach: use young in salads or cooked when older. Stems can be cooked with the leaves or separately. Doesn't reduce as much as spinach does in cooking. Oh, and doesn't it look great in the garden? Sorry, I only have photo of rhubarb chard, 'Bright Lights' has stems in all shades of cream through yellow, gold to red! 2nd pic is in its second year, flowering stems....always intrigues garden visitors!
~ Borecole or curly kale	F1 'Redbor'	I enjoy the taste of curly kale. This one has dark purple leaves that are at their most stunning (extremely decorative in the garden) in autumn. The colour has to be seen to be believed, pic taken Sept....it gets richer!  New for 2010
~Kale	Red Russian	Winter hardy, sow March-May. Dark leaves and red stems, colour intensifies in the cold. Thin to 20-30 cms apart  New for 2010
~mustard	Ruby Streaks Golden Streaks	Well flavoured, finely divided leaves. tasty and ornamental, both in the garden and on the plate. FAR superior to ordinary mustards. Choose from the ruby coloured leaved form (shown) or the golden one.
~lettuce	Lollo Rossa	Green-red leaves, decorative and tasty.  Sow from April. Not sure now if the pic shows Lollo Rossa, but it gives an idea of how decorative these red lettuces are.  New for 2010
~lettuce	Little Gem organic	Deservedly popular, a small, crunchy, fresh cos lettuce. Can be grown densely, or in pots etc. Sow end March to late July, crops in about 2 months.  New for 2010
~ Lettuce	Salad Bowl green	My favourite lettuce, very decorative leaves, cut and come again. Photo shows young plants, with purple orache.
~ Lettuce	Salad Bowl red	My favourite lettuce, in the red-leaved form.  Looks and tastes good!
~ Pak Choi	Choko f1	Green-stemmed pak-choi leaves for your salads. Sow from March, ready in 1-2 months.   New for 2010
~ Parsley	Moss Curled	Sow June....likes a bit of warmth does parsley. Course, you can sow earlier under glass, in a small pot and transplant out the whole pot.  New for 2010
~ rocket	organic	Sow late March onwards, at regular intervals. Tasty as leaves in salads. Don't worry when they bolt to flower...the brown-veined flowers are lovely in salads...honey and mustard flavour!  New for 2010
~ Salad mix	Spicey mix	Cut and come again, with a delightful array of flavours. Sow from March.   New for 2010
~ Spring Onion	Apache Red	How about this? A red-stemmed spring onion. Different, tasty and tender...and they look very good in the garden as well! Sow from early March.   New for 2010
~ Runner bean	scarlet emperor	An old variety and still deservedly popular. Sow from May...about 2 weeks before the last frost of sowing outside.  New for 2010
	LAST YEAR'S SEEDS	All those below are still available...double sized packets ...eg if it says 10 seeds, you'll get 20.

AQUILEGIA SEEDS	Top of THIS PAGE	PLANTS & SEEDLINGS
AQUILEGIA INFORMATION	AQUILEGIA ARTICLES	AQUILEGIA SOWING
POT LABELS	WEDDING FAVOUR SEEDS	SOWING INFORMATION

Seed Prices for 2010: buy more to save more!

£1.50/packet  15 or more: £1.25/packet  30 or more: £1.00/packet

                                                      UK Postage & Packing is £1, but free for 20 or more packets.                Worldwide postage is currently £2,  £1 for £20 or more, free for £40. Postage may rise with postage charges

 READY RECKONER:  1packet=£1.50, 2=£3, 3=£4.50, 4=£6, 5=£7.50., 6=£9, 7=£10.50, 8=£12, 9=£13.50, 10=£15, 11=£16.50,12=£18, 13=£18.75, 14=£18.75, 15=£18.75  16=£20, 17=£21.25, 18=£22.50, 19=£23.75, 20= £25  and free p&p in UK , 21=£26.25, 22=£27.50, 23 = £28.75, 24=£30, 25= £30, 26= £30, 27= £30, 28= £30, 29= £30, 30= £30, 31= £31, 32= £32,  .et cetera! Yes….if you buy 10 packets, you may as well buy 15: and 30 for the cost of 24!    Don't forget to add any postage costs. I always get proof of posting so that you can claim in the event of non-delivery.