For those who think there is no issue and no more education needs done I would disagree. I didn't know anything about the toxicity of foxgloves and my 7 year old son has got into wildflowers during the lockdowns. As children tend to do he was admiring the beauty of a foxglove in a forest this week and also as children are very prone to do he put his finger into one of the belllike - fingerlike flowers just for the fun of it. His finger got the pollen on him but as I had never heard of any danger with foxgloves (they are everywhere in ireland) i didn't think anything of it. I said he should wipe the pollen off on some grass but I didn't really think there would be any problem. About half an hour later he had a packet of raisins further into the forest. (We even used hand sanitiser first) A few hours later he started feeling very unwell and no appetite for any dinner and eventually threw up multiple times everywhere. Because of covid restrictions we haven't been going anywhere, and he has had no contact with people as school is out. So I know it wasn't a bug. I think it really would help parents to know about the dangers as think how easily a young child could do the same thing and enjoy putting their fingers into the flowers, without knowing the pollen is dangerous. We don't need ot be afraid of everything but when even the pollen is dangerous in foxgloves a little wider awareness would really help.

First of all - welcome to the forum! Ken is right. July/August are not the months to plant out tender seedlings. Yours are so healthy-looking, it would be a shame to plant them out now when they'll just be stressed by extreme heat even if there's plentiful rain. Can you wait until September to plant them out? They need a shot at establishing their root systems prior to blooming next year. Planting out when conditions moderate in September gives the plants a better chance of surviving the extreme cold in winter. they have been growing on my windowsill They're currently growing indoors and will need time to acclimate to outdoor conditions. Do you have a prepared garden bed where they will be planted out? Or will they be set in containers to grow on? Generally perennials grown outdoors in containers need to be hardy to two zones colder than their zone hardiness in the ground in order to survive a Z6 winter. Plants grown indoors may suffer once they're set outdoors in a garden bed where they're exposed to predators (slugs, snails, etc.) /mm - there are lots of experienced gardeners on this forum who'd gladly offer suggestions & advice. Most need a bit more information about your plans before offering their expert ideas/recommendations. If it were me and those were my seedlings, I'd wait until mid- to late September before planting them out. Keep them watered and let them grow on through the hot summer indoors, develop more mature root systems and plant them out in a prepared bed when the weather cools. I currently have Dianthus/carnation, Baptisia australis/false indigo, lupine & Polemonium/Jacob's ladder seedlings waiting to be planted out. All were grown from seeds via winter sowing. They'll be allowed to grow on in containers until the weather cools before being planted in my garden beds.

Midge 357: I was looking at your trade list and was interested in a couple of the items you are offering. I would like to trade for some of your Red Crown Imperial seed and your Clematis Elsa Spathe if they are still available? I have a couple of other Clematis that you may or may not be interested in including Henryii and Nelly Moser. I also have Blue Monkshood, Mixed Hellebore, StarGazer Lilly, Stella d'Oro lilly, Red Oleander, and some others. Please contact me if interested. Thankyou. Ross.

I have zinnia, cosmos, and aster Also dianthus, but isn't that the same as sweet william? I have a packet of wildflower mix (commercial) that hasn't been opened yet, left over from this year. I used one last year (didn't grow much this year cuz we were moving) it was a butterfly magnet...the flowers were covered (not literally) with hummingbirds and butterflies. packet includes: yarrow, alyssum, calendula, bachelor's buttons, wallflower, coreopsis, cosmos, sweet william, gypsophila elegans, scarlet flax, blue flax, evening primrose, black eyed susan, catchfly, mexican hat