the seed need both a warm & cold period. Sowing outside now is not a problem & will survive the winters without any problem ..... only problem will be birds, nice, & bugs.eating the seed

Oh great stuff here. Will try and answer. Firstly, soil - it is weirdly both peaty....and sandy. It was originally an open field as late as the 1940s till early 50s, growing sugar beet. A fatal accident occurred in a drainage ditch and the original owner was grief stricken, selling it off to a company called Crown Estates, who, looking for a low maintenance crop, planted hybrid poplars. By the 1970s, the market for matches had died away and the plantation was abandoned. A later owner had the land for several years but was roundly chastised after dumping masses of hardcore and digging out a huge artificial fishing lake. He was ordered to clear the mess (which he largely did) but then left the plot for another 8 years.....when it came to us. The land is on marshland which is vulnerable to tidal flooding (although old photos during high tides show the river inundations stopping at the woodland edge). The whole area was once dug out for peat beds and is now part of the Norfolk Broads - a huge system of man-made waterways. despite the peat, the underlying geology is chalk and consequently, is more alkaline than I would have imagined (compared to Thetford forest and the Brecklands which have thin, sandy and very acidic soil). However, Flora, while I am keen to preserve existing biodiversity, there is very little apart from at the margins of the woodland (including, to my joy and amazement, snowdrops). Moreover, it is not really woodland by any stretch but is actually a neglected plantation of a monocrop......which gives me a degree of freedom to plant naturalised, if not entirely native species. And, in all truth, this will be my sole garden and I know I will have neither the discipline nor the passion to maintain a purely natural pallette of planting....but this does not mean I intend to run amok. Our countryside reveals the terrible evidence of irresponsible plant and animal introductions, so while there will (I hope) be hellebores, english bluebells, cow parsley, foxgloves and cranesbills, there will be no place for plants which are highly bred, sterile, or of little utility for indigenous wildlife. I am simultaneously thrilled and terrified. The treeline starts 10metres in from the south facing boundary streams and accordingly, I have ordered white willowherb, various umbellifers, campanulas and foxgloves to make a start on what I hope will be a small hay-meadow. Unfortunately, apart from a very few tree species, there is not an abundance of local seed to collect (although I have knapweeds, scabious, silene, agrimony and meadow rue). There is a very good chance I will be able to have a stand-pipe for water as my farming neighbour grazes rare breed cattle on the marsh and has a farm next to us - with water and electricity. I can also pump water from the ditches and even the river (amazingly, I have private access to a small amount of river frontage). Mr.Camps has had to give up work so we have time, if not money. We are both around 50ish and hope that this woodland will become our life's work, for us and succeeding generations......so we are in no hurry to do much this first year except observe, plan and sow seeds. I do have my allotments (a handy stock area) where I have my main collection of perennials and (my main love) wild roses but they are likely to be sold during the next few years. When I leased them in 2002, they were guaranteed free of development until 2012.....which seemed like an impossibly long time in the future - but here we are - developers circling and our city council is both craven and corrupt. Without sounding overly dramatic, gardening is my life (apart from my beloved children and grandaughter, obviously) - the impetus to grow and nurture is profound and the desire for a patch of our own land surprised me by an almost visceral level of intensity. I certainly don't care for bricks and mortar to the same degree- I can face up to losing my home and living in a horsebox with equanimity, whereas a house without a space to grow is no home at all. I thank you all for your generous and thoughtful responses and good wishes.

Thank you kindly, Mark - I'll keep trying to imagine reasons for the unseasonal/early bloom; it could be that the light cycle indoors triggered the flowering, and having plenty of moisture outdoors has kept them going and spurred the young purpurascens to join in the fun. Maybe they liked the fish emulsion I was feeding them. Hopefully mine will at least turn out to be a reasonably attractive-flowered purpurascens! I have to confess that I've never heard anyone complain about the blossoms of that species before. I do have another several seedlings just in case, one of which is evidently a silver leaf form (it also survived its first cruel winter outdoors, a good sign). I've smelled the species before and have to agree that it's wonderful! My C. cilicium is also nicely fragrant and smells something like honey to me, but its scent is not so pronounced as the purpurascens I've encountered. Stefan P.S. When the address for www.inspiringplants.org is typed in my address window, it goes to a blank site! Do you know if there are any problems with the page?

Bizarre? Some of my friends thought some of my stuff was bazarre too. Some houseplants, most winter sowed, some will be direct sowed. I think this is a pretty complete list now. I've got way to many already. Abutilon vitifolium 3 Acacia cultriformis Acinos alpinus Aconitum alboviolaceum 39 Aconitum hemsleyanum 29 Adlumina fungulosa Agapanthus cv fr U of British Columbia Agastache rupestris 90 Agastache schrophularifolia Albuca humilis 94 Albuca shawii 95 syn. A. tricophylla Alcea ficifolia 99 Allium tricoccum Alyssum wulfenianum 256 Anaphalis alpicola 206 Anaphalis triplinervis 268 Anisodontea julii Aquilegia desertorum 345 Aquilegia flabellata var. pumila 'Kurilensis Rosea' 361 Aquilegia formosa Aquilegia viridiflora 382 Aralia continentalis 418 Aralia wilsonii 420 Arisaema consanguineum 440 Aristolochia fimbriata 467 Aristolochia tomentosa Athamanta turbith 580 Atropa komarovii 'Turkmenistan' Bergeranthus jamesii 607 Betula glandulifera Calycanthus floridulus ex 'Athens' 683 Campanula americana Cassia alata Clematis ochroleuca Corydalis Blackberry Wine Corydalis ex ex Dufa Temple Cosmidium burridgeanum Dasistoma macrophylla Desmanthus illinoiensis Digitalis grandiflora Dracocephalum palmatum Echinocerius reichenbachii ssp. caespitosis 1331 Eragrostis airioides Festuca valesiaca Fibigea clypeata Fragaria vesca alba 1499 Fritillaria camschatensis ex Kenai, AK Fritillaria camschatensis exCordova,AK Fritillaria lanceolata Gentiana quinquefolia Glaucidium palmatum 2013 Hesperis kotschyi 1855 Hudsonia tomentosa Impatiens glandulifera Ipomea Ipomea - Flake Ipomea 'Blue Blizzard' Ipomea 'Heino Rumi' Iris chrysographes 1938 Iris reichenbachii 2307 Iris tectorum 1986 Iris typhifolia 1998 Jeffersonia dubia 2008 Lavatera cachemiriana 2053 Leuzea conifera var. macrocephala2095 Lilium concolor var. coridion 2138 Lilium concolor var. strictum Lilium lophophorum Lilium mackliniae 2150 Lilium sargentiae Lilium sp. ex China Limonium gmellini ssp. hungaricus Manfreda virgininiana ex Adams Co. OH Melittis melissophyllum 2302 Mentzelia decapetala Mertensia simplicissima 2307 Mirabilis longiflora 2302 Nasella tenuissima Onosma alboroseum Orlaya grandiflora Peltoboykinia tellimoides 2565 Peltoboykinia watanabei Peltoboykinia watanabei 2566 Penstemon 'Chocolate Drop' Penstemon hallii Penstemon paysoniorum Penstemon smallii Penstemon strictus Penstemon virens 2688 Physochlaina orientalis 2726 Phyteuma orbiculare Phyteuma scheuchzeri 4332 Platycodon 'Komachi' 2756 Podophyllum hexandrum Poncirus trifoliata Pulsatilla ajanensis Pulsatilla albana 2894 Pulsatilla flavescens Rhodothamnus chamaecistus 4396 Ruellia ex 'Midnight' Sarracenia purpurea Scilla monophyllos 3194 Semiaquilegia ecalcarata Serratula seoanei Seseli gummiferum 3249 Soldanella alpina 4460 Swertia bimaculata 4478 Sylibum marianum Talinum paniculatum 'Aurea' Telekia speciosa (Bupthalmon) Tellima grandiflora Tsuga canadensis ex Mille Lacs Co.MN Viburnum dentatum ex St.Louis Co.MN xPardancanda norrisii xPardancanda norrisii And DRAT! my Pulsatilla flavescens sprouted in the initial 2 week warm cycle. Rick