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Phew, the harvest is in, the majority of seeds are dried, cleaned and safely in the fridge.As always, the least popular series have given an overwhelming abundance of seed and the ones everyone wants to buy have been mean with their seed, been eaten or simply rotted for no reason. Oh well! That’s the reason why we quote a minimum of 35 seeds per packet. There are usually more and if we can be generous we will be. Lots of doom and gloom in the news at the moment. All we can say is – Barnhaven was born in the great American Depression of the 1930’s , when Florence Bellis spent her last 5 dollars on a few packets of Suttons’ seeds and began her famous hybridising programme. One of the most economical (and exciting) ways of filling your garden with good quality plants is to raise them yourself from seed, but of course you know that. ‘Spiced Shades’ People have been asking what has happened to this old favourite. The strain has been temporarily withdrawn and they will hopefully be re-introduced in the next couple of years. Similar colours are to be found in Gilded Ginger if you have a hankering for those delicious tones of chocolate and burnt coffee. Work continues as always on new crosses and our range of Barnhaven double primroses is becoming very extensive. |
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Not content with filling the tunnels with auriculas, David has been slowly (very slowly) and quietly been cultivating a growing number of P. marginata and P.allonii, and has finally enough to offer a selection of named cultivars and hybrids for sale. P. marginata are fully hardy and can be grown in very gritty soil in a trough or rock garden, though it has to be said that they reach their full glory in a cold greenhouse where the beautiful farina is not washed off by rain. March - April P. allonii are less hardy than the marginatas and are usually grown in an alpine house but these spectacular little plants give an explosion of colour from February to April and really merit the effort. 7 cm pots @ 6.00€/£4.30 per pot. Please remember minimum plant orders SIX – can be a mixture of plants from any of our range. Quite a number of new show auriculas on the list this year. Check it out. We wish you a very productive gardening year and lots of joy from your seeds or plants. |
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David and Lynne Lawson |
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