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Wild-growing and steeped in folklore, pasque flower's seedheads are as lovely as its blooms.
WHAT THE SPECIALISTS SAY
Kit Buchdahl, partner, Cambridge Garden Plants "We tend to do a lot of Pulsatilla vulgaris Award of Garden Merit (AGM)1 which is native to Cambridgeshire. If the seeds are sown fresh, you tend to get very good germination. They are not difficult to grow and tend to come up very quickly. We sow them in a general proprietary seed-sowing compost with lots of Perlite.
"Pulsatilla vulgaris subsp. grandis 'Papageno' is supposed to come up as a mixture, but it tends not to be much different from the ordinary ones.
"Pulsatilla montana is very good, with dark, blue-black flowers, but I haven't grown it for some years. We also used to grow the alpine types but, because they are suited to acid soil, they don't do very well in ours.
"Pulsatilla vulgaris 'Eva Constance1 is a good seller and does well from root cuttings.
"In the wild, the plants grow on poor soil and tend to send their roots down quite far. Although they are very tolerant of poor soil, a bit of humus does improve flowering. In general, they need good conditions with well-drained soil."
Kevin Marsh, propagator, Beeches Nursery, Essex "In the main horticultural trade, you tend just to find Pulsatilla vulgaris AGM. You see a lot...