South of the border . . . . . .

Definitely cooler today, which is good! I pulled out all the foxgloves from my slope which had just about finished flowering - I can't allow them to seed or I'll be overtaken! I left a few near the path so I can collect the seed when it ripens, and spread some along the road banks somewhere!

I was very surprised to find this plant coming up in a pot of something else. I've not grown the annual Calceolaria mexicana for years and it certainly hasn't flowered in the five years since I retired and brought various potted plants with me. The seed must have been lying dormant - maybe I disturbed the compost and it germinated. A good surprise.

Another surprise was the appearance of this Welsh poppy seedling - see extra. This has likewise germinated in a pot of ferns and is a deeper colour than the pale orange plants which appear here and there in gardens. There are a few growing at the bottom of my slope beside the road - a few weeks ago I found that the pale orange ones, growing among the yellow, had been pulled up by some weird passer by and thrown on the verge opposite! This one must be a seedling of Meconopsis cambrica 'Frances Perry', which again I grew at Arduaine.