Snowdrop anemone (A. sylvestris). I always enjoyed the crisp white flowers dancing on the breeze on a clear spring day. IDK why I didn't plant any at this house until now, but I'm re-homing some helleborus (sorry folks -- I just don't think they're all that...) and wanted a spring bloomer to fill the spot.

Came home with a bunch of gladioli bulbs... a real retro moment. I only grow them for cutting but I dearly love the Dame Edna-ish, over the top flamboyance of these old fashioned flowers. Bright orange too.

O snowdrop anemone - have attempted these often but between slugs, snails and dry summers, they fizzle out very quickly indeed.

Many times, someone mentions this or that plant. I scratch my head thinking 'I grew that'...and get a little flush of shame since I hadn't even noticed it's vanishing act. Fortunately, seeds are cheap, even free and there are many, many more plants to grow. However, am really not sure I am either a better or more responsible gardener than I ever have been (might even have gotten worse)...just persistent and greedy.

Same here on the Anemone sylvestris. Absolute disaster. I've tried six plants over the years. Destroyed by snails every time. Infuriating to read US contributors saying how easy it is and how it spreads too much.😡

@diggerdee zone 6 CT, Same situation here. I recently went through my envelope of plant tags, and even worse, my stack of seeds orders from Thompson & Morgan and others from the nineties and early 2000s. Soooo many plants, some I don't even remember, others I wish I still had. Makes you feel kind of ashamed. There is also a tin of seeds in the fridge, has been there since the nineties… I am going to see if I can get back some things like papaver 'Mother of Pearl', and a blue aquilegia I particularly loved for its elegance. Wish me luck…

And rosaprimula, chocolate cosmos! A true blast (of fragrance) from the past!

Buddleia. I’ve had several throughout the years. One particular noid I had for many years that I moved from my old house. It was beautiful but slowly deminished so eventually I dug it out. Decided to try again and get a Grand Cascade, inspired by Rouge….I’m looking forward to seeing those huge blooms.

Mxk I’m with you in the helleborus. I have 3 that I think about replacing some day. They are in a tough spot and seem to do well…not sure anything else would, so thats why they have stayed lol.

Ashamed here too when I look at all those old tags….🥺

"Mxk I’m with you in the helleborus."

HAHA I think you and I are the only ones!

Rosaprimula, do you know an aquilegia ’Hensol’s Harebell’? The columbine I am trying to grow again from seed looked a lot like a picture I found in a book of that one. I got it around 1993 from an abandoned garden that was in the way of a proposed highway. I have never seen another one quite like that around here, and from the name I suppose it is from Great Britain originally. It was fairly tall, not one of the long spurred hybrids, but it didn't have the dumpiness of many A. vulgaris. I wish I had a picture of it.

Oh I do, gdinie - gets to around 3 feet tall, nice purple/blue colouring. Proper aquilegia - not one of those weird doubles or worse, those Nora Barlow things without spurs (clematiflora). I don't much care for dumpy columbines, or bi-colours (apart from blue and white at a pinch or the native US skinneri types. Not even that keen on the long-spurred chrysantha. Have a lot of time for tall whites too.

Enragingly, I had my eye on a really elegant single specimen in my local cemetery and was waiting for seed...but some bloody hooligan picked it. The only one!

I think the downy mildew outbreak really did for the popularity of aquilegias - entire collections vanished overnight.

Readily available over here (HH) - would you like some seed sent over?

Rosaprimula, I would be over the moon with some seed of the real Hensol Harebell! I agree with your rundown of the aquilegia types, and I have been hankering after HH for a long time. The one I had probably was not the original one, but it came close. I do still have A. canadensis. Fairly short, but certainly not dumpy. Did you ever try A. viridiflora? Fun, and fragrant into the bargain. I will PM you later.

Rosaprimula, how do I contact you? Do I first have to follow you? You used to be able to PM anyone without following. Has that changed?

I have sent you a message,gdinie. I don't think following is required

I’m renewing my relationship with Japanese maples. I added 3 this year. In many ways it’s going full circle, because when I was in my original phase I was discouraged from buying the coral bark varieties that I really coveted because my area was “borderline”. Fast forward 10 years and I think that’s out the window as my area has jumped up a zone or more and my microclimate is one that they generally thrive in. So 2 of the 3 are coloured bark varieties.

gdinie, lol about the seeds from Thompson and Morgan from the early 2000's! The local garden club has started running a seed library at the library where I work. I asked the woman in charge if she wanted some odds and ends of seeds, but apologized that they were about 2-3 years old. She said sure! They're still good (which I have my doubts about because, as I told her, I don't really store them properly). She went on to say that they were desperate for seeds, since this is their first season and it was more popular than expected.

So I came home, got my half dozen packets of seeds for her, and thought, hmm, let me see what else I can give her. Took out my plastic shoebox of seeds. I was pretty mortified to find 20-year-old seeds in there haha! I was like, really??? I grew this in 2006?!?! I sowed that in 2009?!? My oldest was a pack from 2003 I think. Although now that I think of it there may have been one packet from 1997... And yes, Thompson Morgan was well-represented!

:)

Dee

Dee, I am glad that I am not the only one with really old seeds lying around ;-). What did shock me a bit was that after sowing dozens and dozens of kinds of seeds for many years, I now have only three or four left. Papaver atlanticum, Linarea purpurea ’Canon Went’, and Geranium psilostemon. I am sure there are one or two more, but that is it, I think. It does not help that through family circumstances I have had years that I could do practically nothing in the garden, but still… And then there are the plant tags in my "Gone" envelope. Beginners overconfidence? A long learning process?