Some very healthy looking seedlings courtesy of Jill

Dear Readers, I wanted to give you an update on our  ‘Flowers for Fran‘ project. For those of you who aren’t regulars here, Fran was a regular commentator on the blog, a wonderful lady who died of cancer far too young, and who was a real friend to wildlife of all kinds. When her son contacted me to say that he had Fran’s seeds, we hatched the plan of offering them  to anyone who wanted to plant them in remembrance of her. And last week, Jill contacted me to show me how her seeds were getting on. She says that the echiums, malopes and dahlias are all up and running. I’m so pleased – some of the seeds were fairly elderly, so it’s good to see such a happy result.

This week, Jill updated me to say that the seedlings have now been planted out. Let’s hope that they survive our molluscan friends, the weather, and everything else that the British ‘summer’ can throw at them. The bees and other pollinators will be delighted, I’m sure.

Feel free to send me any photos of how Fran’s seeds are doing – I’m sure not all of them will have been as successful as these, but never mind, we all gave it a go! I’ll share any news, good or bad, here. Fran was a very pragmatic person, and understood very well the strange vagaries of gardening. I think she’d even forgive the slugs and snails. And in the summer, it will be good to see the bees and butterflies and other critters enjoying whatever makes it to flowering.

Thanks again to all of you who gave it a go. I still have some seeds left if anyone wants to go for autumn planting (or very late spring planting), just leave me a note in the comments and I’ll get back to you (you’ll need to include your email address when you make the comment – it won’t be shown here, but I’ll be able to contact you).

More of Jill’s seedlings!