The Gardeners Almanac

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Pulsatilla

Common name: Pasque (Easter) flower

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Week Numbers

Coldframe

Collect seed

Compost

Heating

Planting out

Pricking Out

Seed sowing

Watering

Overview:

Red Pulsatilla vulgaris

Pulsatilla vulgaris

Purple Pulsatilla vulgaris

Pulsatilla vulgaris

Pulsatilla vulgaris is suitable for growing in rock gardens or shaded areas, and are long lived plants once established.

It is closely related to anemones, and originates from European mountainous regions.


Plants grow to about 300mm (12") high, and spreads to around 400-500mm (16"-18") making it a good ground cover plant.

The pale to deep purple flowers appear in April/May.(Easter hense the common name)

The leaves develop as the flowers fade, and the seedheads tend to last for a long time.


Ensure that they never go short of water.


Cultivation

Week 25-28:

Collect and sow fresh seeds in trays containing seed compost and place in a cold frame to germinate.

Alternatively, store them and wait until Week 10-12* the following year before sowing them.

Germinate them at a temperature of 18°- 20°C (64°- 68°F)


Week 33:


Prick out the seedlings into cell trays when large enough to handle, and over-winter them in a cold frame.


*Week 18-20 if sown at the alternative time.


Pot up into 75mm (3") pots of potting compost when the new growth appears in spring.

Grow on in a cold frame until planting out time the following year.


Week 35:

Plant out in an open, sunny, or semi-shaded position in soil that is well drained, and contains plenty of humus.