Lychnis and Erigeron at Dundee

Note by Alasdair Hood, University of Dundee Botanic Garden, from PlantNetwork Newsletter No. 38, July 2009

At University of Dundee Botanic Garden, we’ve been making progress with our part of the PlantNetwork Target 8 Project and have learnt a fair amount about growing a couple of species.

Lychnis alpina has grown well with us from seed, survived well after potting up and planting out, and has flowered; but it did not survive after this. We are now trying again with seed we collected from the wild in conjunction with staff from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh; we are now waiting for the seed to germinate.

Erigeron borealis has proven a little trickier: germination was poor and seedling survival after potting was not good at all. Again, we are waiting for seed to germinate

The important point here is that we are learning and recording the details of what we are doing and building up a picture of the challenges to be met in trying to grow and conserve these two threatened species.