planting notes || Pulsatilla vulgaris

In late April and early May Pulsatillas have their moment.

Silken lilac flowers brushed with the lightest of hairs emerging from a froth of silvery, feathered leaves bring joy to the spring garden. Here, they are planted in a substrate of crushed stone, concrete and sand mixed through a free draining soil. It perfectly mimics the open limestone grassland and scree habitat they thrive in in the wild.

The garden, situated 200m above sea level in the hills of South Lanarkshire, witnesses cold, windy winters and late spring frosts but their deep roots help the Pulsatilla to tap into moisture in dry spells, and the mix of rubble and soil protects the crowns from rotting off in winter wet.

After flowering hairy seedheads replace the flowers and we will leave these in the hope that the winds so common in this garden disperse them and start to build new colonies in the gravel planting.