The mountain cornflower

Oh yes, I think it looks nice :o) I would never be without this plant, but I can't get it to grow like that ....

Hywel, It is another plant that came with the house. This bed as a complete overgrown jungle and in autumn I digged out everything. As nothing was in flower by that time I didn't know what anything was. I dug out loads of aquilegia and loads of these cornflower and I almost dug out the oriental poppy at the back of that bed too! Come spring these started growing so I thought I'll see what they were .... and all of those just came through and this year I can see new plants sprouting at the edges too ... They propagate through something like "runners" underground I think. I think we have clay soil and someone on here said they like clay soil - so maybe that's why.

I do like these as well. And I like anything that spreads with no help from me. We have clay soil here also and a lot of plants don't seem to tolerate it.

Maybe so GF :o)

Lauram, I've been told by a friendly assistant at the GC to mix in manure, grit and sand in the clay soil to improve it .... trying it out ..

I have tried, and that helps somewhat, but my drainage is still absolutely terrible. Everytime I water I have puddles! Some plants really love it, wood ferns for one, but others just sort of crash and die.

I know what you mean. I tried a Heuchera last year and the roots just rotted :( I guess we have to choose our plants carefully. I'm sure somewhere on the GoY site I've seen a list of plants for clay soil while browsing ... trick is ... which page was it ???

Try Goypedia at the bottom using the letter C to look for clay. You might find it that way. I've clay and lost a few heucheras this winter GF. I love these blue flowers but like you...it's a bit much for me with all the foliage...but then I'm not a great perennial plant grower generally, I seem to prefer things with a bit more structure. The colour is superb though and the frilliness of the flowers.