If you're an idiot, then I'm a babbling fool, lol. Far from it Sheila. Viscaria blooms in 6-8 weeks so you should still get a nice display.

Oooh, difficult one - we've already had a couple of frosts here in West London and overnight temps are pretty low, which is very unusual in September in the south. Without knowing if winter is arriving early, hard to say... assuming they're outside in pots, you can plant up to end of October if they grow on a bit more, assuming its not freezing all month, but they may not put on much more growth this late in the year, in which case I'd be inclined to play safe after all the effort of growing them and tuck them up in your cool greenhouse or a cold frame till next spring...

I'm sorry Sheila I'm not keen on your regional climate conditions. We don't expect a frost here in NY until late October. However, your plants a very near the flowering stage.

Many thanks Paul and Bamboo. I think I’ll risk planting out a handful, then pot up the rest into larger pots and keep them in the greenhouse. I really must buy a cold frame for my new garden! I do get a bit carried away with seed-sowing enthusiasm . . .

I think I would do a 50/50 too. I normally sow their seed in spring as I have used them as summer colour in the past.

Great - that makes sense.