"Colin Davidson" wrote in message
...
I came across a stunning variant of the common wild plant cow
parsley
(Anthriscus sylvestris) at the Eden project. The variety is called
'Ravenswing', and it has deep red foliage and stems, to the point of
almost
being black, but is otherwise the same as cow parsley (same foliage
shape,
same white flowers). It looks like a cracking good plant.

I've yet to find a supplier selling seeds for less than three quid a
packet,
though, and I'm in two minds as to whether to grow it. On the one
hand, it's
beautiful, on the other it's an odd variant of a very common wild
plant. Is
it likely to cross pollinate with wild plants? Am I being a drama
queen if I
worry about being the cause of a localised outbreak of startlingly
different
cow parsley?

Does anyone out there grow this variety? Does it self seed the same
colour?
Do the surrounding seedlings of cow parsley also take on the same
colour?
Does this deep red variant occur often in the wild anyway?


Colin,

Yes, I do grow it. A friend gave it to me a couple of years ago. So
far it hasn't self-seeded and I haven't seen any changes in the local
cow parsley :-)

Regards
Iris McCanna