I'm in west mid-Wales, very acid soil, damp - although this last winter
and spring there has not been a lot of really heavy rain unfortunately.

Anyway, thanks everyone for your thoughts. Yes, indeed, I think I will
enjoy these beautiful flowers. As you all say, they are so easy to
remove. However, I am grateful for the advice that I remove the spike
once the seeds begin to form. Enough seeds should find there way into
the garden next year from outside, as clearly happened here for the
current display to have developed.

Nell.