On May 31st this year, I visited the Bridgewater Canal by Stretford Mall to check out the orchids. Yesterday afternoon (August 11th), I visited again to see whether the fruit were ripe. As you can see from the second picture above, they were. The Council stopped mowing them sometime in the last thirty years, so they can seed themselves. They have spread to produce a really healthy population and a beautiful show in May/June.
I've just noticed that I have got buds on two of my cotton plants. The plants are not terribly happy, I think I have not been feeding them enough. I was hoping they wouldn't get too big for the miniature greenhouse. The weather has also been pretty grim. However, I am very excited that I might get a flower or two.
This variety is GreenCot from Cotton Acres. and produces naturally coloured olive-green cotton. This is what the seeds looked like when they arrived.
I found out that you don't have to shave the seeds to get them to germinate. In fact, it seemed to stop them germinating. All of the seeds sprouted that I just shoved into pumice as they were.
I only have one individual of this plant, now 2 years and 4 months old. Last year it produced just one fruit, despite the fruit coming in pairs. This year it has had eleven fruit already and is still flowering.