Self sowers

I've had a few plants appear this year which I haven't seen for at least a couple of years.  Interesting that the seeds have germinated in autumn and spring this year - what stimulated this?  Drought? Winter rain?  It's a bit of a mystery.  Here they are:

Clary sage, Salvia sclarea.  A mediterranean plant - quite spectacular
  Two varieties of verbascum, the pale flowered possibly Verbascum x hybridum Snow Maiden and the yellow flowered Great Mullein Verbascum thapsus, which is a native plant occurring on stony dry soils.

At least two years ago I grew Wild Carrot, Daucus carota, from seed I collected locally.  It didn't come back until this year.  It's an annual, unlike the plants above which are biennial.

Ammi majus or Bishop's Flower is another umbellifer which disappeared after its first year grown from bought seed.  It's a elegant plant with dainty finely divided leaves, and the flat umbels are particularly attractive to hoverflies.  Described as growing to 1 metre tall, one of mine is more like 2 metres.

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