Scabiosa Stellata from seed - disaster, disaster, disaster

Hiya!

Cutflower daft etc., I decided this season to give audience favourite Scabiosa Stellata one more go. I've tried growing these beauties a few seasons ago, and they never amounted to, well, anything.

First time I tried was the first time I discovered Chiltern (SS 2019); no seedlings to speak off. Decided to try them again (they look such fun) and follow instructions by the letter from pretty much anywhere I could find them.

Seeds are from Germany. Instructions were to start them off March - April (mine went in 5/4). I sowed them in small plugs (1 seed per plug), applied gentle heat as per Chiltern's instructions (on top of the fridge they went). I use a small plug tray, one tray yields 12 plugs.

A week later, two seedlings have deigned to join me. One of these collapsed today. Soil is kept moist; there was a lid cover over them which got removed today. They spent today outside on the balcony (I asked hubby-dearest to put the tomatoes outside, and he grabbed the wrong tray), which is shielded from the outside with glass panelling, so on a sunny spring day it acts a little bit like a greenhouse.

I'd love to hear any more horror stories about these, so I might feel like it's not just me :#Or, if you've grown these before and have a few pearls of wisdom to share - I'm all ears!

Also, as soon as I have figured out how to send photos from my phone to my laptop via Bluetooth I'll provide some imagery.