CLOSED: '09 Fall Frenzy Swap # 10

Hello fellow piggies! A nice new thread to squeel and oink on!

We came from here:

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1058013/


The tiem for oinking wil be ending in a coupel of weeks and as we are enterign the Christmas Holidays some folsk may have plans and need ot get their package s in before the 20th.

Here's what ya do:

Remebr the oinkign part of the swap close s on the 15th and seed are due to me bu the 20th , please. Any questiosn or problems, let me know or ask a regular piggy. They got the porcess down pat. : )

WHAT YOU WILL SEND ME:

1. Your seeds. added: Since I need to send back as many packs as people send in, I need some help counting. LOL! On the baggies that are tagged for certain people, I would like the number of packs you've enclosed for that person written on the slip of paper with their name so that I don't have to go rooting through to count them.

When sending your seed to me whether it be in a bubbler or a box. I highly recommend you put a confirmation sticker on your package. Confirmation stickers cost 80 cent. With cutbacks and such in the postal service it is best to be on the safe side, then to have your seeds lost in the mail. So far we have been lucky and all package s have arrived. But there can always be a first time. Last year we did have one that looked like an elephant sat on it and another one that looked like somebody put their fists through the box several times, but all seed were accounted for. Until I have received your seeds, those you asked for will not be sent out, unless you can provide me with a confirmation number. Then when they do eventually arrive, I can just mail them individually to the participants.

2. Return address label (or piece of paper I can tape) to use on bubble mailer/box you send to me. Please. Make sure your addie s are nice and clear for me to read. : )

3. Postage to return your mailer to you. : Due to the sheer volume, these envelopes or boxes will need to be sent back to you with delivery confirmations. This is nonnegotiable, so make sure in your postage you include an extra 80 cent to me unless your seeds are coming back in a priority box that will be a flat rate price of 5.65, which includes the confirmation sticker. Also, since last year, the size, width, postage & confirmation costs have gone up. Once you go over 12 ounces your package goes by zone and weight. Some of you will only be sending in a few seeds, as that is all you have for the swap, but you may be getting back 100’s of packets of seeds and in some cases bulbs. These seeds/bulbs not only weigh, but so does all the baggies, wrap, the cute cards and decorations some folks make on their seed packets , and little odds and ends that folks send along to go into the Piggy buckets.

If you have 100 packs or lots you expecting to come back, use postage for 13 oz. and consider sending the 5.65 and letting me just use the priority box that comes with confirmation and no labels needed.) added: If you want extra packs back, really, really consider that box! And pay attention to the postage amount you send me as it will cost more than what you sent in. Do not be stingy on this postage. . I will return any extra postage that isn't needed to each person.

Right now with the new postage rules, 13 ounces goes first class from my zone to yours, plus confirmation sticker of 80 cent. Any fraction over and your package automatically is considered priority mail and the price of 5.65 kicks in up to 16 ounces. Over 16 ounces then goes by additional postage of priority rate plus your zone. I don’t think we had as even as much as some of the boxes were stuffed went over the 5.65 price.

So , please, seriously consider sending the 5.65 for postage, for the priority box and it save s on rolls and rolls of tape and time too. I can easily return any extra postage, than trying to find more in my pocket. Survivors, no postage is needed from you. We hope you enjoy our gift to you and may you once again have a nice garden
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4. A sheet of paper with your:
1. name,
2. address,
3. email,
4. DG name,
5. Number of seed packs sent, and number of seed packs wanted back
6. Description of your garden, and yourself as a gardener and grower from seed (new, middle, experienced.)
7. 10 things you want (no limit for Survior folks, though can't guarantee how many will be sent back),
8. 10 things you don't want, and
9. a list of the seeds you are sending of all the loose packs that are not earmarked for another player.

My addy is in the exchange. If you need it, dmail me and I wil giv e it to you. The above will be on the top of of the ne w threads a s they are starte d too, so it wil be easier for you to find.

Remember, just cuz it onyl costs you a coupel bucks to send in yoru package to me, it gonan cost losts more gettign them boxes back to you. So Please make sure there is plenty of postage to cover your boxes going back. Your packaga e may be only a few bucks comign to me but you have oinks, one for ones , wishes, and bottom of the barrel all comign back at ya. And don't forget confirmation stickers to me, and postage for one going back. I will not send any box back without one.

Make sure too when ya send your package that you let me know it been sent so I cna keep track and mark your seed have list so that folks now your lists are closed.

If once you have sent your seeds and if somebody happens to ask for somethign and it been sent in your one for ones or extras, you cna dmail me to pull it out for that person. Sometime s folks see somethign after the fact and I have no problem pulling a packet for folks and throwing it in their pile.

Now the fun part starts for me, seeds ..seeds and mroe seeds to wallow, roll and through. LOL. Thousand s of beautiful seeds. hehehehhehehe Onc e they all get here you wil a giant SUUUUUUUUUeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiiiii as I look aroudn at them all and feed your seed frenzies. : )


Other information:

Swap guidelines can be found at the top of this thread: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1052789/

The LISTS thread with haves/wants is here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1052786/

(Use the "find" function of your browser to look for names of seeds or names of participants... searching for your own name is a good way to count up your oinks.)

And here is a "list of lists" where you can find links to each participants list post: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1055851/


Happy Oinking Everybody!

Hi Ella, hope you are feeling better now.

Thanks star. I guess I'll try something heavier. But I do feed the sproutlets once they sprout. My main wintersowing problem was that most of them didn't sprout, or maybe I just got one or two sprouts in a jug of some of them. I had a lot better success starting indoors than out.

Thanks Ella for the new thread... i was waiting for you to do it, instead of me, since you said you were adding all the 'guidelines' again.

PerennaillyMe... I also use Miracle Grow. 3 yrs WS'ing now... last year wasn't the best as i had a lot of duds/dumped containers [maybe 65-70% success rate] ... I put out my containers on my back patio, some will go into cardboard boxes, as they are corralled that way. [wont blow around if it gets too windy.]

Thanks, tcs. Is it miracle grow potting mix you use, or mg garden soil? I just checked and I actually have most of a large bag of their potting mix (which I don't usually buy), so it would be great if that would work.

I'd say it's the Potting Mix... i can go check though... have a few bags laying around.

Thanks. I'd appreciate if you'd check. That stuff isn't very dense either, like soil is.

OH.. mine is the Potting Mix. it says Moisture Control on it. I get the BIG bag at Sam's.

Star - for those who oinked for Colchie's Montbretia bulbs this morning, could you estimate for us how much extra postage to include for those?

If I need to add extra postage, I can send it in separately since you have my seeds by now.

PerennialLyme, everyone's advice on potting soil sounds fine. But I like to do one little extra thing - coat the surface of the wintersowing container with gritty sand. This keeps tiny seeds from sloshing around and down the sides.

Also, if I'm sowing seeds from plants that like very dry, well drained conditions like some sages or dianthus from arid places like the SW American desert or the Mediterranean, I find that a thick surface of that gritty sand helps, especially after they germinate. In fact, I'm thinking of not using any potting soil with "moisture control" at all for wintersowing plants like this. Or, maybe I'll mix more sand with the potting soil, along with extra peat. Hope I don't sound confusing.

Another thing I like to do is to sow the hardiest plants closest to the winter solstice and the least hardy plants closer to the spring equinox. So, for example, since I am in zone 7, primroses hardy to zone 3 or 4 would get sown closest to the winter solstice and something hardy to my own zone of 7 would get sown closer to the spring equinox. This helps me to spread wintersowing out over a longer period of time, too. It may not be necessary for the germination of some plants, but it sure helps to keep this human organized.

But when it comes to primroses, in reality some of them germinate well with wintersowing any time from fall to spring; others definitely need warm temps in order to germinate; and then there's a third group then germinates either way. Campanula is another genus whose species don't all germinate the same way.

And then there are some seeds that prefer to be fall sown, and to be held over for up to 3 years. Some plants that are said to like to be fall sown are: cyclamen, eremurus, Myrrhis odorata (Sweet Cicely), clematis (not all are the same), gentian, ribes.

Seems like if there's a way to do something right, I'm going to do it wrong first - so researching seeds is especially helpful for me.

Hope this helps. I'm looking forward to hearing more advice from others on this subject.

Karen

Reading some of what Ella wrote up top... this is how i did mine last year... this year i am not as organized [yet]

in each baggie, i had the participants name on an index card, with the # of seeds included, plus the name of said seed.

and here was that sheet of paper i sent Ella - that was shipped with my seeds... pretty much all the info she'd need.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=7250215

Thanks, Karen, and tcs. So I shouldn't dump those ungerminated gentians yet then- is that what you're saying (among all the rest of the info, of course) - or that the sprouts shouldn't be planted in the garden for up to 3 years?

Sharon, I keep my containers on the deck too, and they freeze solid, so I don't think they're getting too cold. Especially if its hardy annuals and perennials you tried.

HELLO all my piggie friends!! I have been guilt riddled over the last couple weeks for not being online and having wanted to be in the piggie swap....only to find that I'm not on the list after all - I feel so much better now. Not only have I missed almost the whole thing, but I must have missed sign ups too. LOL! :-)

I'll not give too many details of my MIA as it might give someone nightmares....but I feel as if I've lived "Little Shop of Horrors" in real life.....the dentist part at least. LOL. Then after 3 days of a liquid diet, I tried to cut my pinkie off. SO, I've not been online in awhile and I am SO sorry I've missed it all! Funny part is that I have plenty of seeds to start over in the new home.....I just miss all the companionship and humor you all provide!!! :-)

All that said...I'll just be a lurker piggie this year. However, I do have about 200 pineapple tomatillo seeds that I can offer.....anyone interested? should I list them on the list page? Ella, will this mess you up if I jump in here? I thought I remember Critter wanting them at one point....

I have MISSED you all!!!

Chele!!! where the heck have you been? and you WERE on the list, as Ella had everyone what was in it last year, on the list, just in case.

there is still time, if you are game.

Danita... what do you think of this one?? I"m trying to ID my new Penstemon.
the height is a bit off though.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/261883/

Welcome back, Chele - I think Ella said that seeds are due 12/15, and that until then, oinking may proceed. Nice to see you back.

PerennialLyme, some seeds could be given up to 3 years to germinate.

But, as for sprouted seedlings, I guess it depends on how soon they get some size on them with regard to when to plant them out in the garden. When it comes to Shirley poppies, you've probably just stuck a "hunk" of the root ball into the ground - no need to separate or coddle those.

But for those seedlings that stay very tiny and delicate for a few weeks, then it's probably best to pot them along into small pots individually and then, around late summer, to plant them out in a protected nursery or cold frame. Then the following spring, if they are primroses, they will be sturdy enough to plant in the open garden.

A lot of perennials have the habit of -

1st they sleep (first year),
then they creep (second year),
and then they leap (third year).

I don't remember where that quote came from.

How about naming some of the seeds that never germinated or maybe germinated but didn't do well - maybe we could give better advice if we knew which plants we're talking about.

Hey Chele! Was thinking of you just the other day... something.. let me look... ah, the liatris I got from you last year I just finally planted the small plants in my new bed. Can't wait to see them bloom next year! My poor perennials that I wintersowed had to survive all summer in their little pots I was so slack. But, they should be really happy now to finally get better digs!

Hope you're feeling better, and have no more nightmares!

Hmmm, after some quick googling I think "ineedacupoftea" has the wrong plant in his/her picture for Penstemon 'Garnet.' Hers looks more like Penstemon x mexicali 'Red Rocks' to me.

'Garnet' is supposed to have darker flowers and those dark purplish calyces like in this photo: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/160117/

Almost forgot to say "Hi Chele!" ^_^

This message was edited Dec 1, 2009 7:37 PM

gotcha.... well, obviously next year, i will pay closer attention. Maybe I can actually ID this plant.

tcs, just curious but is there a reason you don't think it is Penstemon x mexicali 'Red Rocks'?

Red Rocks looks TOO red... from the lil image i have, they seem more pink. What do you think... i'm pretty new to Penstemons.

Oh, I have a 'Red Rocks' that I bought as a cutting propagated plant and it is not what I would call red at all but rather rose-pink. A lot of sites darken their photos. Why they named it "Red" is beyond me. Here are a few sites that show the real color:

http://www.robsplants.com/plants/PenstMexic.php
http://www.pendernursery.com/Catalog/Detail/penstemonxmexicaliredrocks.html
http://www.bluestoneperennials.com/b/bp/PERRS.html

Hope that helps some!

sure does. thanks.

Thanks, Neal, but there has to be a reason I didn't have good success with wintersowing. Hmmm, Karen, I suppose it could have to do with what I planted, but it would take to me a while to think of a lot of them. Mostly all perennials, and I guess some like gentians aren't easy germinators. No luck with tricyrtis or pulsatillas. No luck even with columbines. But even a couple of hybrid echinaceas I got only 1 or 2 seedlings out of a whole bunch of seeds. And where I had great success with several different foxgloves indoors, outdoors I got very few and they came up very late. Same with gaillardias. It seems like just about the only stuff that worked wintersown was also stuff that I had success with indoors, only indoors I had better success - like with belamcanda, pardancanda and asclepias tuberosa and the foxgloves.

There are a few plants that i have had ZERO luck in germinating, where others have no troubles at all.

any Joe Pye for one... though i know there are more... like Red Hot Poker... all of those, 3 yrs running, zip on germination.
I know i could sift thru my notes and get a whole list more.

I've seen other 'notes' where i've WS'ed 100+ seeds and get between 1-4 seedlings.

I dont do anything scientific ... i just sow them, and if they come up, they do, if not... they get dumped.

Now... Columbine... after trying one year, i was told they could take MONTHS... so i let them sit, and i think finally in June or so, they [maybe half my containers] germinated... I planted what i had in Sept ... got one single bloom last year... I'm hoping for more this year... if not, oh well. I may just sprinkle what seeds i have and be done with them.

Wow, thanks ya'll for the welcome backs!! I really have missed you all!

There is nothing more fun than cultivating a plant in the garden that you have been given seed by a piggie friend.

Terese - I think it was you who I got husker's red from - it survived my move across 1000+ miles and I can't wait for blooms next year!! :-) I have had no problems with columbines, but yet I can't get one asclepia to sprout.....not one! :-)

Ooh! I have 5 huskers red going from Terese too. Maybe we'll both have blooms next year!

tcs, so maybe my visions of everyone with all their chia pet wintersowings that I hear about isn't completely accurate?
chele, I should send you my columbine seeds for you to to germinate, and you should send me your asclepias seeds, and then we can ship eachother flats! (just kidding, but it might not be a bad idea).

OOOhhhhhh perenniallyme.....I'll be dreaming about this......just maybe... LOL! I have 8 different asclepia varieties I've tried to WS with NO luck! But then then again, I left 4 varieties of columbines in OH while bringing along another 4 that survived the 1000 mile trip to OK. LOL. It is really funny - and I would trade a columbine plant in a heartbeat for an aslepia....and I have the seeds for both! :-) I'll be keeping in touch with you come spring!

I have some Chia Pets... my Feverfew was a Chia last year

and then i have the single lonely seedling.

Chele and Kelly... so glad you have nice Husker Reds... i just LOVE them, as you can tell - I photograph them A LOT.

I think I will be digging some up for the RU this year... wonder if Maxine wants those too.

here's an example...

oh and PM.. i get a ton of asclepias. odd isn't it??

Question... I'm planning my planting now, and wondering about things that are to be sown in fall. Is that to mean that you plant them in fall and they germinate and grow a little before it freezes, or is it more like wintersowing, but in place? If it's the former I've missed the boat again, finally had a freeze last night :(

Well so far I've only grown asclepias tuberosa, so I don't know if the others are as easy to germinate, but am getting incarnata and "scarlet milkweed" in the piggy swap, so we'll see. I do have several different columbines, but have a lot of shade, so I'm getting 4 new kinds from the piggy swap plus bought another 2. I don't really understand the difficulty, as they cross and self-seed in the garden. Maybe if they don't seed themselves right away, they go into dormancy or something. I'm going to try again, but my patience doesn't last forever.

kl, I was wondering the same thing.

here are some of my Husk Reds in the Spring... nice BOLD foliage... i can see them from the street, about 250' away.

here's another. not my favorite photo, but still nice.

hmmm, my penstemon "husker red" doesn't look anything like that. Are we talking about penstemons or something else here?

oh, that 2nd pic looks like it.

yanno who is really good at answering these questions... Karen ... her user name is something like kqnr something...

You should post those Q's in teh WS forum.... http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/f/coldsow/all/

as i've said.. i sorta just wing it and hope for the best.