If you clean them wearing a hazmat suit you must post pics.
You know you're a seed saver when ...
I'm back home from my mineral hunting trip in Cyprys. The first thing I did was looking for seeds if we reached a site to find minerals, haha. I collected over 30 different species. Most of them I can't grow myself, because they are tropical.
I already traded for 300 different seeds to grow next year, but I'm alsways looking for more. Will let you all know when my website is updated (first week of January I hope), so I can trade with all seed savers. All the seeds on my website are available for trading, not only the ones under "Exchange only" .
To have a look what I have available now and what I'm looking for at the moment:
www.seedsite.eu
If you have something you think it might interest me, please let me know.
Jonna
Smartseeds, You echoed my feelings of wonderment with the mystery of life of and within a seed precisely. Maybe we are the hoarders of seeds, maybe we are not. I WANT to plant them all, SOMEWHERE, but, I don't get Somewhere very often. In the back of my mind, I see the end result of the collecting, cleaning, and stashing with good intent, but, like all of us, I let the sands of my life's hourglass go by without the results of the perfect plan of planting. Cosmic design? I am not alone in wondering what a sprout, and then a leaf and then a stem and then a bloom of something I have only seen in a picture come to reality.I am sure I am not the only one who dreams of watching things push up from the earth, feeling excitement as I grow up with it? I have been lucky to not experience anything besides a quickened pulse, a racing heart beat, a mild rash, and maybe some slight hallucination of some sort when dealing with toxic things. But, life to me is Toxic. So, what do I stand to lose? All I can Hope For Is that I can spread the beauty of the colors of green, gold, yellow, red, blue and all the rainbows of hues, shapes of plants and leaves and flowers I can't describe, by sending away or throwing down some seeds, scattering to the wind to end up where they are not now.
I'm not as bad as I once was but I have snatched seeds from garden centers, the zoo, and even from the landscaping at a local McDonald's drive through. They were really nice magenta celosia--so I sorta had to:lol:
We went to supper at Applebees this evening and John was fussing me for taking cuttings of their camellias. But they were the most gorgeous, delicate pink blooms on rich dark foliage. Gosh, I hope they take.
Oh Gosh, I have never seen one in real life before. Do they smell wonderful?
I kiped some seeds from the crape myrtles in front of a store, the other day. I kinda feel guilty....
NOT.
Joeswife, no, unfortunately no scent at all, but they make up for it in beauty. Something I have never seen in person are peonies and lilac. Neither grow here. I long to know the scent of a lilac....it has such a reputation! And peonies are just so gorgeous and so many varieties. If I lived in the right environment, I think I could easily become addicted to growing and collecting them.
Sherman, I sent you d-mail
I agree with all of you. I love to find a seed and plant it just to see it push its way up through the earth and then grow and bloom. I love to find seeds anywhere, just this week, I snatched seeds from a sky pencil holly from our favorite mexican restaurant. I too cannot grow lilacs or peonies, but I have lots of camellias and if they did have fragrances oh wow what a flower that would be.
Rick, I love your confession statement. That is too funny.
I learned to grow standards so that I could plant underneath them because i ran out of space. Lantana makes a neat standard.
deepseas72, I was feeling so jealous of you, that you are even seeing flowers right now. All I can see is white. We had a blizzard last weekend with 40 mph winds and -25 degree temps. We were stuck inside most of the weekend. I never thought about that peonies and lilacs don't grow someplaces. We lived in a house that had a lilac growing near the kitchen, and when it was in bloom and I had the window open, you could smell it in the house. It is a wonderful fragrance.
I'm still organizing my seeds. It is going much better, thanks to the suggestions from some of the experienced seed savers. It is a big job though. I hope if I work on it a little at a time, I'll be done by spring!
busy_gardener ~ It took me a while to organize my seeds, but I figured that would be the only way I could move forward with anything regarding them. Now they are in an underbed plastic storage box, but not quite like that. They are in smaller (cardboard)boxes and grouped by categories, (and then alphabetized) such as: hardy perennials, hardy annual flowers, warm-season annual flowers, cool-season veggies, (The cool-season veggies are separated into direct-sow, and those that are not.), warm-season veggies, with a separate small box for tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. Also there are other small boxes...for sowing early inside for those which take a long time to grow, such as impatiens and petunias as well as those perennials and other plants which need cold treatment or any other special treatment - they will be wintersowed. (No molly-coddling!) In that box also will be experiments, that is some will be sown outside, some nick & soak, though after extensive reading that may not be even necessary, but I can find out for myself, especially if I think the seeds are too old.
Anyway, you get the idea...
deepseas72 ~ Yes, the "grass is always greener on the other side of the street"....or the climate will accomodate some plants to make up for the harsh weather that must be endured. While we have lilacs and peonies here in Northern CA, I forgot how beautiful the bouganvillea is in Southern CA, as that is where I lived for most of my life. I went there in October for a high school reunion and though the coastal areas were all rainy, still there were so many flowers yet in bloom, of which I took for granted when growing up there. (It would not do any good to collect seeds of tropical plants to grow where I live....) I would still rather live where I do...rural, instead of city, any day! Sure, we have snow every winter but there are trade-offs. The snow is not as bad as it is on the east coast or further north, especially northeast. (So far now, no blizzards.)
RickCorey ~ We DO appreciate your sense of humor! Humor is what makes life bearable, and even enjoyable...even if our "sides are splitting open"! You do keep us going....(to the computer...LOL!!)
Linda ~ After the deer ate all of my camellias I was so disheartened, I never bought any more. Yes, I can have my cake and eat it too...if the deer don't beat me to it! LOL!
Now that I have a small fenced garden area, I may grow one or two, as we live in the netherland between hardy and not hardy. Our summers are long, dry and hot, with only a month of fall, then winter. This year we only had a short period of spring as well, so the two main seasons here are summer and winter. We had the last snowfall of spring in May and the first snowfall November 20th! I did not even have time to clean out the gardens. Just a couple of days ago, I pulled out the tomatoes before this storm now.
Jonna ~ What seeds do you need?
Smartseeds ~ Have you recovered yet? That sounds like a terrible ordeal. You had better keep away from gingko seeds! Blowing up your head is not a good thing to do!
Joeswife ~ You describe so poetically of what this little group is all about, huh?
Well, I need a nap! I stayed up until 1:00 AM packing for the Piggy Swap! And why, you ask...today is Sunday! (Don't ask!) I'll tell you some other time....
This was taken Nov 20th...
Evelyn- I lived in San Diego for three years when I was in the Navy...I know exactly what you mean about the bougainvillea; the most beautiful specimen I have ever seen grew in La Jolla. I'll never forget the gorgeous plant life and natural scenery of Balboa Park, the amazing, perfect black-spot free roses in Point Loma...I really loved it there.
I wish I was organized, I seem to get sort of that way, as I mark bags and boxes called " Buffalo. New York", or Eskridge, Kansas" or DG senders or Bush in front of Dollar Tree, etc etc.
Last night I stayed up until 2 am down in my little woman cave, shaking seeds out of heads, then packing them in coin envelopes, and sorting two boxes into one marked " Morning glorys" and one marked "other stuff". Now, I have Promised my dear Joe, that I would get all the seeds hanging out in places like the top of the fridge wrapped in paper towels, sitting in candle holders on the shelf, seeds sitting in places I just happened to empty my pockets from, and that is what I am going to do tonight, as I watch Survivor. I have boxes of blown up butterfly milk weed pods, that need to be separated from their little wind kites, and i thought it would be fun to do that tonight as well, as I sit by the Christmas Tree and they can fly to that. Right?
Actually, I am not that organized, well I wasn't. I had to force myself. It was either that, or throw everything out. It took a long time to do it as well. I had to decide what to do with the seeds that did not fit in some of the boxes...as I kept on buying, year after year, the same seeds! Now, I won't be asking for seeds I already have, or even worse, buying them! I was truly ashamed!
Awwww.. well, I hope I can still get organized enough to see what I actually have.
AND, do not, I repeat, do not let loose a butterfly milkweed pod in the middle of a DH's favorite TV show in the main living area of the house!
About organizing:
I had the same problems years ago.
Since I trade for 300 - 400 different species a year I do now as follows:
Everytime when seeds arrive here, I note them in a database (Lotus Approach or Excel or another program) and throw them in a box al together.
If I have no time, I throw them in another box and note them in the database later.
Everytime when I want to trade for new seeds I can look up in my database whether I already got them or not.
In December/January I use the database to split the seeds in:
- winters sowing
- sowing indoors in winter
- sowing outdoors early spring
- sowing outdoors summer/autumn
After that I make notes about how to sow the seeds. Do they need light or darkness to germinate? Or do they need a special treatment.?
After germination I use the same database to decide how many plants I will grow. The surplus I trade with other people in Europe.
And finally I use it to make a description of the hight, spread and color of the plant, so I know where I can plant them.
You only have to fill in the names once and you can print out the list everytime you need it for a next step. Every next step I fill in by hand writing.
To Evelyn:
I'm interested in everything I can grow here in my zone or can be grown as an annual. I prefer non hybrids. I love native plants, even if they're invasive in another zone. They might be not invasive here.
I trade a lot, so it happens people offer me seeds I already have, but it also happens that I can trade for new things. I'm also interested in rock garden and woodland plants. Just let me know by d-mail what you have.
Jonna
A Christmas wish for all the seed savers:
p://ak.imgag.com/imgag/product/preview/flash/pdShell.swf?ihost=http://ak.imgag.com/imgag&brandldrPath=/product/full/el/&cardNum=/product/full/ap/3173936/graphic1
Sherman, the link didn't work when I tried to click on it. Could you double-check it?
Evelyn, those deer must have been starving! they have never eaten my camellias, and they have eaten plenty of other plants.
I am not organized at all with my seeds. once or twice a year, I go through my box and make a list of what i have, but most of the time I just wing it. I really need a better system.
I love bouganvillia, but I can never get it to come back the next year even when I let it go dormant in the greenhouse. I have pretty much given up on it.
Joeswife, i can relate to the milkweek pods taking flight during hubbys tv show. I have done things like that too. and the promise to clean of the shelves and flat surfaces he isn't allowed to touch. LOL there are quite a few of those.
I think that will be my project after Christmas.
There will be a lot of new things to collect here in January and February. LOL it will start all over again.....................
Karen that was adorable. I love Fox Terriers. Smartest little pups. :)
That was a cute card. That puppy is too cute.
Linda ~ I think that our deer might be hungier here. Also, I read somewhere if you fertilize a plant, the deer like the salts that are accumulated in there. I planted them out just after purchase and one was a pale pink and so full of flowers! The next day, there were none! I would have a nice savings account if I had the money spent on deer food over the years. Also, deer in some areas like different things than in other areas, or so I have read. When I lived in Inglewood, we had bouganvillea as well as a 20' tall poinsettia! (No greenhouse, though my mom had a lathhouse.) We had a avocado tree twice as tall as the house, avocados everywhere....oh and lemons...lots of them. When we lived in L.A. before Inglewood we had a very large apricot tree. My dad put in it a swing and a trapeze! So now I have peonies, lilac, hellebores and apple trees. There is something good to be said for any place in which you live....though we tend to always think of what others growing as better than our own. I would rather live here as we are away from the city, though we can drive to it when needed. I always dreamed of living in the "mountains".
Karen ~ We have many trees and shrubs that have a beautiful fall color. sometimes our oak trees are the last to turn, as they are golden, except when they are brown. Sometimes it is due to drought, but this year it was due to the sudden onset of winter as the leaves were still quite intact, though many had fallen. The best here for fall color are Liquidambar, White Birch, Dogwood, Chinese Pistache, Redbud, Smoke Trees, Japanese Maples; at least these are the most common ones. Higher up the mountain, the Quaking Aspens are a golden treasure as they grow in huge stands. Still our fall can never rival those in the east coast with more moisture in the soil the year round, as we have drought for most of the summer. They have all the maples that grow there naturally which all have such beautiful fall color.
Karen ~ Drive up to Lake Tahoe in late summer-early fall. I no longer have the pictures, so I will have to take some new ones. They should really be nice this coming year with all the moisture in the soil, and snow-pack as well. They probably have some near Mount Shasta if you are closer to there.
Evelyn, it sounds beautiful where you are at.
ibartoo, do you think even after Christmas , we will find all the seeds stashed around? I am afraid to throw away a Kleenex or paper towel ball for fear there mite be seeds in it.
I bout had a heart attack when I came home from work and found the curio top all decorated with Christmas stuff, and my one and ONLY red tropical hibiscus seed pod was missing.
After moving everything around I did find it, but she moved it so much all the seeds had fallen out and were scattered here and there on top. *sigh* I got em planted now..Gee, I hope Santa brings me some jiffy seed pellets .
Evelyn, we are basically in the same zone, so I think we grow a lot of the same plants. Although I cannot grow the quaking aspen trees the times I have seen them in my travels, they are beautiful. I am always pushing the envelope as they call it with plants that really shouldn't survive my zone, but being right on the coast does have some advantages. We don't get as cold as some of the inland areas thanks to the moisture blanket that rolls in with the tides. The last time I went to visit my sister in Coloma it was was early june so the Aspens weren't showing their color. We do grow the liquidambar, smoke trees, crapemyrtles give us lots of color, dogwoods and redbuds, but we really don't get enough cold for the japanese maples to be pretty. they take a beating in our heat .
Joeswife, here I will start collecting seeds from a lot of tropical plants in January . Not only will I find seeds I stashed around the house to dry, I will begin collecting seeds from things like fatsia Japonica, sabal palmetto, sabal Minor, washingtonia robusta and several other palms. The sago palms sometimes set seeds in February and then things slow down. March is often our coldest/windiest month and then April brings in spring. I've never grown a tropical hibiscus from seed. did you cross pollinate it?
I really don't live where the quakings aspens grow. They are on the way to Lake Tahoe, but not too far from here. The 2 Japanese Maples that I have need lots of water during the summer, otherwise the leaves just curl up without turning color. That is why the east coast residents always have somrthing to brag about, since there is water in the ground there, almost at all times. Still, they have to suffer the humid summers; I suppose it is a trade-off.
This is Acer japonicum - Full Moon Maple
Evelyn that is a beautiful tree. I wonder how it would handle our summers in central TX?
As I mentioned before...it needs a lot of water during the summer, otherwise it is a crisp brown and some years it is anyway. Also they need a winter chill, so probably not the best for central TX.
You know your a seedhead when you get 6 seed catalogs in the mail in one day and you leave the rest of the mail in the mailbox while you run in the house and start going thru catalogs with a permanent marker.
You know your a seedhead when one of the items on your wish list is a book on seed IDs.
Mary
You know you are a seedhead when you have to put away your seeds until after the holidays, and can hardly wait for Christmas to be over so you can get them out again and get started on them.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!
You know your a seedhead when...
You spend Christmas morning making newspaper pots to get all of your seeds started in.
(After breakfast and gift opening of course)