CLOSED: FAVORITE SEED CATALOGS....

Seed hoarding is not a good thing. I know I have seeds that are about 5 years old. When I go through my seed stash and find old ones, I toss them.

Kay seeds are good for longer than 5 years, some have germinated after 300. I'll give you my address and you can throw those seeds into my trash. I'll pay dumping fees of course.

Lol I was gonna say, I'll send a SASE.. I'm sure I can find a few extra jugs to winter sow them! :D

Lol I may be willing to pay dumping fees, also. :)

I plan on winter sowing a lot. Then, I will plant many if the rest. I love a full garden of flowers. :) I am still new, so I figure I will mess up a bunch. Part of the fun is learning. And, I can definitely always trade extras. I figure my have list will be much more interesting in June or July. :)

Mipii, if I have any this spring, I'll send them your way. I grow mainly tropicals, and would like to trade for some I don't have.

Traders Anonymous :)

Kay, I'm assuming you have more than the 6 listed in your 'have' list, otherwise it wouldn't be difficult to get you things you don't have...lol.

Good grief - man, I need to update that list! LOL Ya, I have a 'few' more seeds to trade than those I have listed.

Ha ha...I was hoping! More important to keep your 'want' list updated...I can certainly see why.

Truthfully, I totally forgot those lists existed.

Truthfully, I totally forgot those lists existed. Here is a more recent list:

Seeds I have:

Red castor bean
Clitoria ternata - vine - single blue
Crotalaria retusa - false yellow lupin
Duranta

Leonarus - lion's tail
Sesbania - false red wisteria - shrub/small tree
Brunfelsia - yesterday, today and tomorrow - shrub
Swamp Hibiscus - red
Alstromeria - red/pink/green blooms

Alamo vine
Confederate rose
Sensitive plant
Job's tears - grass
Datura - black current swirl and triple yellow

Birdhouse gourd
Scarlet runner bean - vine
Purple hyacinth bean - vine
Mixed morning glory - vine

I have a 'secret' stash for seeds I'm really lusting after. My wish list is about a mile long, but since I don't have much successl starting seeds, I usually don't trade for them.

OK you've shamed me into going through the stash tonight and listing what I can trade out. I try to always put a year on my seeds. I don't keep old seed unless it's for really unusual plants and then I label it as such. I had a 20 year old tropical vine seed come up that a friend gave me. No joke it was labeled 1992.
On success with seed. I plant hundreds and then I'm happy when they don't all come up, LOL.
You know you're a seedaholic when your husband buys you your own refrigerator for xmas so you'll get your seed out of the one in the kitchen (I love my new mini-fridge).

Kay I would be more than happy to grow out your seeds in exchange for a few of them....LOL

Let me know as I believe you are certainly close enough...we could meet half way to exchange....

Jan

OK you've shamed me into going through the stash and listing what I can trade out. I try to always put a year on my seeds. I don't keep old seed unless it's for really unusual plants and then I label it as such. I had a 20 year old tropical vine seed come up that a friend gave me. No joke it was labeled 1992.
On success with seed. I plant hundreds and then I'm happy when they don't all come up, LOL.
You know you're a seedaholic when your husband buys you your own refrigerator for xmas so you'll get your seed out of the one in the kitchen (I love my new mini-fridge).

From my garden:
Asclepias curassavica (tropical milkweed) 2013
Ammi Majus (false queen anne's lace) 2013
Nasturtiums (mixed colors) 2013
Gaillardia grandiflora (golden goblet) 2013
Leonotis Leonurus (annual lion's tail) 2013
Canna musifolia (banana canna) 2013
Leonurus cardiaca (motherwort) 2013
Aloe maculata (soap aloe) 2013
Helianthus annuus (Mongolean sunflowers) 2013

*I have literally hundreds of seeds from trades this year. If anyone has something they are looking for Dmail me. I also have 12 different milkweeds I've collected and have plenty to share.

*Kay - what kind of Duranta do you have, it looks like an interesting plant. You have a few seeds I'd like to try. Dmail me if you want to do a trade.

Oh, that was a sweet offer Meadowyck, if only you liked Michigan, I'd love to have you as a neighbor!

Dee, same offer for your old seeds, I'll pay postage instead of you tossing them.

Dome, as stated - I have triple yellow and a few black current swirl. As for botanical species names, I have no idea. I usually don't worry about names beyond the common and botanical names.

Jan, I will be happy to send you seeds. If you get enough seedlings to send me a couple, I will send you postage.

I am in the process of trying to buy the home I live in, which is a short sale, and my next planting season may not happen, since I don't know where I'll be living.

Also, I lost most of my tropicals - those in the greenhouse look like green blobs of slime. Those in the yard are totally lost. I'm not worrying about replacing them until I find out about this house-buying situation.

I just wanted to post how plants are classified - you can see that it would be more research than my old brain can handle:

CLASS
SUBCLASS
SUPER ORDER
ORDER
FAMILY
SUBFAMILY
TRIBE
GENUS
SPECIES
SUBSPECIES
VARIETY

Kay, so sorry to hear about the losses, but hopefully things will go through on the house for you and you will be able to begin again.

Robin, I don't MI in the summer but for this old girl no more winters.... Gosh this last cold snap and now another headed but thank goodness it isn't as drastic drop, to keep this asthma going... Although today, had a bad night but not as bad as the one before and after the breathing treatment not feeling too bad right now...LOL

Stupid me is heading out in the rain to stand in line in hopes of picking up free concert tickets at church for John Denver I love his music.

Well off to hopefully get in line and not be too far back so that we are inside and not in the rain...

Jan

Jan, let me update you - John Denver left on a jet plane in 1997!!!!

I was about to post the same thing kayjones, only not so cleverly.

Kay, when you get settled maybe I can send you something for your garden- you have certainly sent me a few that have become favorites. When I get the green house open I will contact you to see if there are cuttings you want me to start for you.

Alana, you are such a sweetheart!

I was asking about the Duranta not the Datura! Duranta could just be a spelling error . . . but there is a whole bunch of Durantas, LOL.
I wish I could successfullly grow Daturas. I think it's because I don't get enough sun in my back yard. Next time I'm going out front with them!
Jan, if they offer you Kool-aid at church don't drink it!

Dome, don't get old is all I can say! I don't know which Duranta I have - it blooms purple.

Well got to sit inside a nice warm church while waiting for the tickets. I'm not real sure how the show is planned, but it isn't until next month and we are going to afternoon showing, so to mean anytime I get to hear him sing whether it be by old show video, that is still a good afternoon for leaving on a jet plane.... You girls kill me...LOL

Jan

We love you, Lady Bug!

Too late, already old. Or is 57 the new 40?

Yes, yes Dee...57 is the new 40...I read that somewhere, I'm almost certain!

Yes, Dome - 60 is the new 40! Isn't that the most wonderful news! LOL I really believe that, as every muscle in my body heads south - ya, right!

>> 60 is the new 40!

I agree. When I was 50, I decided that THAT was old enough, and that I would henceforth "young" instead of "age". Each birthday would make me one year younger, instead of one year older.

So now I'm 40, looking forward the 39!

I also agree that there is no such thing as too many seeds. Just running out of room indoors, and not having room to plant everything every year, outdoors!


P.S. If all your seeds are pooping out after only five years, you could probably keep some of them viable longer by storing them drier. How dry is "air dry" in your house? 50%, or varying from 30% to 70%?

The length of time that seeds stay viable approximately doubles for every 10% reduction in their equilibrium relative humidity.

Seeds stay viable longest if dried all the way down to 15%-30% equilibrium RH, and kept there with little variation.

Post-harvest handling of seed collections
http://www.kew.org/ucm/groups/public/documents/document/ppcont_014345.pdf

Those Kew Royal Botanic Gardens Technical Information Sheets seem to be saying that seeds stored at 20% RH would stay viable 8 times longer than at 50% RH!

P.S. Some seeds need to be planted very fresh. Those and some other seeds should not be dried out much at all. I think there is a tendency for tropical seeds to fall in that category.

Rick, I tried to young instead of age...I thought it a brilliant idea until I confused myself and could neither remember my chronological age nor my assumed.

Thanks for the link and info on seed storage and RH.

I have a friend who owns a seed company. She swears by refrigerating seeds. I let them get good and mature on the plants then dry them on baking trays in a windowsill. When they appear dry I package them in plastic baggies and then into the fridge. I think looking into germination information on each plant is a good idea. A lot of times you can find out if seeds need to be "fresh" to germinate. I had some luck germinating Hellebore by taking them right off the plant and into damp soil. It took 9 months for them to germinate, but they did. I felt kind of silly, but I put a sign on the pot "Should germinate by xmas", and two days before xmas they germinated! Growing from seed is always so interesting. I tossed all the potting soil from my germination trays back into the bin last year, this year I have all kinds of things coming up in my potted plants, mostly sunflowers. I have no idea why these seeds didn't germinate last spring and why are they germinating a year later?

The 5-year time limit is one I imposed - seeds that I've had for 5 years, and not sown, are tossed.

Shall I close this thread? We are looking for your favorite top 10 (or more, or different) seed catalogs, or seed websites. We have been off topic for quite a while now...

I will leave it open if anyone has any more good places to obtain seeds here for all of us seedaholics.

Evelyn, yes - we started 'visiting', which isn't a bad thing, but sure - why don't you just start a new thread and close this one.

Thanks for starting this one so I knew where to shop!

I've referred to this thread so hope it will stay near the top of the list. :)