'Purple Majesty' Millet

Here is a link to an excellent article on the history of the plant http://ianrnews.unl.edu/static/0209030.shtml

Go_Vols, here is a short quote from the article:

The newcomer is Purple Majesty, an unusually attractive hybrid of pearl millet.............

As some of you know, when we built a new home on our same property, almost all of my garden was decimated.

So I am starting from scratch. Hope to have a wildlife-friendly garden (a about 1/2 acre which does not include the house, driveway, or septic tank drain fields.

Since the birds love this, I definitely want some so....
for those who think this is reasonable and wanna go in....I

will be glad to handle this one as a co-op.

Love, Lavanda

Me, definitely, if there is enough interest, Lavanda! I'm not starting from scratch, but I've much to do still with my yard. I'd love this one for the same reason as you with regard to attracting the birds. Also, because it's just gorgeous!

I'd be curious where everyone is thinking of using this in their gardens/landscaping to get some good ideas. It is nice & tall so that already gives me some ideas.

If I did the math correctly, the price of seeds decreases like this as the number of seed bought increases.

34¢ per seed for 10
23¢ per seed for 100
19¢ per seed for 250
16¢ per seed for 1000

The first price break at 100 is great! That's 7¢ less the Pinetree or Parkseed per seed :) I'll offer to help, too!

Anyone interested? I'll post a new thread. This takes forevever to load on my machine!

New thread for a co-op if anyone is interested: http://davesgarden.com/t/372255/

GREAT INFORMATION everyone!!!

Count me in if this is gonna be a co-op! Please decide quickly, cause it takes "10-14 weeks crop time for gallon containers or 5-6 weeks for 8in/20cm pots", in addition to processing at the nursery and turn-around time to get the seeds back to interested members.

Shitley, are you a pro? just curious.....

Good point, Shirley! If you post how many seeds you are interested in getting on the other thread, will you mention that too about doing this pretty quickly?

I'm getting excited!

Lupine, I hope you don't mind me kind of jumping on this being your thread & all. It's just such a beauty that I've finally got something to excited about even with the snow on the ground & the temperatures so low.

Yes, Lupiluv,

I dont wanna step on your toes.

I think we all just share a passion here.

And if anyone else would rather do this themselves, just holler. My feelins wont be hurt!

Love, Lavanda

Be my guests :) I am so happy to hear that a lot of people share my excitement about this plant.

I plant to grow mine in a "clump", and I only have room for one clump, so I won't be joining the co-op.

Go_Vols, I share your disappointment about this being an F1 hybrid. Just out of curiosity I will probably save some of the seeds for next year, see what happens. Probably they will be a very mixed-bag of seedlings that I will quickly destroy.

Lavanda, even though this isn't lavender-colored *grin* I know it will be fabulous in your gardens! And you will certainly get a lot of birds feasting. That is my preferred way to feed birds, too: grow a lot of food sources for them, provide places for them to shelter, build nests, etc.

Because it is purple, betcha the butterfles and hummers will also enjoy it.

If I could only attract on type of wild bird, I would want hummers!

Now, here is an update- of what I posted on the coop-forum:
(thanks, Morph, for getting the word out!)

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Actually their shipping is quite reasonable - $3.95 for up to $100 USD of (any) stuff. Then there will be a little bit extra tacked on for the individual postage, etc. to each coop participant.

Prolly Katrina will be interested too!

Deadline to reserve a place in this coop is Friday, midnight
CST, January 31, 2003 AD.

We will hash out how many seeds per person later, as soon
as we know who will be in it. But you can start telling us
how many your want from now. Only the final amounts will
finalized after this coming Friday at midnight.

We are in a hurry to 1. beat the crowds, and 2. because
some will be growing for commercial reasons.

These are a great wild bird plant, and it is very beautiful as well.

This is a really good deal, we compared prices with other
vendors and none were NEAR as reasonable, once we considered 100 seeds or more. And, of course, the more participants, the netter the prices.

If this succeeds, we might do others in the future.

Love, Lavanda

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I, personally will wait till it warms up and direct seed mine. I have some starts of prickly peat cactus and they make deep magenta-purple fruits...so I think they will look
good together, and the birds/bluuteres/hummers all like both. (more photo opportunities) !! Woo hoo !

crestedchik is in for at least 20 or 39 seeds.

brugnanny wants 10.

These are per the other list cross-post in the coop section.

Badseed
Count me in for about three dozen. :)

from sbarr Albany, NY Zone 5a Jan 24, 2003
8:03 PM

Put me down for 30 seeds - I think I just found an unused
part of the yard ;-))

~~ Here are the latest replies to the cross-post on co-op.~~


WeedLady Weatherford, TX Howdy, I'm in for 30. Gotta keep the outside critters happy!

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Morph Babsadventure emailed me & requested some, too. But, we need a number, Babs :)

I'm going to up mine to a total of 40 seeds, Lavanda.

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crestedchik

You realize if we get it up to 1000 seeds we can get 50
seeds for 8 bucks......I would go 50 if we can get it at that price

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weeds

I would love some of these too! I'll take 30 unless you get to 1000 then I will take 50.

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Sue_WA I'll take 40! Sue

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Morph

CC ~ no, I hadn't been keeping up with the math quite
enough to realize that. But, I'll certainly go for 50 if that's the case! I'm so glad others are interested! I love a good deal :)

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Shirley1md Please put me down for 50! (I'm thinking ahead...some for my garden and the rest for trading with other gardeners!)

Ponditis I will take 30 and if we get to 1000 I would like to change to 50 seeds. Thanks. My wild birds thank you too.

sarv48 I'll take ten (hubby out of work here!) Let me know the where's and whens!! SS


hugeposiepatch Hi, I would like 20 seeds, if that is possible. Thanks, Sandy

TARogers5 I will take 20 and up to 50 is 1000 is reached. Ted


Legit Please put me down for 30 seeds, thanks Legit


Morph If we get 550 seeds or more, we'll also avoid the shipping/handling charge since we will exceed the $100 mark. Per Lavanda's research on the company, "A shipping and handling charge of $3.95 applies to all orders under $100.00" Just another small savings for us. Other than the
seed cost, we'd then just have the cost of the SASEs.

Just doing a preliminary count here from what we have.

Please look for yourself to double check accuracy AND to make sure we've got you listed! If you've said you'd order more if we get to 1000, I've done a slash between the seeds
desired. For example, 30/50 means you want 30 seeds or 50 if we get to the 1000 break.

crestedchik = 30/50
BrugNanny's = 10
Badseed = 36
sbarr = 30
WeedLady = 30
weeds = 30/50
Sue_WA = 40
Morph = 50/100
Shirley1md = 50
Ponditis = 30/50
sarv48 = 10
hugeposiepatch = 20
TARogers5 = 20/50
Legit = 30
Lavanda = ??
go_vols = ??

So far, if I did the math correctly, that puts us at 416 seeds so far on the low end. And, 556 seeds (I think) so far if we can get to a total of 1000.

Chele, can we change your total to either 30 or 40 to make the math easier? LOL!!

Poppysue, are you still interested in a few?




This is message is a summary of all posts in the other forum
up to this moment.

I am waiting to see if we get to 950, I would then get the fifty remaining.

I would also be willing to go in for a few more to make up the difference up to 1000.

Also, I would be willing to pitch in an extra buck or two if
anyone else would also so we could pay the difference to make up the 1000-seed order. ( and split the extras amongst those putting in the extra bucks.

Please remind me and others how much of a price break we will get at 1,000 seeds. Any price break at 500 seeds?

Did you happen to post this opportunity in any of the other forums, besides "Garden Talk"? The more people who see it, the more seeds will be purchased and the closer we will get to 1,000!

P.S. Do we still have the Grass Forum? Haven't seen it for a while.

Yes, the info I am posting is from the cross-post on co-op.
There are now two topics dedicated to this project.

Shirley, I didn't see a separate grass forum anywhere any more. The other post is in the co-op forum. Do you want to add another post in the seed forum? I hadn't thought of that and you are so right that it might get more visibility. You could add a hyperlink to your post thread so people can jump right over if they are interested.

The price break is at 100, 250 and then 1000. We're over 250 now which makes the seeds 19¢ each. At 1000, the cost is 16¢ per seed.

Lavanda's already posted the message on the Seed Forum. Just double checked it.

I think the Grass Forum isn't active at this time of year and Dave might have pulled it off his gardening website. Hopefully, it will reappear in the Spring or definitely by the Summer! You might want to ask Dave or go_vols more about it.

I'm turning green with envy, he, he, he! and I'm sorry not to be able to be on it.....

I will have to wait and pray for a trade......one of the shortcoming of living so far !!!!!!!!

cristina

Cristina, just email me after we've gotten the seeds & I'll send you some :)

Update - we now have bids for over 1000 seeds- and we arent up to the deadline yet!

Will keep ya posted.

Love, Lavanda

Morph, you're wonderful!!!
I'll mail you. Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No problem, Chritina :)

After reviewing all previous posts on all the threads about
this Co-op, I am posting what appears to be those who want to go in on this.

PLEASE do NOT post anything else to the other forums.....all messages should be posted here so we wont overlook anything
or anyone!

This will be posted on ALL the threads on this project so we
can all get together in ONE place. (its tiring trying to
cross-post the same info on different threads, and makes
more room for error.

Then ;-)) we will hopefully ALL the on the same page- both
literally and figuratively.

Love, Lavanda

....so go here for the latest info
http://davesgarden.com/t/372608/