Seed Snatchin' XIII...First Recon Mission

I've had a couple of volunteer Orchid Madness petunias which I didn't know they were capable of. Wouldn't break my heart if I had to 'weed' out a few petunias every spring with the larkspur and cleome. :)

What is the pure hot pink Petunia I am seeing all over this year? It is straight pink, but intense- and has a white eye. Looks like it stays very clumpy and not leggy. Looks great with Margarita Sweet Potato Vine. They are crazy bloomers and I am going to check for seeds because they are in all the window boxes along the shopping streets in Mystic right now. The garden ladies who tend the boxes are quick to pull them when the fall comes so wish me luck!

Question: Can I save my Margarita Sweet Potato tubers? How? (Sorry, not a seed question)

It's close enough Ivy, I saved my sweet potatoe tubers and will do so again this year.
I left them in pots and didn't let them freeze. You can also root some vine and overwinter inside on a window sil.
sidney

Ivy - Best wishes of getting some of the pure hot pink petunias before the garden ladies in Mystic pull them!!! ~ Suzi ♥

Thanks Sidney and Suzi! I bet those petunias will get yanked long before they set seed!

Maybe I can overwinter the sweet potato tubers in pots in the basement? Any watering? or dry?

I just muched mine and left them outside, so I guess they got watered.
sidney

Hey! How's this for a snatch:

My neighbor has some beautiful white "David" Phlox, you know, the one that is so resistant to powdery mildew? Anyway, I always get seedlings in my yard of the purply-pink kind. Well, this year I have some new plants: about seven new David phlox plants growing in my border! They must come true from seed about 10 or 20% of the time! They are really lovely!

P.S. I didn't even have to dig them up or take the seeds- they did it on their own!

This message was edited Aug 12, 2005 1:24 PM

WOW! Ivy!! That's the ultimate snatch if you ask me!!!

No work involved! Just water and go - like seamonkey's!

LOL!!

Nicole

Exactly! I didn't even know I had them till they opened a couple days ago!

Maybe that can be a new strategy... shaking the neighbor's seedheads onto our side of the fence line! Good score!

My sentiments exactly. I lifted a seedling last fall and stuck it in my neighbor's new bed as a blessing present. This year it bloomed and was one of my David's instead of the burples! I'm letting the heads go to seed in one of my beds with great expectations. Just can't beat the fragrance, bright white blooms and ruggedness.

I'm gonna get my blow dryer...whoosh, right into my border!

Good idea Ivy! Long extension cord and pray for no rain! No electrocution for me thank you very much!

Can you see trying to explain THAT at the pearly gates??? LOL!!!

Nicole

That would be my luck after two months without even a hint of rain... I get the blow dryer out and voila! presto! Rain!

Do you suppose we will all be standing at the pearly gates one of these days and trying to make ammends for all our theivery? Thou Shalt Not Steal is one of the commandments, and I think we've all transgressed a bit there. I'll bet we'd be asked to empty our pockets, and there we'd be, pulling out all kinds of seeds and starts while offering lame excuses... is there a commandment that says 'Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor's Garden'?

But Lord, I was doing my best to make your world a more beautiful place, really, I was :)

That's a good approach, SGL! Snatchers are just spreading the species! More prolific than bird poop, more successful than bear fur, able to leap tall fences with a single bound....Super Snatcher! We propagate the globe!

LOL!

We went to Home Depot yesterday, and DH dropped me off to meander through the plants while he ran in for a couple of hose parts. All I managed to snatch was one dried flower stalk from a 'Snow Hill' white salvia. When I dug it out of my pocket and crunched the pods into a dish, I found maybe 2 or 3 seeds among the chaff... I think I'll sprinkle it, chaff & all, into the pot on the corner of my deck... but I'm not going to hold my breath. Pathetic.

:-)

I went to a retirement party at a local restaurant last night, and their Flashing Lights dianthus was covered with ripe seed heads Needless to say, while my friends revelled on the deck above me, I was on my knees plucking seed heads.

Got one!! Went to a "high end" flower store locally looking for a product they didn't have and they were "trimming back" all these hydrangeas and the trash was just full of "cuttings". I have 16 of these Japanesse types- and I'm going to have to back to the store to write down the variety!! I forgot it!!

Susan

Great score.
;)

Yes, it's always tricky getting the names of the plants when snatching in a store! LOL!

one of my favorite digs... checking out the trash can in the garden section!

Ugh -- I have spent so much time cleaning seed (mostly collected from my plants) I swear ONE PERSON bugs me about chaff... LOL! sob... my back hurts... I found a great place to dry seed. on to pof my DYRER! DUH! why it took me a while to figure that one out I'll never know

{{{very sweetly}}} Mystic, you can send chaff in my seeds any day darlin!! I take the good with the chaff :)

Susan

ROTF;)

Chaff is a fact of life. I use various methods to get rid of it, but sometimes you lose the seeds losing the chaff... especially seed that is not much more than dust.

Nigella is the WORST! all those little bits come off... grrrrrrr.

What are your methods? This is my first year collecting seeds, and my violas are full of chaff. The seeds are so small, I don't know how to get it out. I was going to send some to Cottage Rose, but she said she was too busy and not to bother. If it was just me I would leave the chaff. I thought maybe a mesh kitchen strainer might do the trick...

my fingers and a good tweezer myself. I haven't found a "method" since all the seed sizes are different. I also have some dental tools I got at a flea market. but I tend to go under the sumption - if it falls freely from the pod it's ripe- if I have to do more than jiggle it a little than the seeds aren't ripe anyway. I collect the seeds into a clear glass bowl.

I did a 'Snatch and Release' yesterday. Not really pertinent but anyway..

Walking at lunch (I swear I am getting deja vu - hope I'm not repeating myself!!) there was a juvenile Cat Bird flopping around on the HOT pavement. I scooped him/her up and put him/her in the shade under a tree. Mama was big time fussing at me! I didn't get pecked at least.

Anyway, on today's walk - no birdie! I hope it recovered! That's what I'm thinking anyway!

Nicole

Well folks, haven't posted in a few days, or better known as behaving myself!! Stopped by Kroger today for a couple of items. Looked at their plants outside, and snatched 2 stems of crepe myrtle. Promptly stuck them in rooting harmone, and put into pots when I got home. Will let you know of their progress. Kroger plant prices are ridiculious, this was the only way that a Kroger plant was coming home with me!!

Crepe M.s are hard for me to root, but I will keep trying from prunings on mine.
;)

Wow Nicole, what an angel :)

I have a somewhat relavant story, but not a snatch story... I had a momma nest in one of my hanging fern baskets out on the front porch and I almost let the fern die from lack of water rather than disturb the nest and babies :) I have a hunter cat and although we love him, it just breaks my heart to see him catch a bird. We are big bird lovers and we feed them the expensive, good shelled sunflowers and I sometimes feel like I'm setting them up for Leo to pounce. I really hope the babies made it.

I have been very intersted in the smaller bushy type crape myrtles for quite some time. I saw them in some advertising for a company that just happened to have a terrible feedback rating, but anyway, I've always wanted some for the long bloom time. I saw that Home Depot had some for 1.67 a pot, but they just didn't have the same great look to them and I wonder if they just needed to be planted and grow out some before they looked great.. Sorry if this is off topic, weezin.. Is that okay?? if so, any thoughts on the crape myrtle?

Susan

Susan

This is the time to catch Crepe myrtles on sale, or in the dumpster. I think if you get them in the ground and water regularily, you will be rewarded, I too love the 90-120 day blooming time. In my garden, it's put out or get out! LOL
A removal of a whole bank of overgrown 3 week blooming Azealeas. I still have 6 or so, but whack them fearlessly.
I put 4 7' Tuscaleros there and they are happy, but almost splayed with very long arched limbs and heavy flowers on the ends of each.
I'll try to get some of mine rooted for you Susan.
;)

It's pretty hard to get off topic here, Susan. We could be talking about bunions, and the next Snatcher who comes home with a pocket full of cuttings will steer us right back on the subject! LOL!

Thanks Sidney and Weezin :) i will go back to Home Depot and get a a couple of them... not too many... I'm realy needing to watch my garden spending, but free is real good.

Speaking of free, I almost have everything from the previous dumpster dive potted up into larger pots and everything is almost put where I want it... so, it's time for another visit. I'm thinking tomorrow with my husbands truck and he doesn't know it yet :) I'm hoping for a great load, but even one good plant is worth it. It will be hard to beat the truckload I already got. I am bringing back so many plants to good health that I can't believe that I might actually have to be selective and not bring back things I know I can't use, which would have never done before.... But room is starting to be at a premium. I have already expanded the "ICU" center out and my husband said, ya know that grass is gonna die under those pots right?? I told him I'd thought about it long and hard and I wanted the plants to do well more than the grass so it was fine with me :) And it's backyard grass grow from seed and mixed generously with weeds, so it wond be a problem reestablishing it, if I ever wanted to :)

Susan

Darn it Susan! You killed all that GRASS??? LOL!! Hey! You know that grass will just never look the same again. Might as well dig it up and put in another bed!

Tell your hubby that you feel sorry that you ruined his grass and want to make it pretty for him!

LOL!!

Nicole

Yes :)) The thought had crossed my mind Nicole, but I'm already digging up the adjacent grass and putting in a bed there!! So, just give me time.. I will destroy all the grass!!! LLLLUUUUUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Susan

Round up! Does wonders on grass - oopsie!!

I was spraying something a few years ago and I am not the neatest/organized person. Anyway, 3 days later my husband said, "Did you use round up last weekend?" I said yes, how did you know. He told me to look - which I did. You could see all my footprints leading around the house! It actually looked intentional! He might have been mad if it hadn't been so funny!

Nicole