Seed Snatchin' Part XIV... Chaffin' the Booty!

Hi, stownes! I'm in and out today. When it rains, I work at the computer, and when it lets up for awhile, I go out and trim plants for winter. Our season is about over here. Unfortunately, the wet days aren't the best for seed collecting. The seed heads are always soggy and hard to dry without mishap. It's better if they dry on the stem outdoors.

I am so glad I'm not nuts! I "appropriate" seeds too:)
I only really got into gardening 10 years ago. The first time I did it was at work (wal-mart), "deadheading" in the garden center on my lunch hour.
We went to the state zoo a few summers ago and there was this gorgeous red columbine loaded with seeds and a few made it home with me.
We have a nice locally owned nursery/landscaping place here and they have a ton of perennials. They park them in the back of the plant area once they are past their prime and offer them for 1/2 off. I always buy a plant or two but also have managed to take some seed pods home. My favorite was viola Freckles.
I knew I was becoming a bit obsessed with gardening and seed saving when I harvested seeds every 3-4 days from my moss roses:)
It is nice to find out I'm not the only one...

dmac, I harvest seeds wherever I go. I swear my husband wants to rig me up with a halter and leash sometimes. While he is entering a restaurant, I'm out front collecting seeds. My seed stealin partner in crime here in Seward is Ceeads. When we go anywhere together, our pockets are stuffed with little ziplocks and scissors!

Reading this cracked me up.....you made my day ...

I'm a ''would love to be...but just bought up too bloomin honest!!...LOL' my Dad's fault.

I look guilty, even if i think someone thinks I've done something wrong. Oh to be so daring. I keep hoping that as I get older, I'll get bolder...but so far..aahhhh, well...

Btut reading thae bit about splitting the seed from the chaff made me remember something I'd rather forget. We have a sunlounge on the back of our house, and this is the heart of seed sowing, collecting production. One autumn I had spent a day in here, going through all the trays of drying seeds, blowing out the chaff and bagging them. I was interrupted by this georgeous blonde hunk and his mates, they'd come to drop off my sisters beach hut here (we store it in our garden for her) I duely went out and 'supervised' these guys. They kept looking at me, and there's me thinking 'well I can't look too bad for my age then!'

Until I happened to go inside and glanced in the mirror!!!.....My God, I looked terrible, I was literrally covered in stalks, chaff, seeds, all over my clothes, face, hair, I loked like Worzel Gummidge!! I was mortified, there was even chaff lining my nostrils...eeughhh...

There's a gardens near here that has the collection of salvias, I'm into those at the moment. The daft thing is, if you asked , they'd probably give you some....but I know you guys would say that it spoils the fun....

LOL, Sue! I get seed chaff in my hair, my pockets, and my trouser cuffs all the time! I never thought to look in my nostrils!

Sue, not to spoil anyone's image of me, but I ask all the time. Or I tell whoever that I've taken a seed head. And as for looking guilty! Oh my goodness, the times I haven't been asked what I'm up to, even when I'm not up to anything!

Oh, and that chaff thing, I wouldn't worry too much about it. There was probably at least one gardener amongst them wishing he was brave enough to ask you for some of the seed.

Well this news is too good to wait to tell you about. My twin sister, the one I went to Gatlinburg with a month or so ago, and was horrified that I was snatching daylily seed pods, and wouldn't stop to let me get some rocks. Well she is in Scotland, for a 15 day tour. She called this afternoon and told me the exchange rate was so high that she wouldn't be bringing me anything as a souvenir. Changed $200 american dollars for97 pounds. She said I was waiting for them to give me the rest of the money!! Well anyway, since I can't buy you anything, I am running all over Scotland snatching seeds and cuttings for you!!. Well she couldn't bring me anything I want more. We discussed how she was going to get them through customs, and evidently there is another woman on this tour who is doing the same thing, and she says she has brought back many things from other countries by buying a box of tampons, taking out the insides, filling with snatched things and repairing the paper wrapping.!! So heres hoping that she gets through customs with her haul, and I can tell you about what she brought me. She will be home Friday night, so allowing for her to rest, I should know by Sunday. Like a kid on Christmas morning!!

WOW!!!!! That's better than a t-shirt that says "I love Scotland" anyday!!

Ok, now you grow all that stuff and mail us the seeds! LOL!!!

Non gardeners don't understand the 'high' we can get from plants!!

Oh, and here's something I snatched for Hope43 at lunch today. Passion Vine fruit!

Nicole

hey yall I'm back :) Katrina knocked the wind out of my sails and I was helping with donations and collections... and doing some home gardening too. I now officially have my digital camera so now I've got to play around with it and show you my loot! :))

Susan

Hey nothing will keep those officials at the airport away more than your sisters box!! :)

ncgarden, if she gets it through customs, I have luck with growing it (whatever it is) I will gladly share seeds. You will be #1 on my list.

Weezi, I am so in love with your first picture. LOL
I asked my husband to have a look at it and he did not laugh at all... I guess only people that are going through the same business can understand and laugh to it!

Zarcanat

Zarcanat, I think you are right. You've got to be a seed collector to appreciate blowing off the chaff! Defoecat, how exciting! I hope you get some pictures with the seeds & cuttings so you can identify them. Susan, I'm looking forward to seeing those pictures! NC, what do you do with the passion vine fruit... is it edible or just a good way to snatch seed?

Thanks defoecat!!! Whoohoo! :)

I don't believe it's edible. Someone at work told me when they were children they would throw the 'maypops' (as weun Southerners call em) on the ground and they 'pop'. I don't remember having seen them as a child but the flowers sure are purty!!

Nicole

OH, and I'm going to the beach this weekend - baggies and clippers in hand!!!

Nicole

I grew up eating the pulp from the seeds of "maypops". It's like Pomagranite(?sp) seeds. You get a mouth full of seeds, suck off all the pulp and juice, and spit out the seeds. Very "sweet-sour" taste. I would LOVE to have some of the seed!!!! Would send postage just as soon as I can get your address, if you have any to spare. We little girl chillum also made dancers from the blooms. I can't remember just how to do it now, but there is a way to remove some of the petals and create a ballerina in a frilly tutu. We also cut the dried daylily bloom stems, cut some of the very ends off, and made drinking straws for imbibing sassafrass tea in the hot afternoon while making clover bloom chains. Ah, the memories!

ginni

Sorry ginni, guess I'm going to have to eat them now!

LOL!! Kidding! I picked the 6 I have for a DG member but she doesn't need that many. I just couldn't stop my snatchin' fingers!! I already have one from the summer I am going to use for seeds.

My address is in the Exchange. If you don't know where it is or can't get in send me a Dmail and I will give you my address!

Only condition is you have to post pics when you have them.

OH - and to make sure we are talking about the same plant... Passion Vine, weird purple 'haloish' flowers! I will go to the plant files and post a link. You know how people call a plant something for years and it's not even that plant. I would hate for you to get these and go - what the heck IS this?

Nicole

Link..

http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/1189/index.html

Yep, its the same thing - I'd know that green ball anywhere. The yellow wrinkley ones are ripe, the green ones need a little more time to ripen. Passion vine, maypop, all the same. "Maypop" comes from the sound the ripe pod makes when you squeeze it - it "pops" open. I have no idea what has happened to it in this area - it used to grow every where, but I haven't seen any in years.

I'll get an envelope off very soon, if you are sure you have enough to spare. You can still plant 'em after you eat the pulp. Do you have Blackberry lilies in your area? If not I can send you some seed from mine if you would like some.

ginni

That's pretty! I want to say yes but the 2 boxes of seed in my fridge are begging me to say NO! :))

I have plenty to spare! There are still more on the vine too. It's right outside my work so it's a nice little stroll and viola! More snatchin!!!

Nicole

Okay, here's is my bum in the garden. :) I'm just getting the hang of this camera thing. We just ordered a much bigger card for it as it will only hold eight pictures at a time. If I start being a picture hog for those who dial up, please excuse me, but I just got this and I'm excited. :)

Susan

Here are my watermelons and my lovely son Aidan. Who knew those things got so big?? The things sticking up in the middle are peppers.

Here is looking down the fence. My mums didn't do so well on this side, since I now know that they don't like wet feet and they were wet alright. I have since put Irises at the bottom where there will always be water. I'll take a better pic from the front.. My husbad took this one and he was capturing his genius overhead watering contraption. It really is great.

Susan

The back deck and my kids wearing the Brazilian soccer outfit that a friend brought back for them.

Susan

Okay, here's the Oklahoma Redbud that I got out of the trash. :) The two poodle junipers right next to it also came out of the trash, but I don't know if they are going to green up enough to cover up the dead spots.... We'll see. Also, I don't really need a Holly, but there it was and there it is. :)

Susan

New growth that made me cry when I first saw it!! I'm just crossing my fingers that the rest of it regrows in the spring. :)

Susan

This is where I keep all my great buys and dumpster dives.. As you can see some look better than others and all that look bad will come back... I just cleaned out and threw out the stuff that was questionable since I needed the room. Also, I'm learning lots more about what will and what wont come back... The poor shasta viburnums on the left actually looked much better leaving the dumpster than they did when they arrived at my home. I now travel with a tarp... I have another one that has already greened up so I know they will return for me.

Susan

Hey soul - I wouldn't need a holly either, but if it was there - it would be here! talk to them, maybe even play them some of your favorite music - they will grow! have fun.

The pics are great. Good luck explaining to the kids that soccor is to be played in the open areas, not in the shrubs or flowerbeds! (Cute as they are, it would be hard to reprimand them for any transgression!)

More on the side of house.. Does everyone have a junky section?

Susan

Everyone I know has a junky section! Did you get all of those plants from dumpster divin'? Wow!! I finally broke down last night at Lowe's and snagged some seeds. It was close to closing time so no one was out there but me. I just held them in my hand and went through the check out with my husband. No one said a word to me! I was so relieved. It was kind of like I just deadheadded those plants for them! Oh, almost forgot. I got a big brass pot out of my neighbors trash this week too! It's not in great condition but you can never have too many flower pots!

Thanks for sharing those photos! Your garden areas look great, and you are really going to town with those "rescue plants!" You have a couple of fabulous garden helpers, there... love those grins on your guys!

Not all from Dumpsters, but certainly lots. Here's some of the newest arrivals.. I am trying to figure out which ones will go in the back yard so that I can plant them directly without worring about what they look like... The ones that go in the front will be potted until they leaf out and look better. Potting up is hard work and takes time!! Also, This latest batch was not from a dumpster, but it was a fill your truck up all you can take for $100... so I promise you.. there has never been a truck that left that place fuller than mine. When I saw all the stuff I had pulled to the side... I thought there was no way. Well, I layed them all down on their side and put the bigger ones on bottom and oh my.. when we were unpacking my husband, the master packer, commented on what a great job I did getting so many plants inot the back of the truck. Pictured are varigated weigelia, red wegilia, and a white blooming tree...among others. Have it written down somewhere?.

Susan

This message was edited Sep 15, 2005 10:17 PM

Thanks all!! I'm loving sharing these pics and will do so until weezin tells me to quit!!

I need to tell you that the "open space" above has just recently become open. When I first moved here.. my husband's childhood home, there were tons and tons of cut pine logs all over the back yard and three feet high worth of kudzu growing. Snakes, poison ivy... all kinds of fun stuff. If I had a digital (just have a snapshot) and posted the before you all would fall out. Well, over the years I insisted that we pay big bucks to have heavy machinery come haul it off and then we finally had it filled in and thus the silt fence on the side and why it looks so "bare" on my side of the property back there.

Not for long!!

Okay, here's what I have been working on all day today... A great friend and fellow gardener gave me these flag irises... Well, I had to dig them out of his garden... but I put them in today.. all 3 thousand of them!! I know they will grow taller than the Sweet tea Olive, but that's only temporary :)

I also landscaped the side yard with some plants that were sitting in wait in the ICU unit. I have lots of forever pink hydrangeas I started, mugo pine, dwarf conifer?, Camelias, gardenias, and I have no idea what the unique thing is in the front that I decided to use as a specimen.. Maybe it's not that special, but it was darn near free and that works for me. I'm not putting in the false cypress here. it will get too big. The white lines are where I'm taking out the sod and going to make a nicer curvier walk with easier slope to navigate. Will also put in some type of stepping stones.

Another-- by the way, I have only been gardening for one year folks :) I think I'm pretty addicted, wouldn't you say?

Susan

Oh yea, and I laid the sod that your seeing in these pics too! Me and three amazed guys I hired :)

Okay, and my big finally.

CANNAS AND TOMATOES!!! Love them volunteers from the compost pile!

Susan

The Divas Back!!
Great to have the visuals! I do have the junky section, the ICU unit, and the section where friends send me plants cause they're not doing so well, so would I please Dr. them up? Only to abandon them - and well I just can't throw a plant away! This all in the back of the yard currently hidden by a mini brug forrest.

Your kids are cute!
Rj

Soulgardenlove, I think you are beyond addicted, and I don't think there is a word for it!! You go girl.

Thanks RJ and Thanks Critter... TGIF, Thanks everyone! I was so busy trying to get these pictures loaded and my kids fed, that I barely read in between! :)

I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see my kids walk into the garden and pick off as many sweet 100 tomatoes as they can eat. It is really a special thing for me to have them grow up remembering when their mom grew watermelon and we ate it together. Our neighbor saw the watermelon and exclaimed, "WOW, where's the pumpkin patch?" As if I didn't have one! I just smiled and said, It's out back! Even though there is only one pumpkin right now, well, I do have a patch :)

I know that many people don't get into gardening becasue they think it cost so much to do. I am living proof that it doesn't. I have learned so many ways to save money doing this, but I doubt most folks would be brazen enough to reach over the top of a dumpster and pull out a half dead tree... or ask a guy for help loading a dead looking redbud into the back of their truck!! And I bet so many don't know that you can make your own hydrangeas or snatch your own seeds!! So glad I have you all to share this with.

My garden is the beginning of a life long love. :)

I will get some more pics of missed spots tomorrow. I need to learn how to do the journal so that I don't use this forum as my personal garden tour space! :)

Susan


This message was edited Sep 15, 2005 10:47 PM

Great pictures, Susan. The best blooms in the garden are those two little boys of yours! Looking at them made me grin from ear to ear. They're keepers! Post all the pics you want. We'll just start Seed Snatchin XV if this thread starts loading slow!