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

Well, I've finally joined the seed snatchin' ranks. I work on a university campus that has lovely gardens scattered here, there, and everywhere, and I finally just couldn't resist :-) I emailed the grounds manager and asked for permission to take seeds from one garden that just happens to be right next to the campus police department (which also happens to be right next door to my office), and now that I have that permission I'm using it liberally in every garden LOL I haven't picked up anything exotic or unusual yet, just some stuff I thought would look good in my gardens, but I'm beginning to notice a definite tendency to judge the quality of my surroundings by the level of seed snatching possibilities I can see there.
--Ginny

Ginny - go girl!!!! - ginni

Nicolle, haven't sold house yet, but feel the time is ripe because materials for new homes are so expensive.
Did get some pampas seeds? and aster seeds today.
sidney

Go Ginny! You are doing them a favor! By snatchin' those seed heads the plants will bloom longer! :)))

Gotcha Sidney and that makes sense to me!! Good luck!!

Nicole

Look what I got out of a hanging basket in Rock Hill! Retirement lunch and I went for a 'walk' - hee hee.

Is this a purple sweet potato vine? Don't have a clue!!!
Nicole

Whoo hooo!!

My dh called. He's bringing home today 2 big weeping cherries, one ornamental weeping cherry, and 4 grasses!! They had weeping pussy willows too but wanted $100 a piece for the them. NOT!!!

Yes, that's a sweet potatoe vine. One like that was eating my front steps when we returned after 20 days. I think I have every variety, but who knows, or cares. They grow like crazy and are taking over. Great ground cover and color.
Sounds like DH has got some great goodies. I guess he's on the "keep" list this week. LOL
sidney

Yep!! We decided to give it one more go at our marriage. So far everything is going really well too!!

Went to his HS reunion this weekend and got a big handful of red salvia seeds too!

Planted 4 trees - that's all we could get in. The ground is like concrete!!!

Nicole

Ah yes the red cement of North Carolina, vs the speed sand of Florida. Thats a big reason I moved south. I know those weeping cherries will be great.
sidney

Thanks! We got the weeping pussy willows in the ground too. I LOVE them!! Brad ended up buying them anyway. Aww... :)

Congratulations Nicole! On the plants too!!

Okay, yall are not even going to believe this... As If I wasn't already the queen of dumpster diving... Well, I found another place to pick out trashed plants!! It's amazing!! I stumbled across it when I went there to buy a $10 pick-up truck full of their spent potting soil.. Well, guess what they throw out with the potting soil? Perfectly great plants!! YEAAA!!!!!!!!!!! I got 5 purple salvias that will come back great next year and a whole mess load of a plant called Cuban oregano. The only thing I can figure for them being thrown out was the root ball was way small for the large plant, but they were perfectly healthy. They aren't even going into the ICU.. they are going straight into the garden. It's known as "plectranthus Amboinicus". It's supposed to be a tender perennial, but I don't know if that means me?? I have read about it and it is supposed to be very easy to root. It smells great and can be used in cooking.

I'm obviously going to be needing lots more soil! :) This place is in the back of the nursery where customers aren't normally invited unless your getting some soil... So I'll be getting lots more, and leaving plenty of room for the trashed plants for free!!

Also, for those of you with pick-up trucks, I just invested in a gizmo called a load handler from Northern Tool Co. and boy howdy does it save time shoveling that soil out of the truck. You just crank this thing and the entire load comes out very nicely and easily. Gosh, and to think I've been working so much harder than I need to be... standing knee deep in horse poo and I could have just been cranking it out of the truck.. Oh well, live and learn!!

Susan

Oh and I got about 12 purple butterfly bushes!! Yea!!!!! I'm such a beginner that it took me a while to figure out that the reason these plants were being thrown out was due to the very weedy plant in all the pots which at first I thought was some great plant I wasn't familiar with... Then I saw these smaller butterfly bushes in the middle of these treasured weeds... Beginners!!


This message was edited Oct 3, 2005 10:29 PM

I know this is off topic... but you know that coral bell huchera that I got from Lowes that was in the van... it said, sun to part shade on the tag and when i Looked online it said full shade. Does anyone know if full sun will burn it up? That's kinda where I had intented on putting it when i got it, but I certainly don't want it to burn up. Thanks. Susan

Actually, I think I already know the answer, but i would like for someone to lie to me and tell me that full sun will be fine and it will live and look great.

Susan

I have mine planted in full sun. It gets plenty of water...and seems to be doing fine...it's been in full sun all summer. Doesn't look like it's getting sun burnt. I also have some in afternoon shade....and it's doing about the same as the sun one. OT: I would take a pic but DD left the usb cord at her friends house who lives about an hour away...so I'm going to have to get it tomorrow. Hope this helps you some.

This message was edited Oct 3, 2005 8:38 PM

Susan, please show a picture of your load handler. I like your wagon there, and that's quite q haul of salvia. Do we cut salvia back in the fall?, And how much.
About the Heucheras....Coral Bells.
I think having dormancy is most important. Mine have gotten too much water also so dont use water crystals on them. I think yours will do great.
Sidney

Wow Susan!! You and Weez are the queens of Snatchin'!!!!

You're putting me to shame! I need to get out there!!!

Nicole

Thanks Lisa! I will try it.. I got them for .75 a piece, so no great loss... but I'll move them if they start to fade :)

Sidney, I have it in the garage disattached from the truck since I normally drive the minivan and DH drives his truck to work. It wouldn't do much good to show it to you without you seeing how it works. I'm going to be getting another haul with it tomorrow and I will be more than glad to document the entire process!! :) Hope you've gotten that much needed rest :) Yes, I will cut back the salvia and they should return for me :) THey are over one year plants since I can see the woody stems and were they were cut the previous year.

Nicole, it's soo odd, I think that I'm attracting these things to me!! My angels know that I'd take care of them and bring them back and I'm not working outside the home right now, so I can't just spend all I want on these things, so it's just been great!! :)

Susan

This message was edited Oct 4, 2005 9:23 AM

Yes, you are being blessed, and deservidly so.
;)

Sidney.. I Love that wagon... All I do all day long when I'm gardening is drive it from the back yard to the front with plants and take back trash and pots. It's great!! I'm really good on the tractor now too. I think I'm the only woman in the area that can drive a tractor!! :)

Susan

OOps!! We posted at the same time!! Yes, I am Blessed!! :)

Susan

I know that Sidney and Nicole know Jim, GARedClay.. He doesn't post here, but I just wanted to say that he just put his wife in the hospital and she is not doing well. Here is a thread for him.. http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/548778/#new

Susan

Thanks Susan, They are very dear folks.
Sidney

Thanks Susan. I didn't know. Poor guy! He's such a sweetie too.

Well I guess its that time of year for seed snatching and I can see that everyone in this forum is waaaay ahead of me. I just started. My first find was in a cemetery of all places. My daughter talked me into going to this specific cemetery because they were having a historical walk. While on this walk i noticed a nice planting of lobelia cardinalis (cardinal flower) of which I have none in my garden. I couldn't resist. I did a good job of deadheading this little beauty. Now, I have a question. Should I plant the seeds now or wait till spring?

Cindy

Today's haul :)

These are pink Ipomoea purpurea (common morning glories) from an abondoned trailer up the road

picture helps lol

Guess I should tell you, I had nothing in the car to put them in, so I used an empty "peeps" box that I had bought for my son (the peeps not the box LOL) and my son emptied the boutique tissue box and I filled them both, and I"m going back tomorrow :)

from my mom's house

from my mom's neighbor

So Woofens tell us what is in the bowls.

I had alot of fun reading all the post. I guess I am a seed snatcher too. I was at an Bed and Breakfast Inn in Georgia last week and snatched some seed pots off of her hosta plant. The only baggie I had handy was a pocket sized kleenex bag, so I put them in there and back into my suitcase. When I got home, my husband was trying to be helpful and ran across that kleenex packet. When he went to throw it in the trash, I screamed No...................... Then of course I had to own up to snatching seeds. When you love to grow from seed, it is just so hard not to snatch them too.

Cindy, this year is my first year with Lobelia cardinalis, so I don't know how to collect the seed, much less start it. According to Tom Clothier's Germination Database, the seed should be surface sown in light at 71 to 75F to germinate in about 2 weeks.

Woofens, I like those disposable bowls for drying out seedheads. If I stick anything in plastic while I'm out snatchin', it's likely to be forgotten and turn to slime.

JM, you're definitely a seed snatcher! Your poor hubby has just seen the tip of the iceburg! My poor husband is so used to my habits that he walks on into places of business and waits for me to finish rifling through their flower boxes outside!

All the seeds are morning glories, just different colors. Didn't have my camera yesterday I had loaned it to my mom but I have it today and I'm going all around taking pics and swiping more seeds LOL

Weez, I had to grab what was handy last night..... I didn't have anything else big enough to put them all in, and they were wet its been raining here for 4 days now. I got them all pretty much cleaned up last night, just a little of the "husks" left on them. Am gonna put them in measuring cups today, just for giggles.

My DH flat out told me he will not bail me out of jail LMAO

Here is a pic of the flowers that made the bottom picture of seeds.

Oh, those are just gorgeous! I wish morning glories would grow well here, but they don't. :( It's been a wet autumn here, so most of my seeds are collected wet. It's not my favorite way to snatch seeds, but a snatcher has to snatch em like she finds em.

Weez!! Hush your mouth!!! Let me show you a pic of my untidy veggie garden I gave up to the weeds this summer. Morning Glories are my arch enemy!!! Of course I'm talking about the wild kind - not the ones most folks grow!

Some of you have mentioned "seed snatching kits". Can we see pics, just so us new at snatching will know how to put a kit together? I have some ideas, but no finished kit as yet. Just would like to see some variations in order to complete mine in the best order.

Good idea, tgif! It's time for a new thread, so that will be the next subject. Everybody, climb onboard the bus, we're headed to Seed Snatchin' XV: http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/550267/

Well, I'm home from another day of seed snatching :) I went prepared today, scissors, baggies, (my kit I put together LOL) well, I had a small grocery bag in the car today, and filled it with the pink MG seeds (Pic below) Had the bag over half full, and a car drives up...... stops, guy says "WHAT are you doing??" I said, "is this your property?" he says yea..... I said, taking the seeds of this morning glory. He said, "OH ok... there are alot of plants there, take what ever you want!!" I spent over 2 hours there and he told me to come back anytime!!!!

I got the entire bag full of MG seeds, Dantura seeds, and 2 kinds of seeds that I have no idea what they are LOL I'm going back EVERY day... its only a mile from here, maybe.

Then I went to mom's and her neighbors and got more from them LOL I'm gona be cleaning seeds for a month, at least, and there are 2x as many unripe pods left all 3 places!!

It's funny that most people absolutely don't mind if you collect seeds. I wouldn't be that generous if someone came to my house and started plucking pods, but I do it all over town and nobody cares... hey, Woofens, get on the bus!

Thanks for the info on Cardinal flower Weez. I'll keep it refrigerated and plant in the spring.

Cindy

Luv the color of the flowers, Woofens! Sounds like you had a grand time.
:) Donna

Hi guys,
I still am cleaning up after Rita, I can't even imagine what our friends are coping with from Katrina. It's like perpetual -nothing getting done- syndrome.
I was taking Hudson for walk today, and finally snatched a plant from the alley- I thought it was a climbing hydrangea and I'm partially right. I have started a collection of clerodendrum, and was surpirsed to find my snached plant in the clerodendrum section - also known as a climbing hydrangea. Who knew? not me!
http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/23407/ this is what it looks like

http://davesgarden.com/pf/search.php?search_text=Clerodendrum
this is a link to Clerodendrums..- it's an oddity I think as they are shrubs and vines ---including the bleeding heart vine. Okay, some of you may already know this...but this is a discovery to me!! They are so different from each other.
Soulgarden...I think your completely normal!! You can attend PAA with me. Plants Anonymous!!! LOL..
Hi...my name is Rj, and I have a vegetation problem..it started when I was 5 years old............