Summer Sowing ??

seandor did you just plant those in july? do you have a picture? just curious as mine a little guys and i am afraid to plant them quite yet...

I sowed some columbine. I figured if the seed was ready on the plant it was probably the proper time to sow. That was about a month ago. I now have tons of babies. I sowed them where I want them to grow.

You knew what they were and where you wanted them to go!!! What a plan, and well-executed too!

:-P
Carrie

..and alot less work.

it's weird... i did sow some new seeds and nothing came up. zip, nada. in 2 different places. nothing.

I should try pots - then transplant if they do come up.

I still have a bunch more seeds for winter sowing... but i was hoping to get a jump on next year by direct sowing perennials this summer.

tcs: Whether they germinate will depend on a lot of things, just like in milk jugs. Each seed has a temperature at which it will germinate, so your weather might be too hot. Also, they have to be kept moist, so if the seeds dry out they won't germinate either. In summer it can be tough to keep the surface soil in garden beds moist.

I do have volunteer annuals again this year from the plants dropping their seeds- cosmos, emilia, and cerinthe are all coming up now near the mother plants.

Karen

it was very hot and dry early on when i first sprinkled the seeds... now it's VERY wet.
maybe i'll just stick to winter and direct sowing early in the season.

thanks Karen.

Terese

I have a lovely large verandah that gets some limited morning sun, then shade the rest of the day. This is where I started my plants.

I potted them up yesterday - I have about 70 foxglove and about 50 or so delphiniums. I expect to put them in the garden around Sept. 15.

I will take some pictures later today to show you :-)

seandor...how the heck did you get so many to take?? i need your thumb?

I can't wait to see your babies Micheala ..... Awesome job!
I have started just "throwing a few seeds on the ground" here and there lately :)

Is there a dwarf Joe Pye Weed? Some I have seen have a great color but are over 5-6ft.

Thanks,
Teresa

I have "Little Joe" eupatorium in a large pot with some salvias. It's about 3 to 4 feet tall. The color is mauve, though, not the darke purple I have seen in some eupatorium. The swallowtails are loving it.

It didn't thrive in my yard - at least where I put it. I think it's neat. There's a house near mine that has a huge patch and I think it's a wonderful addition to the fall garden. If anyone has seed let me know.

In western Canada, this is a wildflower with fields just covered in Joe Pye Weed. I was really amazed that people planted it in their gardens :-)

Yes, I read Eupatorium is one of those north american wild flowers that the europeans have taken and made into a nice garden plant! To me most of the joe pye weeds grow too tall for domestic gardens, but sometimes they can work out in a big space. I was happy to find the short 'Little Joe Pye' and there are a couple more 'less tall' ones.

Ironweed (Vernonia) is another pretty purple wildflower that I think would be nice in a garden-- we see it in fields around here. Must be easy to grow from seed...I would like to try it just for fun.

The butterflies seem to love them both. And for some good late summer color combined with helenium, black eyed susans and zinnias.... mmm....I'll have to collect some seeds for next year!

Tab, I have been thinking the same thing about the ironweed and have an idea for next year, or the year after.

I have a 9 foot golden rod that I didn't realize was a weed until it bloomed. Actually, I figured out what it was when it was starting to bud out and clipped it to 4 feet tall. Those shorter shoots still bloomed, and I think the same treatment would work with Joe Pye weed and also iron weed. Just a thought to get a shorter plant, that will still bloom in those rich colors..

Suzy

Illoquin-- that's an interesting 'strategic' plan for them. I did see something like that mentioned in 'plants delight' catalog I think--- 'give it a chop in June and instead of 9 feet it will be 6 feet' or something like that!

I like ironweed and I'm going out today to collect some seeds from the short ones.

My garden is about done in now and I am getting a little sad...wish I had room to play around with some fall blooming perennials...

I've made notes on my '07 garden spread sheet to cut back several of my flowers next year when they reach 1/2 their height. I had so many that got floppy by the time they bloomed, and the first hard rain had them laying on the ground. I hope this method works for me too!