Just ordered blazing star, other prairie seeds

from the link that was in the "show us your blazing stars" thread! Also ordered big stem bluegrass, lead plant, and some other very interesting seeds. Many are recommended for fall sowing, so I plan to get a spot ready for them...Anyone have success starting wildflower seeds? I want to start them in rows for a year or so and then transplant.

Are you moving them to a prairie?
I took a few prairie pics last year
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/627605/

No, they will be in my garden beds. (We live on a farm and have a lot of room.) I would like to have a whole bed of Big Bluestem - it is gorgeous - very pinkish sunset colored...

Sounds great! Did you order any blazing stars?

I ordered some liatris - is that blazing stars?

Prairie plants are great! Most grow really, really, really deep roots. And they grow them in unaccordance with the top growth. That is, they grow a substantial root system before they grow much top growth. Consequently, some don't transplant well. All grasses transplant fine. Liatris (Blazing Star), fine. Many different species of Liatris go under that common name. Butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa), not a good transplanter, even at the young stage pictured. It doesn't die, but is stunted severely. Leadplant transplants ok from pots where the root is forced to stay short in the pot, but don't try to dig it up from the ground.

This pic is Butterflyweed on the left, Leadplant on the right. They are about 2 months old from seed. (They are so cute, aren't they?) You wouldn't think Butterflyweed would be that particular, especially since it develops its sausage-like tuber so early in life, but it is very finicky. You can see how the Leadplant root goes down down down, so be aware.

Good grief! Your leadplant is larger than mine that I planted as plugs this last spring!

Thank you immensely for the info! I will start my leadplant seeds where they will stay. I'll look up the rest of my order and maybe you have some advice for the others.

Good lesson in prairie plants. Thanks so much!

There was a guy who took a patch of land between old Rt 6 and new Rt 6 outside of town. I know he burned off what was there and I'm not sure of what else he did. But then he cast seed of all the indigenous prairie species to this county. For a long time it was called ______ weed patch, but with every year of him adding more seed and then finally doing a lot of them in plugs, it has finally taken off and looks pretty amazing. This of course, isn't at his house, so he wasn't out there pulling weeds and adding moisture for the critical time that seeds will need it. There was also an article in our little county paper about kids planting 1000+ plugs this past spring.

The plugs sound interesting - I would like to add more wildflowers to our ditches in front of the house. That might be the way to do it.

I go up to Schaumburg in the spring for their annual native plant sale. The perennials and grasses they offer are plugs. I've have really good luck with all of them. And at $2.75 up to $3.50, I really can't go wrong!

These are the other seeds I ordered:
Prairie Smoke
Showy Obedient Plant
Prairie Sage
Big Bluestem
Meadow Blazing Star
Green Needle Grass
Canadian Milk Vetch
Button Blazing Star
Leadplant

I asked Everwilde if I could start them in garden rows and then transplant, and the answer was yes, they could be moved in a year or so, and that they would all move "fairly well", except for leadplant and blazing stars which should be moved when they are dormant.
I plan to sow them late fall.

Showy obedient plant? Not sure what that is. Kinda sends shivers up my spine if it is Physostegia virginana. In some gardens, it really takes over; in others, it just spreads nicely. If it is PS, better watch it so you know. And especially keep a watch after you plant it together in the final plot. You might end up having to kill it chemically with Round-up.

I agree, everything except leadplant should transplant fine. Blazing stars and big bluestem germinate readily. No experience with the others. Green needle grass is a cool plant, but not very bulky. It will likely get "lost" in your final plot, even though it is still there. Take good notes on how to identify it while you can in your nursery garden. Examine the blazing star species too. Once you plant them all together, you'll forget which is which. I have transplanted blazing stars in early and mid spring also, with good results.

Even though Prairie smoke is a small plant, I am always amazed at how well it competes with taller prairie species. But if you really want to get the full ornamental value of the plant, plant next to or between some rocks so it will naturally be separated from taller species. Then the smoke will really show itself off.

Good luck!

Doing a search on just the common name of Prairie Sage, I found this

Oh yes! There are sages that are invasive too! And some not so. I should have pointed that out too. Many of the garden types are not good companions either. And the sages that do run tend to have long stolons (underground roots) that wander quite far, 1-6 ft before coming up again. So we need to know the botanical name to discern which seed you have.

Is Artemisia a true sage? Are am I thinking of something else? I'm thinking of the plants that are grown for foliage. Can't think of their names. Limelight? Something king and something queen.......do you know what I'm referring to? If you do it 's a good thing, coz I evidently don't...lol ;o)

Herbal sage, and its relatives of course (like Clary sage or garden salvias), are Salvia species, not Artemesia. That is what I would call the true sages. Sage is one of those infamous common names of nebulous status, applied not to just one plant, or in this case group of plants. Most people have heard of Sagebrush (also known as Tumbleweed), whose dried carcasses roam the deserts. That is an Artemesia species. Silver King is an Artemesia species as well.

Just another example of confusion caused by common name usage. Botanical (Latin) names are certainly the only sure way to combat this problem.

I am not familiar with any true sages that are midwest prairie plants, although it could be possible. Artemesias, on the other hand are not uncommon.

Do you have any idea what the name is of the common "mountain sage"(?) that grows in Colorado? I remember the all pervasive heavenly smell. Would love to grow some if I could find a nice dry spot in my Iowa garden...

caitlin~is this the one? http://www.denverplants.com/wflwr/html/artem_fri.htm

I have been looking for 'Valerie Finnis' artemisia ludoviciana for two years, finally gave up and planted a 'Silver Mound' artemisia schmidtiana, which is finicky about being kept very dry. 'Silver King' and 'Silver Queen' have a bad reputation as colonizing the beds they're planted in. 'Valerie Finnis' and 'Silver King/Queen' are all cultivars of the species known in IL as prairie sage.

edited to add link with info on historical use by Native Americans:
http://www.wildlifeprairiestatepark.org/florapages/prairie_sage.htm

This message was edited Jul 29, 2007 8:49 PM

Or this comes up in doing a search for just a common name of mountain sage

http://www.wildflower.org/clearinghouse/propagation/Salvia_regla.pdf

Gee, Leftwood, that's an incredible amount of information! This is a great thread for those uof us who would like to learn more about the nice prairie plants to plant.

Thanks!

Suzy

I have scads of valerie finis. I could send you some if I knew the best way/time to send it.

I would say that the one I am looking for is definately an artemisia, not a salvia. Possibly the artemisia frigida shown on the denver plants site. Maybe I can find a source for it if I google.
I want to grow it for the nostalgia of "Rocky Mountain Highs" memories!