Seandor~ do you have enough pink coneflower seeds for me, please, I would love some, now that I'm getting DH to dig another sunny garden bed!! YIPPEE!! ;0)
Grampapa~ Would love some of your Victoria Blue salvias as well! Thanks! ;0)
This message was edited Oct 15, 2007 11:58 AM
Spectacular 2007 Cottage Garden Seed Swap#3
G6..thumbs up on the blue salvias! and I would love your French marigolds. didn't have any this year and I missed them. you don't need to throw them in, though. they are certainly worthy of a trade :0)
I just spent some pleasant time watching 'Surf's Up' (the animated CD with the penguins) and sorting/picking cinnamon basil. boy, that stuff smells good dried. no doubt that it's cinnamon now!
I also would love some of your French Marigolds. I skipped the orange and yellows this year in favor of 'Snowball' and Chameleon Marigolds and I missed these colors in my garden this year. My Chameleon Marigolds got huge this year, the flowers were small but the plant got 2 1/2' to 3' tall and wide. My SIL said she had never seen a Marigold so big. They were ok but I really prefer the large yellow or orange blooms.
Illoquin, I will send you some more seeds to cover the ones I am trading for.
Dylancgc, You don't need to do that. It's not like you sent me a list with 30 things on it and only sent in 30 packs. It will be fine. If you want to send more stuff, then hey! Send away!
I grew 'Raggend Reggie' Marigold this year and can't decide if I like it or not. I only had one seed germinate out of the (traded) pack, so I htink its safe to say it's a hybrid. It is tall with flowers that are big, just not quite big enough to be in proportion. They also rot and oddly, VERY oddly, the Japanese Beetles made them their home. I thought the smell repeled them, but I guess RR doesn't have much of an odor.
I have not been able to get a pod from them with viable seeds inside. I suspect 1 seed out of 100 is viable, but I can hardly trade away 100 seeds with only one viable in there.
Then the whole plant just fell over and I left it there. It looks better keeled over than it did sticking up in the air.
G6 - Marigolds are worthy of a trade :) Just mark how tall they get and what colors. I assume they are solid yellow &/or solid orange mix as opposed to a spotted or striped yellow & orange mix. LOL! Does that make sense? Marigolds are $15.00 a flat, just like Impatiens and Salvia.
I have been a seed cleaning maniac and have some things that I'm not going to post. A LOT of things I am not going to post. I need to hold back *some* surprises, otherwise it won't be any fun at all!
Suzy
oooh, pretty, G6. thanks.
back to my helenium saga. I went out and got seeds from 'Red & Gold' and 'Flammenspiel' (it means Flickering Flames) today. I only gathered the ones that were absolutely dry & brown and it hasn't rained in several days. so if I let them dry in the house til the end of the week they should be ok to send. remember, hybrid=who knows if seed is viable or what you might get. I haven't tried any of the helenium.
here's another pic. the pure yellow is the 'Red and Gold'. it is supposed to have different shades, but that's all I have so far. the other (red/orange) is the 'Flammenspiel'.
G6 -- The marigolds are fantastic! Both of the Heleniums are gorgeous, too, gram.
I guess that's why seed catalogs have photos...if it were just a list of seeds no one would buy the new ones!
Suzy
The marigolds are good to plant round tomato plants......... apart from that i think they are a waste of space.........
The Heleniums are sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo beautiful, I have lots in our garden..........
Mark
Oh, Mark, Mark, Mark....from England, Mark. You are so naive in your British climate! LOL!
I would love for you to come here July 4th and stay for a month. I'd put you upstairs and you could see and feel for yourself how hot and muggy and hot and steamy and HOT and DRY it is. Sounds like a riddle, doesn't it? How can it be hot and dry and hot and steamy at the same time? It's easy. Because for 6-8 weeks we have temperatures in the 90+s with 90+% humidity, and yet no rainfall all that time.
You could see how beautiful our marigolds are when other things are flagging and even burned up due to the heat.
You once told me yellow is not a favorite Cottage Garden color over there, and I think it's because of the light -- the sunlight. Sun which you don't really have, not really, not like here. Your pale pinks and lavenders just disappear over here in the bright sunlight. They look blah and uninteresting. Our sunflowers, Rudbeckias and marigolds are just the ticket for a midwestern summer and look really swell!
Suzy
Sing it out, sistah!
Hey Mark. How goes it? What heleniums do you have? I've just fallen in love with them this year.
and I LIKE marigolds ;-P
Mark, send me some Lucifer! You have that one right?? :)
I love Merry Golds :) They light up under hot GA sun in the middle of summer :) Great little cheery plants that remind me of my mothers garden and being a little girl.. rubbing the dried flowers and spreading the seeds everywhere and seeing them come up again.. the distict smell of childhood is a must in my cottage garden. True Garden Love flower.. a marigold is :) On my want list for sure :)
Susan
I have pulled several very dry heads off my cupids dart and all I seem to find is chaff.
Do they set seed ?
I don't really, know, Gus, but I asked on the Seed Saving forum. I should post the link, but I'm too tired. I'll let you know if anybody over there has an answer. If somebody else knows, please post!
Suzy
I just harvested seeds from my wild sunflower here is the link: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/823/
Suzy............................................. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol
All I can say is THANK HEAVENS for English weather.............. I may take you up on that offer one day, just to see what it is really like there......
Its hard for us English to imagine that kind of weather, we think its hot when its 80 F.
Its just hard to imagine the sun bleaching the colour from flowers....
BUT
I still don't like Marigolds........!!!! Hehehehe
Mark
Hey Gram
Long time no speak.................
Heleniums........... I will have to go and look sometime today and will let you know what they are!! Hey if you want some seed I can get you some from the local garden centre.
In fact I will. I will get you some and post em out to you one day soon!!
Mark
Susan
Lucifer.................... OHHHHHHHHHHHHH YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS I think I have that one........ and about 260 other varieties!!
www.simplesite.com/crocosmia
Have a look.............. send me your name and addy and i will send you one or two.
Mark
Suzy
A pretty English flower, just for you!!!!
How Lovely.. Nora Barlow Columbine?
Mark, your site IS impressive.. wow.. you've got the entire crocosmia family in your garden. I really like the photoshow.. Was that difficult to do and time consuming or would you say it was user friendly and intuitive to use? Mark, I appreciate the offer, but are there not restrictions on sending plants over seas? I have some plants you might just like too.. just don't want to be jailed for it!
Susan
Mark, you dear thing, don't go out and buy any, I was just wondering what varieties you grow in your garden. Can the croscomia be grown from seed? If it can, that's what I would really like (she said shamelessly). I'm not sure if they would survive in my zone, but they are listed to zone 6 and I sure would like to try. If they have to be grown from plants, maybe I can work a trade with someone on this side of the pond.
Susan
Yes Aquilegia Nora Barlow................... you are clever!!!
Thank you, I am pleased you enjoyed the site........... Yep, just about the whole family in the garden!!!
The Photoshow is sooooooooooooooooooooo easy to do......... just follow the instructions and away you go!!!
Yes there are restrictions on sending them but its not the first time i have done it....... lol
So don't worry about it.......... the worst they do is confiscate the plant.
Mark
Gram
Its ok............ I will get you some. I am sure i have a packet or two in my cupboard somewhere also..
The Crocosmia seeds will grow in your zone............. once you get them big enough to plant outside they will be fine!!!!
Will see what i can do..........
Mark
I can grow columbines here, too, so there! LOL I've been starting them from seed (wintersowing) for a couple of years, so I have a bunch of them planted around my baby pecan trees. They get some afternoon shade, probably not as much shade as they'd like, but they do all right.
I like the cheerfulness of marigolds, but I can't stand their musky scent. I'd rather plant herbs to keep the bunnies away! I do like the light, lemony fragrance of 'Lemon Gem' though -- it's one of those little signet marigolds. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/59807/
I agree 'Lemon Gem' is a gorgeous marigold, so dainty and cheerful. The musky smell of marigolds is said to deter mosquitoes as well, when planted in large groups around a seating area. Here in Kansas, the mosquitos zoom quickly through the odor zones and attack their humans and then zoom quickly away.
Mr. Croc~ your site is gorgeous, I may have to rethink growing crocosmias in the near future...
This message was edited Oct 16, 2007 12:43 PM
ROFL, I think we have those same daring mosquitos here also... nothing much deters them, except a liberal application of Deep Woods Off (and if you miss one little spot -- you'll get bitten!).
Mark-
Your site is gorgeous! I have had Lucifer for years and adore him. I never realized that there where so many different types. Now I will have to start looking for other types, wish me luck :0)
Thanks, Mark. Where would my garden be without you? I'm already passing on seeds in this swap from plants I grew from your seeds!!!
I need to go revisit your site and see what's new and lovely :0) Your Nora Barlowe is so pretty. I started some from seed this year. Should have blooms next spring (I hope).
When you look at Mark's site watch the video clips the last two are of his garden which is gorgeous and he is narrating, lovely english accent. The first one is darling, it's of his wife Laurie (I'm guessing) dancing with the neighbor at Mark's birthday party. Happy belated birthday Mark!
G6.................... yep you should consider growing Crocosmia, they are sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo pretty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Although you may have to take em inside for the winter where you are........... Zone 5 brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr cold!!!!!
Rachierabbit............................. There are more Crocosmia around somewhere than even i have..... Amazingly not many are for sale in the States. But I now have a contact in the States and maybe we will be sending new ones over there..... so watch out AMERICA!!!!!
My darling?????????????????????????? LOL Not quite wife yet................. shes a yankee too!! Thank you for the belated birthday wishes, it was a lovely day!
OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH that British accent again................ LOL
Gramps.................... All the seeds i sent you did well then???????????? Thats excellent!!!!!!!!!! Oh you have a D-Mail..............
I have all the Barlows that I know of........ Nora, Rose, Black and Blue........ I just love Aquilegia and also Geum.....
Mark
on the subject of seeds and marigolds...I would love to find seeds for a marigold called 'naughty marietta'. my mom remembers planting that variety back in her Long Beach Island gardens, way back when (she is 75 now). She says they were her all time favorite. I would love to give her those seeds as a xmas stocking stuffer :) everywhere I ask they never heard of it...I only spotted it one time on a listing of marigolds grown, but they weren't a seller of seeds.
hi mr crocosmia, enjoyed the link to your site. I really like crocosmias but I haven't found the right spot for them yet. This years 'lucifer' was not a happy camper - maybe because it was so dry.
...my sweet mama...dosn't she make you want to plant marigolds :)
Try this link wind
http://seeds.thompson-morgan.com/uk/en/product/1564/2?SA=1303
Or this one and scroll to the bottom
http://www.nickys-nursery.co.uk/seeds/pages/page9-african-marigold.htm
Wind, your mama's smile just lights up the whole garden!
I found 'Naughty Marietta' at Thompson & Morgan: http://www.tmseeds.com/product/1564.html
:-)
LOL... everybody got busy finding those seeds! I love DGers!
There ARE pretty, aren't they? hmm...
hey.....how did you guys do that?????????? I could have sworn I googled the name and found nothing. OMG I'm looking like a a, well someone who can't do a very good search! how embarrising. Well ->>>THANK YOU!