Start collecting those seeds!!!!

Just a reminder about the Round Robin seed trade that will start in November. Start collecting seeds from your host and nectar plants for butterflies, moths, and hummingbirds! These seeds are for winter sowing or Spring sowing for next year!! It's going to be another great year for butterflies and hummingbirds!!

I will state the rules for this RR seed swap and get a thread going the beginning of next week for those who want to sign up to be included in this swap. And start planning your new lasagna beds and/or ideas of what you want to sow and grow in your Spring garden beds.

There should be a nice assortment of seeds for everyone to share. Just remember that for however many seed packets that you take, you must replace it with the same amount. (Unless otherwise instructed.)

So .... start looking around your gardens and see what is producing seeds and start collecting them in paper envies to dry!

If you have any suggestions to make this swap even better, please do share!!

If your seeds aren't quite ready for harvesting yet and you would like to wait another month or so to do this RR, please let me know.

Out of the blue ..... my Maypop vines (which have been cut back twice this year and are HUGE once again) have been "secretly blooming" unbeknownst to me until recently. AND .... I am seeing big old fat fruit on them! (Seeds are of course in the fruit!) It will probably take another few weeks or more for the fruit to ripen and the seeds to be ready to harvest. And I have other plants in my yard that are just now starting to produce seeds. So ..... I was wondering how many of you are in the same situation?

Yeah, my Lady Margaret has 4 fruits on her, but they are not ripe, and I know the frits like her as a host plant. I've got a gazillion Lantana seeds, but did I separate cultivars? Noooo!!
Anyway, yeah, I'm pretty much in the same boat here with nothing ripe yet.

Felicia - I would really love to have a couple of your LM Passiflora seeds! I am willing to either wait or do a private seed swap! :-) I was supposed to get a rooted cutting from someone but it never materialized. (Bummer!)

That is a bummer about the rooted cutting. :(
I'd be more than happy to share seeds with you. I figure some day these fruits will ripen! LOL!!
Let me look to see how big she is, because I may be able to send a cutting. It would be unrooted, though.

Becky! I have seeds for you from the "corky" Passiflora suberosa. Want em??

Adrienne

Becky don't worry about the Maypop(P. Incarnata) I have packaged up 5 envies of it and 5 envies of the P. Morifolia for the swap. None of the others have made fruits

Felicia - I'd rather have seeds than a cutting. Thank you so much!

Adrienne - Don sent me some fruit with the tiny little seeds in it. I am drying them now. Save them for the RR! Since the Zebra Longwings prefer that plant over any other Passiflora, then it is something that we should share for sure!!! Thanks so much!!

Donna - Awesome! I have seeds for several good plants. But I don't have seeds for as much as I wished to have been able to harvest at this time.

Here is a fruit from my Maypop vine. I planted the entire coverage on my east fence from about 10 seeds 2 years ago. I was told it blooms the second year. Well, wouldn't ya know .... it is now blooming. Didn't bloom at all in the Spring or Summer. I was out there looking at it to consider trimming it all back for the third time this year because it is OUT OF CONTROL again!! And that was when I saw all the blooms and the fruit. Boy oh boy! was I ever surprised. I never even saw the blooms that produced the fruit! It is loaded with flowers right now. But the flowers are not as purple as I was thinking they would be. The blooms tend to blend in with the vines somewhat. I think that is why I didn't see them.

Here's what the blooms look like.

Now don't faint .... here is what the east fence looks like. And this is after having trimmed it back twice this year already. Ha! Can ya say invasive! LOL! I better make sure I find all the fruit! LOL! It's so pretty though..... I need a colony of GF or ZLW to come stay in my yard and eat those vines back! LOL!

I can wait. I've got seeds that I haven't seperated the chaff from yet. Working on it though.

What happened to your fence, Becky? LOL I have a red passie that has covered my entire back fence. It is one that the butterflies don't use. My Careula, tho, the BF's trim for me.
~Lucy

Wow! I'm in awe. Kinda worries me now, because I planted 4 little seedlings along my fence this year. Hopefully, I'll have lots of visitors next year!

I should have tons of Lady Margaret seeds to share since I have 4 fruits ripening. I'm just hoping they will actually have seeds inside, because I've heard that sometimes they don't. :(

I have been thinking ..... I know! That can be dangerous! LOL!

Would it be better to have a group seed swap instead of a RR? I have participated in quite a few group swaps and really enjoyed them!

Everyone sends your seeds to me with a bubble envie, return postage, and return address label. I divy up the seeds between all the participants. I could either surprise you or post the list after I get all the seeds from participants to let you pick what you want.

I know some of you do wintersowing. By the time this RR were to get going it could take a month or longer before you even get the envie. I was also worried that the envie could be lost or damaged in the mail. So now I am rethinking this idea.

What do y'all think?????
~Becky~

I like the idea of everyone sending you seeds and then you distribute. Seems to me it would make for a quicker turnaround.

I like that idea Becky, except it's way more work for you. Either way is fine by me. I've participated in both ways and was not disappointed, they are both fun.

So put me down for...whatever lol

ditto!!! I love the idea. I like groups swap much better than RR's

Adriene... Did you say suberosa? Could you please, pretty please.. save me some?

I will let you all know when I make my list of seeds I have. for trade.

debnes

I'll participate in a group swap...got several things I can share.

Just let me know when and how many to send.

Cool Mel!
Can't wait to see what ya have!!


debnes

Oh, I've just got some of the ordinary mid-south stuff....nothing special...

Asclepias tuberosa
Mirabilis jalapa
Veronica missurica
Ipomoea hederifolia

You'll have a lot more after the RR Mel! That's a fine start!
Save me some of the Veronica missurica, I have a different cultivar that has lance leafs. Yours is the Lewis and Clark, right? I love the geranium shaped leaves.
debnes

I hope somebody has a pinch of that West Texas Mist Flower seed!?! Can't find it to purchase on the 'net... pretty puhleez!! :-)

I have several kinds of bf nectar seeds and went out today to collect more natives for the butterflies.

My little bits of seed stock to share include: Eupatorium rugosum, joe pye weed, 'little joe' pye weed, echinacea (short), thistle, ironweed, caraway, garlic chives, verbena bonarienses, common milkweed (plus curassavica and incarnata) and maybe a few others...

I'll scout this weekend for more seeds. I've been following the 'seed snatchin' thread and it's kind of fun to go out and 'investigate' for new seeds. I even have my DH as an accomplice!

Let me know if you know where I can find those tiny envelopes. Thanks. t.

T, they have those tiny envelopes at Hobby Lobby, saw them the other day but don't remember what section, do you have a HL up there?

Well I checked our Hobby Lobby and they didn't have them. Only the plastic. Any other ideas?

Maybe I'll google for them...

Office Depot has little manila envelopes...one box lasts me forever. They are the #5 1/2 coin envelopes. 500 to a box and they will even go through some printers. (not my current one though ) I've had this box for a couple of years now and still have scads. Cost about 12.00 back then I think.

http://www.clearbags.com/?category%7CGLAS
I'm thinking about ordering some of the glassine kind with the wax feel to them. Too bad there's not a co-op for translucent glassine envelopes.

You could try using the little brownish coin envies that you can get from office supply stores. Not as nice as the translucent Glassine envelopes, but they function about the same. :-) I do like the glassine envies. The one thing I don't like about paper vs zipbags is that they are hard to seal up if you just use some not all the seeds. I constantly have seeds in the bottom of my box from the paper envies. But as far as keeping mold from forming on damp seeds, you can't beat paper!!!

I tape the little manilas closed, and then just re-tape them. No need to lick and stick. Keeps the envies neat, and nothing gets out. I keep a little box-cutter in my seed box to slit the tape.

OK good ideas. I will follow up. Thanks so much!

Second question-- what computer program is it that will make up the little typed adhesive labels with the seed names and lots of additional info on them (the size of address labels) that you can stick on the packet? Is that something you can buy at Staples too?

Or can you make up labels for these tiny packets with the Dymo labeler? Just wondering--

And also, where is the DG seed packet that you can run off on the printer?

Any pointers would be much appreciated! Thanks so much. t.

I'm not that creative or computer savvy, but my computer does have label tempates in Office Document. I also like the Avery templates at www.avery.com. You can choose the template you need by entering your label's stlye number. There are also templates to include clipart and pictures.

For seed packages, I've used several free printable ones that I found by googling free printable seed packets.
Dave and other DG's have some nice ones. Go to the home page and click on "Extras" scroll down to "Seed packets". http://davesgarden.com/files/seedpackets/seed_packet.gif


This message was edited Oct 27, 2007 3:58 PM

I'd be interested in joining as well, I'm new to the butterfly gardening arena but I was doing some research and found I have some things that apply. In the annual department I have lots of cosmos and some marigolds and for perennials I have some ageratum (http://www.thebutterflysite.com/butterfly-bush.shtml this is the site I used for research so...if I'm wrong....please correct me!) a few salvias, yarrow and a couple of others. I would like to join if possible, if being a new butterfly gardener is an issue that is no problem. I'm just getting started with this. Thanks! Bloomheaven

Hi bloomheaven!
We use some other sites... The list is alright there, but interacting here will be the most help to you.
Where do you live? Your info just says zone 8b.. That is the main place to begin.

Go to http://butterfliesandmoths.org/ and in the left column click on "Map Search" and go to your State, then to your County.

This is not going to give 100% of which butterflies come to your area, but it is a great start.

Each butterfly listing you click on will have detailed information on each butterfly.

The most critical fact you need from the get-go is the "Caterpillar Host" for each species. That is listed in the individual details.

For instance if you look on your county page and select "Monarch" it will show the Caterpillar Host is Milkweed, Asclepias, spp.
For Black Swallowtail the Host is:

All are welcome to participate! The more the merrier. Y'all will just have to be patient with me if the seed swap group is quite large. But no problemo!!!

I will be starting a new thread with full details later today/tonight. Stay tuned! This should be an awesome group seed swap!

Which Queen Anne's Lace is the BST host plant? Anthriscus sylvestris http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1964/ or Daucus carota http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/688/?

bloomheaven--good to have you posting on the butterfly forum--

but can't see where you live, though...can you include your town or state in your ID? Your region makes a difference on the butterfly plants that might work for you...

My reference said 'carrot family' plants--the real Queen Anne's Lace is supposed to be quite invasive in some states and not recommended. I used Ammi (Bishops weed) last year which was nice in the garden but no swallowtail eggs on them. It sounds like carrots themselves are quite good host plants around here but I've never read about them on the bf web sites...(just on the pest websites!)

Deborah~
The QAL that is a host for BST is the Daucus carota. They are not really so hard to contain if you take the pods off when they turn brown. They are an annual... The seed pods stay in a relatively tight clump, just cut them before they fall.

QAL does not like transplanting. So..... sow it where you want it. :-)

debnes

Well folks!
The Fall Roundup is done for this year.. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/784992/ We had a blast, and it was cool to meet Dave finally. What a regular guy he is, ... a beautiful and humble person. Trish stayed home with the 4 kids this time.

I got some more cool seeds to add to my list too.

In all the preparation for the Roundup, I organized my seed stock pretty well. That is really good news for all of you here to trade and receive..

Becky~ please dmail me if I don't notice the thread for the actual trading.

debnes

My two cents on the QAL...it will spread even if you try to deadhead it faithfully. It's a beautiful plant and one I will continue to keep but I do have to try and get those flower heads off quickly but it can be a real chore once you get more than one!

Do try it but put it where you can get to it and be vigilant if you don't want it taking over. They are easy to pull when they are little too. Unfortunately it is not the first choice for BST's in my bed BUT it is loved by all my visitors!

Tabasco, I'm sure some of those brown flowers on my Mist Flower are seeds but not sure I've found plants from them. It sure spreads by runners tho! I'll be happy to send you some of the plant or gather some of those seeds for you.

Paige

Hi, koncretb., so good to see you posting! I thought you had abandoned ship for the 'other' site!

Thanks for your offer of the Mist Flower seed--I think I am set in that department--so no need for them, at least right now...

Yes, QAL is as invasive as all get out up in these parts. Haven't seen any BSTs on it either, so for nectar and summer bouquets, I, personally, would choose one of the other pretty look alike flowers like Ammi majus (bishop's lace/weed) which has a prettier bloom and better garden habit anyway:

http://www.rainyside.com/features/plant_gallery/annuals/Ammi_majus.html

That's neat that you got to go to the Texas RU and meet Dave. Must have been fun and a great experience. It seems like there are so many DGers down TX way!