Or purple beens, like "Teepee". Hyacinth beans might do nicely with cream coloured sunflowers.....
Join Us! Seed Swap Seed Starting & Conversation #4
LOL! I shall go check my inventory. ;)
BTW Suzy,
Did you know this is a kind of adaptation of a native american way of growing veg? In fact they made a hole in the ground, put one bean, one corn seed and one pumpkin seed in it and let them grow togeter. The bean would use the corn as a stalk and the pumpkin would protect the soil from the sun, keeping it moist.....
Yes, I think I remember learning it in grade school, but I'm not sure they told us why...for some reason I thought it was a superstition or a gift to the gods or something.
Suzy
It is, sort of. It really works and looks pretty too!
some cool ideas...thanks. I was wondering what I was going to do with all my vines. I did buy a Maypole that I thought was cute. last year I had cypress vine on the pool fence next to one of my hummer feeders. and the pot I had the thunbergia in is still growing in the house, but I have a couple of new colors I want to try this year.
Suzy, anything special I need to know about the Mina lobata? Do you start them ahead in the house?
here's the maypole in case anyone's interested. it was cheap so it will probably rust, but I couldn't resist. I buy a lot of cute stuff from this catalog.
http://www.collectionsetc.com/Item53216.aspx
Jan,
I start them indoors and only take them outside when the weather really starts to warm up. Here in 8b that is by the end of May.....
Yes, I started them inside the house - you will need 2 maximum...they get really big! As Tuink alluded, they are off to a slow start but really get going once the soil heats up.
Suzy
Grampapa, I like using sunflower stalks too. They make sturdy poles especially for use out in the open where wind is a problem. Here's a picture of my mandevilla vine growing up a beheaded sunflower stalk in '06.
I've also used fishing line to connect cypress vines to all the sunflower stalks. Up close it looks like a big spider web until the vines cover it. Standing far away it looks like the vines are reaching for the sky with no support at all.
Tuink - that's what's called "The Three Sisters". There's a thread somewhere that discusses those - and says it will still work fine you just have to be sure that the corn you use isn't hybridized so much that the stalk can't bear the weight of the bean. I guess a lot of the more popular sweet corns have stalks that are a bit wimpy in comparison to other corns.
I used sweet corn and it worked just fine! Except it was too cold for proper cobs, but that's another story......
Yes, that corn likes the heat! You also have to have at least 18 plants to get proper cross pollination to form the corns --planted in a square or rectangle of several rows, not one long row, too.
Suzy -- from Indiana, one of the main corn growing states here.
Yep, heat was then problem. It was definately to cold last summer. Let's hope for a better one this year cause the crop I managed to get tasted really good!
Gram- Thanks for that lnk, they have great prices!
I have a question. I have a pack of seeds that says Pyrenthrum - when I search it on the web I see Feverfew as a result - so this is what I am planning on it being. Does this sound right? Or do you think it's something else? Thanks
This is what I have for pyrethyrun daisy
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/103464/
Hubby says there is a light pink variety as well, but the dark pink is much nicer.
The seed of the Painted daisy type is bigger, similar to a shasta daisy seed, but Feverfew seeds are tiny. Does that help at all? Could easily be either, but Feverfew is more common.
Thank you flower - I remember requesting painted daisies so it is probably that, like you say.
Another question - The red hot poker- Is it right to pull (what appears to be) the seed out and just sow that or should I sow the entire thing? Does any one know what I am talking about? Perhaps you have them as well?
Hmm Gemini I am not sure now. The seeds are rather small they remind me of black eyed susan seeds (kinda).
Lots of chafe- would you get lots of chafe from Painted Daisies?
This message was edited Feb 26, 2008 11:39 AM
That sounds like feverfew seeds to me then. They have a similar shape to rudbeckia, but smaller and a little lighter with lots of chaff. I didn't save any seeds for my pyrethyrun, sorry Mer.
C-Dawg, that's another question. Mandevilla. I saw 2 plants about 9-10' tall of a gorgeous pink one (probably 'Alice DuPont') growing outside a restaurant last fall and fell in love with it. Are they fast growers? Do you grow them from seed? Start them inside ahead? How far ahead? Can they be overwintered? Or do I need to buy plants? Inquiring minds want to know LOL
Thanks flower - What you described is exactly what they look like.
Hmmm....I saw Mandevilla seeds for sale somewhere and wondered about that. I've only seen plants sold, but they can be propagated by cuttings. The tubers can be saved from year to year too, like a dahlia or in the dry pot of soil. They are fast growers when they're happy and quickly cover a trellis.
Sounding like Feverfew seeds to me too. For those the seed is too small to remove the chaff. This is my first try at Painted Daisies, so I've never harvested seed. Mine are wintersown, and from what I've read it will be next year before I see blooms.
I've never seen Painted Daisies grown here, and I'm wondering if they will tolerate our hot, humid summers. Anyone have experience they can share about them?
This message was edited Feb 26, 2008 12:07 PM
Meridith I'm not really sure what you are talking about on the red hot poker seeds, the seeds are black and about an 1/16" maybe?
Painted Daisy will do great in your zone. I've had them for years and they are very good with the heat.
Grampapa, my pink mandevilla was just about dead when I bought her for $1.00 in a gallon pot back in '06. I put her in the ground and she recovered to bloom that year. With mulch, she came back last year stronger than ever. I'm sure she'll come up again this year too. I would think you would need to over winter one in your zone. Maybe planted In a large pot that could be buried, then dug up? First frost with kill the top growth. In your zone, I would recommend digging up the pot and bringing it inside before that happens. I've never tried one from seed.
Oh, GREAT! Thanks Robyn. They should definitely be happy here!
You're very welcome.
Okay - I did the red hot pokers with -what I thought was the seed -in one pack and the other pack -the entire thing (the thing being the old Bloom I think?)
I don't understand the whole bloom thing the seeds once they are ready just flake off when you touch them or shake them must be the bloom I guess :) I hope you get some Meridith they are a pretty bloom!
Flower - are you getting the snow now too?
Oh dear, another synoptic relay just misfired in my brain and I can't for the life of me remember who to send SASE to for Rudbeckia seeds, LOL! I just did a quick run through the threads and must have looked over it.
Forgive me whoever you are, I've lost my mind...and please speak up, I really want those, LOL.
I am about to post the things left in the trays for my co-op-ILUSTRIOUS ILLOQUIN-can you maybe help with the pimping????
Meredith, I can't think of a single instance when somebody called feverfew was a painted daisy...I'm sure the seeds you have are Pyrethrum, and since they are all part of the daisy family, yes, they will be FILLED with chaff.
The only other plant that is sometimes called painted daisy is Chrysanthemum coccinea, which has now been renamed twice in the last 10 years, each time to something totally different, but you can always find it in PFs by looking for "tricolor daisy". This is also part of the daisy family, so also has a lot of chaff.
Fairy, send the link and I'll help you pimp, but not on the grasses because I can't stand them. LOL! Okay, that little yellow Carex is awful cute, but the rest of them are just ODD!
Suzy
Neal, it wasn't I, but if you're looking for the ordinary Black-eyed Susan type of Rudbeckia, I'm pretty sure there's a good packet in my stash that you can have... and plenty more seeds still outside, LOL. Let me know if those are the ones you need.
hi, I have a pkt of Rue graveolens and one that says Deana's 'wild' rue '05 is there a difference between the rues? I'm having trouble finding the difference. -thanks
over the weekend I was able to ws more using cups inside my take-out cake containers
kitty update: tango is in our garage now, no sign of him/her but he is using the litter and eating what I put out. I really don't want this cat doing his business in the garden beds plus eating our birds. hopefully he isn't too ferral and we can take him in before spring :)
Wind, I lost a beautiful juniper from the neighbors cat going in one of my flowerbeds she seem to like that one particular spot, I now have litter boxes in all of my flower beds and I own no cats, I just gave up LOL The litter boxes work in your flower beds only thing is this winter it's been way to wet for them just hope my flowers come back cause they are going all over my beds now that I don't have the liter boxes out there, the lady above us now, the other cat is gone now, has 5 or 6 cats, and they love my flower beds! I must admit even though I'm a dog person, I have taken a liking to her cats and now two of them practicly live here, all of her cats are in for a surprise in the spring they are getting fixed, kelboindy on here lives close to me and i have met her and she is going to help me to get them fixed (she works for the animal rescue or something like that) so we don't have more of them running around there are three females and I know that lady isn't going to fix them she has done told me so but she has no problem with me getting them fixed, isn't that a trip!
Suzy, seems odd to me, but Feverfew, Painted Daisy, and Tansy are all different species of the same Genus:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/adv_search.php?searcher%5Bcommon%5D=&searcher%5Bfamily%5D=&searcher%5Bgenus%5D=Tanacetum+parthenium&searcher%5Bspecies%5D=&searcher%5Bcultivar%5D=&searcher%5Bhybridizer%5D=&search_prefs%5Bblank_cultivar%5D=&search_prefs%5Bsort_by%5D=rating&images_prefs=both&Search=Search&searcher[genus]=Tanacetum
Ooooohh, wouldn't it be cool if they would cross? Pink feverfew would be wonderful!
critter, these were from Irish Eyes, or the other one with green centers. Good grief! I can't even remember those details. I need to watch getting on here before my coffee has done its thing, LOL. Thank you, though; I've already got lots of Goldstrum and am wanting to add some of the larger flowered biennials for cut flowers.
I figured I surely had offered you regular BES (mine are either Goldstrum or something very similar) before now, but I thought I'd just check to be sure! Did I send you Heliopsis helianthoides v. scabra, aka "Not Chocolate Daisy"? LOL That's one of my favorites... blooms first year from winter sown seed, nonstop bright yellow blooms all summer!
Morning all!
Meredith, this is what Red Hot Poker seeds look like. This is a good site to identify or check seeds: http://www.theseedsite.co.uk
