ha ha Fairy ;) I saved mine last year and it was gone in no time not sure which birds took it. Oh I guess they are called orieos, whatever you know what I mean lol I got a whole bunch of pink milkweed seeds off of my plant tonite and the milkweed babies were getting ready to get in them I sprayed them with alcohol and they are in bug heaven now, that works on them when they get bigger too :) Just don't spray it on the flowers and late in the evening when the flutters aren't out. Works on june bugs but it takes more really not worth that, haven't found anything other than soap and water for them, it kills blister beetles deader than a door nail lol I got rid of a whole swarm of them! Well a few swarms so far this year.
Cottage Garden Seed Swap & Chat #14
tcs, the huskers seed pods actually get sort of dried brown and will start to crack open when ready to harvest.
I'm no expert, but you may be able to pick them unripe too. I received seeds from a DGer for a eucomis and they were green and I thought they would never work, but sure enough they continued to ripen to the dried brown stage well after they were picked. They germinated fine. Seeds are pretty remarkable.
Yes Wind, those are 'silky gold' aren't they pretty!
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/53105/
I wonder why your seedlings of the little joe pye weed died, I only got two plants, one in each jug and they are blooming right now and about three feet high by the time I take pictures they should be in full bloom, I'm excited cause I've never seen them before and I love my big JPW :) I didn't take them out of the jugs until I planted them lol they were at least a foot then. I kept mine in full sun in the jugs.
Did anyone get the chocolate joe pye weed from me? I wonder how it's doing. Is the foliage bronze? I only have two plants of that too and it's in a weedy place so I want to plant more of that too, I'll have to check them out in the plantfiles to see how tall they are suppose to get cause I don't think mine are even two feet tall, I though they would get taller than that and they are two years old this year. They have white blooms but the foliage is pretty they say they won't come true but these did I think.
I too think i would like to have PINK MW. sounds fun.
i already have scarlet and butterfly weed, which are yellow -- or at least mine are.
and they bloomed first year, which i'm tickled to see. thought they were second year bloomers.
Star, those milkweeds are probably annual for you but they may reseed, I have some that reseeded but they are just now coming up. Here is what I have and want to plant more of, I do have a lot of bloodflower and silky gold this year again but I have one pink, three orange, one cinderella, and two purple milkweeds in other places, I've planted 12 purple milkweeds but only have about 7 of them left don't know what happened there and I'm planting a bunch of orange for next year, pink, purple and more cinderela then let my self seeders go next year too they'll be pretty extras in the garden next year :) Seems to me the orange and pink bloom the first year too even though they are perennials. The purple milkweeds aren't suppose to bloom for three years that's why you don't see that many seeds traded around, not sure about the cinderela. Oh, my purple milkweeds that I've had for several years never have produced seeds but the foliage is pretty, dark thick green leaves with red viens running through them, and I'll save you some pinks 8)
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/539/
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/54062/
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/81058/
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/73/
This is perfect! I've been running around DG all week trying to figure out which milkweeds are hardy in my area. This was my first year to grow it, and I planted the Scarlet which of course will be an annual for me. I have a neighbor who asked for a "start" from it and told him it would not come back for us, but that I would do some research and find him a perennial. All input welcome here. I think he would prefer to purchase plants as I think he will want blooms ASAP, or I can start seeds for him if it is a quick bloomer. What do you experienced milkweeders recommend?
Thank you for thinking of me with the Husker's Star. I am definitely cutting back next year, but there are still a few things on my wish-list that I'd like to add.
Speaking of cutting back.... ....this year was insane. LOL! Between the 400 bazillion seeds I started and all the co-ops in which I participated I've worked at planting like it was a full time job. Here we are in August and I'm finally ready to relax and enjoy my summer and it's almost over! But I'm glad I did what I did. I am currently "between jobs" for the first time in almost 25 years and I know I will never have another summer like this one until the day I retire. So I gave the garden my all this year and hopefully now have enough bones planted and rubbish cleared away to make lighter work of the years to come.
I opened one of my husker red pods up. Had them just sittign on the counter. First time I saved the seeds from them. If you gently pick at the outside shell, you see a what looks like a hard seed in the center, but I found that the seeds are very teeny tiny and about 6 seeds per seed pod and they not the thing in the center.
If ya look very closely while peeling the outside off, the tiny seeds are between the outside coat and that big thing in the center. The actual seds looklike dust.
I never seen or heard of pink Mw. I have the orange and the yellow here that I just let grow wild. I collect a few pods and the rest a let go for the wind to blow as it will. Wish I would have known about the birds liking to use the fluff. I throw my out in the trash. next time I wil throw mine outside.
JPW is a weed here. Some folks eat it when it young, but basically is gets destroyed. The birds eat the seeds and drop em and the darn things come up everywhere.
Lala. I wil save ya seeds, but if ya want a plant, in a couple of weeks when it cools down, can send ya a plant. They starting to go dormant here, be better to let them go down pretty much and then about that time they could spend the winter in your yard growing more roots an divisions. Least the plants wil bloom fo rya next year.
OOO Lea-I love the cinderella!!
Yes Fairy, I just hope to get seeds from mine this year come to think of it I need to check that plant it's in the wild bird garden and I haven't looked at it for about a week lol
Star, OMG, how can you call JPW a 'weed' lol You are right it is, but it's a beautiful weed, there were a few of them in the field next to us but they started mowing that field a few years ago and now I never see any I'm glad I collected the seed and growing it in my yard now and you can trim it when it gets maybe three feet and it will be shorter and stouter but I let mine grow however it wants to and it stands up to the winds here, it gets about as tall as I am and I'm 5'4", the butterflies love it, there is very seldom a moment when the butterflies aren't on it and I always have a lot of insects on it plus praying mantis :) The field, next to us, hasn't been mowed this year and there are no JPW's ;(
Those husker's red seeds aren't quite like dust, they are like chips almost three sided and very hard, you can see them, yours may not be developed yet. When the seeds are ready you crack the seed pod the rest of the way and they just fall out, they are small but you can see them and plant them one at a time if you want :) I wish some of my other penstemon seeds were that easy to collect.
I just save my fluff from the milkweeds for the spring, not sure if they are making nests now or not though I did see a robin collecting next material the other day, I never see any orioles here anymore, I bought a feeder a couple of years ago but there is only so much I can keep up with around here lol I would love to try and attract them though, my neighbor before he died had all kinds of food out for the birds and attracted a bunch of different ones and we had orioles then and got to see their nest and it was really cool hanging from a tree limb. I've been trying to attract quail with no luck so I think I'm going to do my wild bird garden in and make it more presentable lol It looks so strange in the middle of the field and the weeds are almost as tall as I am lol Maybe I'll pick a corner out in the top of the field for it but there's more shade up there which might be a good thing with the summers being so hot anymore, I don't think the guy with the storage sheds would appreciate my wild bird garden so close to his storage sheds he's getting ready to build but I don't appreciate him building them either lol
La, I go thru the coops and seedlings trying to get them in the ground every year that's part of the reason I want to take kind of a break for next year lol
Well I saw where the bloom fell off of the cinderella but I see no seed pods yet, I'm really not sure if that one is cinderella or purple milkweed, There are a couple more of those plants there too that I'm not sure if they are C or P :) Seems like I did get seeds off of one of them last year, sometimes I think I have too many plants to keep up with lol
Does anyone have English Marigolds? [Calendula officinalis]
I got the seeds from someone in the swap .... and i've begun collecting them, but i can't tell if all that 'stuff' is seeds or not ... if so, each flower head gives off 100's.
I posted in the Seed Collecting forum, and so far it's unread/answered.
Here you go tcs, the third one down should be them, if it went back to the first page at the bottom you can click on the alphabet and find what you want :)
Lea -- i'm assuming you meant to attach a link.
and -- i guess i know what the seed looks like, sorta half-mooned and spikey .... I'm more wondering if ALL the stuff i collected is seeds. It surely seems that way. I have yet to sit to sort it all ... but most of it seems like seeds and very little chaffe stuff.
I guess i should add a photo of what i have.
LOL Sorry, I was off to water plants then I'm back in trying to find how to start strawberry seeds on here lol My mind wonders lol
http://www.theseedsite.co.uk/db3a.html
I have this site bookmarked but never think to use it myself but I think about it when others ask questions LOL
Oh WInd-I am sorry-I got so excited about the milweed!!LOL Are you in the exchange??
hi, yes I'm in the exchange, but you can just wait until the next swap if you want and keep me in mind :)))
tonight I gathered some seeds of the canna indica and of hollyhock creme de cassis
this is the job's tears and weez's petunia blues
either way is fine for me:) JLMK...why is it called Job's tears-it's just grassy????
Fairy, ít's because of the seeds! they look like beads.....
Want to see something typically Dutch? This is what we went to see last Saturday: http://i208.photobucket.com/albums/bb270/AnkeFreese/Slideshows/5ef0858e.swf
It may take some time to open, so please be patient!
This is when we were still having fun. When we went back to the car we found it wrecked because a load of steel pipes had fallen on top of it.....
Hello, all!
I am new to this forum and would like to know when you have your plant and seed swaps. I am just getting back into gardening after a series of operations and it feels good to clean out the gardens.
I have a few silly questions, as I used to have a White Daisy Garden, and now I would like to transform it into a Cottage Garden. Is there a suggested list of plants, ir anything goes? I was thinking more on the lines of what kinds of plants that would be in an English garden, though not all will take the heat of the summer, such as Delphiniums. Maybe I could try the annual Larkspur. Has anyone had luck with that in a hot-summer area? Also, I will have plants and eventually seeds to trade as well. Do you have a special time when you do this?
Thanks so much!
Evelyn
One place that I always look for xterierscape plants is in the High Country Gardens catalog-that is what they specialize in-heat tolerant plants...
tcs - My penstemon huskers red are still green as well, I think I remember collecting them at the end of aug last year. Penstemon seeds are one of the more difficult seeds to germinate. I have even gotten extra packs included in orders due to the vendor knowing them to be difficult. They do best with cold stratification and germinate best at cool temperatures. I will let you know when mine are ready to collect if that helps. Usually I just check them often and when you notice one has popped open it's time to collect. : )
Hi Evelyn. : ) Welcome to our lil chat. : ) I'm not sure when these little seed piggies are gonna do their swapping again. Maybe someone will come along, that knows more than I do. : )
~Lucy
thanks Meredith -- i'll start looking towards the end of the month.
I got my seeds from a generous person on here [i think] just lots of seeds when i first stumbled in here [or that other site]
think i got them for postage.... but they all germinate very well for me .... since i didnt really know what i was doing when i first began with WS.
but funny thing about seeds and germination ... some folks have no troubles with certain seeds, and i can't get them to germinate to save my life, and vise versa.
Well - heading up north soon ... so over the next few weeks i may just be a lurker.... VERY slow and spotty internet connection.
Terese
Hey gang - not much to report, spent the past few days at my sis's. Thanks again for the birthday wishes - I didn't gain weight, but tried!
Welcome to our chats Evelyn! Not sure when we'll have the next round of seeds, but I'm willing to bet we do!
Went out to water the veggie garden a few days ago and the Fennel that I started from seed was being completely devoured by the caterpillars of the Western Swallowtail! Talk about flummoxed! I gave up and let them devour the one they were on, and was thankful that I thought to plant them in various spots around the garden. I'm hoping as they troop through the yard they only find one at a time, and I'm also hoping the plants are mature enough to withstand the wandering grazers. Next year I gotta be sure to plant more things they like!
Sis finished getting all the grass out of the front, so today I'm getting that hauled to the composter and starting to put things in the ground. Finally!!! My garden will look good just about the time frost hits.
hi everyone :)
welcome evelyn :)
I'm so tired....today was one of those days...I had a big exam today and when I got home my dog and I were attacked by the wasps that I was trying to save. The darn things attacked "Holly" my dog, then when I tried to rescue Hol with the hose etc, they attacked me!!! I got stung alot; then to make matters worse, one got under my shirt and came in the house with me and stung me again! Anyhow, I feel fine now.....all the stings have gone, and the dog seems ok too. What a day, but this was a new bloom of today from the swap :)
Wind - were those yellowjackets or wasps? Some yellowjackets can be mean as well as some types of wasps. What color were they? I am glad the stings did not last as some can last a long time and be quite powerful. Glad you and Holly are OK.
Tuin, your Dutch video was wild and wonderful! What were you celebrating besides the harvest? Loved the alliums and the hippie "float."
No celebrations, I'm afraid. Just for fun! And to show off what we can grow......
Well, you guys rock! What a hoot. And the flowers and veggies, wow.
Ok, starlight1153, I will try to get some brug seeds . . . I haven't been had time to read all this thread in detail . . . maybe this evening . . . so, I hope I haven't offended anyone by not responding to something important . . .
Thanks evelyn, I believe they are wasps...
This is one of the few blooms on the summer showers geranium. We made such a fuss over it and it was pretty exciting starting it from seeds, but I don't think I would go out of my way to get it again. I think it is pretty but not really a prolific bloomer, for us anyway. Did anyone have better luck with it?
Your rudbeckia is pretty wind, is that one of the rustic colors by any chance :) I'm wondering about the geranium summer showers, mine are burgundy but I have one pink one with a strike of burgundy in it lol I'm trying to save seeds but the little things fall off most of the blooms before I can get to them, I deadhead a lot too cause I want it to keep blooming, but I let one or two go to seed each time, I haven't gotten any seeds yet :( I have two planters of them one is doing great the other not so well, I'll show them when I take pictures :)
We are having showers off and on today so I'm trying to pull weeds from my beds that crab grass grows way too fast and just about the time I think I've got all of the violets in one spot they start coming up again and I'm digging all of the bulbs, go figure! We're having bad storms this evening, at least it's rain :) It should make for nice planting this weekend when it cools off.
I'm excited by my sightseeing mix from the stokes swap, so far I have purple and white that has come out of it and I have another trying to bloom that looks to be pink but it hasn't opened up all the way yet, is anyone getting any yellow or do veronicas not come in yellow I wonder.
LeBug glad to see and a few other Dg folsk posting after hearing about the tornadoe or hurricane whatever it was that did so much damage there in In especially.
If a couple of varieties of Scabiosa are annuals, why ouldn't another cultivar be the same if they all from seed and all from the same genus and species?
Ebony and Ivory is listed as an annual yet Beaujolais Bonnets is a hardy perennial. Can't figure that one out. ( scratches head in puzzlement)
I been huntign through all the catalogs and tryign to figure out what seed I gonan get to grow for next year and hopefulyl have rain for them.
Been looking for different things and came across Silene catyophyllaceae ( Catchfly) " Jack Frost." Anybody grow it before ?
Thanks Seandor, whatever ya can get would be appreciated.
Morning all!
Wind, I have the same experience with the summer shower pelargonium. Mine also has lots of leaves and magenta flowers. I grow ivy leave pelargonium as well and in fact they look quite identical except that the latter started blooming much earlier and much more abundantly.
Lebug, as far as I know Veronica's only come in white, pinks and purples.
I have now, officially given up the battle against the weeds. They've won and taken over. All I'm doing now is harvesting: seeds but also fruits and veggies. Anyone care for strawberries, I can't stand them anymore.....
Star, I grew the jack flash this year and have asked on here a few times so I don't think anyone else is growing it unless they just missed my questions about it, they just aren't growing, I started these in the house under lights and they are still not even three inches tall, a very small plant, not sure if I should go ahead and plant it or just pot them up to another size, I really want this plant, I have no red flowers in my middle bed besides the red phlox. I think I'll plant one today to see what it will do, it's been raining out so it should be a good time to plant it, they don't look all that healthy in their little pots. Oops, you are talking about jack frost, I want to know about jack flash lol I haven't grown jack frost sorry.
Do all of the Silenes grow this slow or is it just me?
Star, we haven't had that much bad weather this year I think Suzy is getting most of it but the storms last night was below us, we did get some much needed rain though and the storms below us looked like they were going to be pretty bad on the weather last night with tarnado warnings. We've just been lucky this year. The storms that worry me are the freak ones in the winter, I think we did have a small tarnado in the back this winter, took a few trees out of my neighbors and the top off of our outhouse and laid it right down two trees over and didn't touch those two trees! really strange, the top to our outhouse was about 50' from the outhouse in a straight line with two trees in the middle lol
Well I hope I get more of the pinks and whites of the sightseeing mix, this is one white that I really like and I don't have many pinks so they will be welcomed too :)
Tuink, thanks so much for the glorious slide show! It just reconfirms why I must visit your country before I leave this planet! Such amazing displays!
So many of the plants started from seed that came from many of you are cranking out blooms now- such a wonderful sight in these hot days of summer!
These Ox Eye sunflowers from critter get prettier every day.
I love these Salvia coccinea from ansofan. Such a vivid color, but the little red sprinkles throughout the bed are subtle at the same time.
Tithonia from tabasco, and one of their frequent visitors.
Magellan Zinnias, also from tabasco. The Magellan series are my very favorite zinnias to date. I'm going to experiment with saving seed from them and see what happens. At $4 a pack of 25 seed, its certainly worth a try.
