And "Rocket White" "Rocket Pink" and "Rocket Yellow". Rock On !!!!
Jon
Burpee coneflowers
Those snaps are beautiful! I think that I have some seeds left from the ws failures. I'm going to have to get them going soon. I like the T&M site, too.
I saw that one good thing came from the mislabeled gaillarda, though...the goldfinches were going crazy in them today..good thing for them that I haven't had a chance to deadhead for a while!
The Rocket Snaps have good heat tolerance also. Of the few different tall varieties of snaps I grow each year they are always the last to die out here in the summer. Generally snapdragons are a winter annual here in South Florida and most of them die out in early May. I still have some Rocket Snaps alive and it's almost July. The bees are obsessed with the gaillardia here. You have to be very careful when deadheading.
Here's another tall snapdragon that did well this winter-spring. It's named "Plum Blossom" and the seeds came from Burpee.
Jon
I have had relatively good success with Burpee seeds even with their peat potted plants.
I agree and even ordered a few peat potted plants last spring that did well.
In reading all your letters, I'm finding many of you are starting some of the new coneflowers from seed. Could someone possibly direct me to seed sources?
Carol M. Macsie
I bought mine from Lowe's & Calloway's. I sometimes don't trust the mail as the seeds may get damaged from either being crushed or from the xray mach's .. I don't know if they get zapped but I find rare success from seeds mailed to me.
I bought most of my Echinacea seeds from either Swallowtail Garden Seeds (www.swallowtailgardenseeds.com) or Park Seed (www.parkseed.com) or Thompson & Morgan (www.tmseeds.com) or Diane's Flower Seeds (www.dianeseeds.com). When I receive the seeds I refrigerate them for at least a week. I then soak the seeds for 24 hours in water. Then I plant them on top of the soil in small 2 inch x 2 inch square seed starting containers in Miracle Gro Seed Starting Mix. I do not cover the seeds with soil as light helps the germination process. I just sprinkle them with a little vermiculite to hold the seeds in place. I then bottom water the small containers. Every 2 or 3 days I'll give them a light gentle misting. They usually will germinate in about 7-10 days. They grow very slow at first and its usually 4-6 weeks before I transfer them into small 4 inch pots. I would guess my germination rate is around 75-80%.
Here is a photo of my Echinacea "Primadonna White" on June 10. They were started from seed ordered from park seed in the spring of 2008. I noticed parkseed no longer has them available but swallowtailgardens does and I've had good success with their seeds. Hope this information is somewhat helpful.
Jon
Awww...there you go again, Jon, lol! Now I'm going to need that one, too...Never enough, right? I grew Pink Parasol from seed. Of course it took them a year to bloom, but my first ones opened just this week. And, yes I hovered;))
Agreed. Never enough variety when it comes to coneflowers. Love them outside and love the way they will last at least a week in a vase. I grew a couple of Pink Parasol last year. They were the fastest growing coneflower from seed for me. Unfortunately neither of the 2 plants came back this spring. Oh well, at least it made some more room out front to put new ones in. No worries.
in your area coneflowers would be up all year they would not go dormant mmm wonder what happened
They go through a different type of dormancy here. Most of them don't bloom at all or very seldom from Nov-March. The foliage stops growing and much of it slowly dies back during the winter. That variety (Pink Parasol) may have been more sensitive to water issues. Perhaps I overwatered it when I should have been cutting the water back due to less foliage usually meaning less need for water. I watered them all the same in this one area and they all came back except the 2 Pink Parasols. They were replaced with an "Elton Knight" and "Virgin" Echinacea this spring. Win a few, lose a few I guess.
its always trial and error when it comes to planting in different zones, I have no problem growing all kinds of them have never lost one yet but I have lost other plants that should do great like jacobs ladder it started growing then it died lol dont know why
Amorecuore, that yellow Gaillardia is a weed here!!!! I have planted some purple coneflower seeds in a container & I already have a few sprouts!!!!! I am very pleased!
Very nice cindylove. "High fives" to ya!!! The Mesa Yellow Gaillardia is very new and I see seeds are now coming out for it online. Some of the Gaillardia's (Goblin) are struggling right now, but a couple of others are doing pretty good (Oranges & Lemons, Amber Wheels and Mesa Yellow).
Jon
they are beautiful & at first I thought they were not weeds, but they grow rampant here in the fields so I guess they are considered weeds! hahaha
Or just wildflowers to your area. Every area of the country has something that's unique to their area and just grows on it's own. Last week I was driving across South Florida on "Alligator Alley" from Ft Lauderdale to Naples, FL and everywhere in the Everglades were these pink hibiscus in bloom. It was really pretty neat to see.