Gardening: Cottage Garden Seed Swap & Chat #33

Good morning :)

Hi SW, that's pretty. I have some of your seeds planted and will keep you posted. Hope all is well out West. We are still pretty cold here. It dipped below freezing again last night.

I liked Klstuart's collage too.

A few of LeBug's salvias are sprouting for us now. I hope I can keep them going... love salvias.

And, I'm excited to report we have one Yvonne's salvia sprouting and some of Critter's Italian basil germinating ^_^

I have gotten lazy I have three flats that have been waiting for seeds all weeks and I still have not planted one seed lol have to wake up and get going soon if I want those annuals this year

Planting Critter's Basil today! Running a bit late with my 4-6 wk seeds... love planting, don't love filling the flats with soil :(

Wind, I posted on the site for Yvonne's salvia, but haven't heard anything yet. If I don't get in touch with them, I'll want to trade for some in the fall! They're gorgeous!

Oh Singing Wolf that is beautiful. I love them colors. I need ayard full of them. : )

I love the lupines but have never seen one of the blooms in person, I keep trying to grow them but haven't found a good space for them to where they will bloom, I'm trying them again this year lol They come up but don't stick around to bloom the next year :( I know they don't like humidity but geesh LOL I've got to see at least one bloom before I give up, SW that's a nice bloom :)

Good luck on your salvias Wind :) My Regeliana selfsows every year they are coming up now and so far that's the only one, I'm wondering if any of my new salvias that I had last year will selfsow but so far haven't seen any other babies, it may have to get a little warmer I'll let you know which ones do if it happens. My artemis is coming back up they don't reseed, that's a good thing as big as they get lol

I have a question please :) I've never grown ageratum and I got some seeds from MamawK, they are up but not sure if I should plant them one by one in six packs or in clumps in 3" pots or how period lol Help :) They aren't all bunched up so that I have to plant them in clumps I can do them in six packs just not sure how they would be the happiest and I want a lot of them lol

you are in a zone six they need full sun in your zone or most of the day and they bloom the second year not the fist and remember to plant them two years in a row and keep adding some seeds since they by annuals so blooms every other years unless seeded two consecutive years and I just cut the spikes when they have seeds in them and put them in the middle of the patch so the seeds will germinate on the spot

Thanks scicciarella, I'll keep trying the lupines, I have for a while now lol They come up but then they are gone in the middle of the summer maybe they need more water do they like moisture? Should I water that part of my bed more maybe that's it, I did water it more last year but still didn't have any luck with them, it gets full sun it looks like it anyway :) They get about four inches high then they are gone. I have clay soil too.

Lea the same thing happened to my Morello Cherry Lupines I started last year. Maybe you should try the wild type. I did both last year and I didn't have any problems with the wild type. Just the Morello Cherry. Usually when I see people saying they have problems with growing them they are the russel types or other selections. If mine bloom this year I will be sure to save some seeds for you if you'd like. Wildflowers are abit slower to get established so I don't know if they'll bloom for sure. I planted some I bought one year and one of the two didn't bloom and you could tell it was in it's second year because it was just as big as the one that did bloom. Then the next year the one that hadn't bloomed did and the other one didn't come back at all. So I def. think they act like biennials or short lived perennials. I am still secretly hoping the ones I lost during mid summer just went dormant and decide to show themselves in spring. ;)


had to add spaces -lol

This message was edited Mar 25, 2009 7:16 PM

Lea, its typically up in late May when it has warmed up really good before I start seeing Salvia seedlings.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed with the Lupines too. A member in Cincinnati had success with them, so there's my ray of hope, LOL.

today I sat to have a coffee and had the camera lol the birds didnt ever care that I was less than three feet from them,

and it didnt stop for two hours

Mona those birds are so cute! It looks like you have them trained to come get treats from you! lol

LeaBug. I do the ageratum in 6 packs. When ya plant them out they will spread and dpeendign what they planetd next too can get tall too.

I did a bed for the college that was Blue plumbago, coreopsis moonbean and had abotu 50 blue ageratums fillign the space in between and it gre wup beautifulyl and became a giant butterfly magnet.

oh yes I have been feeding what seems like the birds for about 18 months they know that at 9am I will come out and fill the feeders and put out the peanutes so they are all there just waiting for me, DH says they are smarter that than the average human hahah
of course they are lol

Lebug, I agree with Star, I plant my Ageratun 'Leilani Blue' in 6 packs. These are a taller variety - 15 inches tall. I use them as fillers between my daylilies, here is a picture. They do reseed themselves, but I always grow 6 - 12 plants so to get an earlier bloom.

scicciarella, thanks for the info. on the lupines. I always wondered why I have problems with them. I'm growing the 'tutti frutti' from seed this year.

I asked tcs about the ageratum yesterday and she sent me a link to them and it said they were pink, white and blue these seeds are red do you think they are ageratum? The pack she sent me was from a trade so it wasn't something she grew unless she just didn't use all of the seeds, I had quite a few germinate so I had plenty of seeds :)

Toofew, that’s a wonderful idea to plant them around your daylilies I like that! I have some wild ones here that I had to take out of my beds because they were taking over I’ll have to save some seeds from the ones in my field and plant them around my daylilies I don’t think they could take them over :)

Neal, this year I’m getting rid of a bunch of salvias, I had a bed for them but for some reason I just don’t care for them, I’ve tried them for a couple of years now well, maybe longer than that lol I don’t like the foliage on them, there’s not enough of it but I still want to see if they come back, I’ll watch for them around May :) I like the plants that have the foliage plus the blooms lol

Meredith, I transplanted a couple of runners to the carnation gold yarrow for you last week and they are doing good they will be ready to send when you are ready for them :)

Which lupines are the wild ones, yes, save me some seeds to that one if you get a few this year, maybe I will have better luck with those :) I’m always wishing they just went dormant but they never come back!

Nice pictures of the birdies Mona! My holly tree out front has been full of cedar wax wings here lately, they are so pretty looks like someone dipped their tail in yellow paint lol I can watch them from the living room :) This is my first year for them that I have noticed I'm always watching the cardinals in that tree I've never seen these before, from what I understand these are migrating right now.

Seandor, how are your plants doing in the basement, it's 60 dgrees down there now with the lights on where mine are and the plants are doing good except for my Gaillardia Tojaker the leaves in them are starting to turn pink? I'm sure the plants are warmer under the lights. Seems like my gaillardia did something like that last year.

Well, I think I may have made a mistake using plastic takeout dishes for some seeds - they seem to dry out too fast.

In the past, as soon as seeds germinated, even before they had their first true leaves I would pot them up - and this worked well. But then I learned I was doing everything incorrectly and that I shouldn't pot them up until they had 2 sets of true leaves - well, the seedlings are either dying from being too dry or too wet or from dampening off - or whatever . . . sigh . . . Managed to wipe out the Mixed Fantasia petunias . . . . so this weekend, I will put all the seedlings into six packs, regardless of size. I have never had problems before, and they grew just fine.

Thanks for asking, LeBug

Lea -- you got those seeds from ME?

when I transplant mine I still put the dome on them for a while and maybe its the soil you are using since it is drying out to fast that is not good I got extra domes and I still put the pots in a flat so they dont drip all over so I still put the dome on and take it off for a few hours in the evening and do it long over a period of a couple of weeks and then leave it off when I know the roots are good
if it works better for you to pick them small then do it, sometimes what works for one doesnt for the other and honey I lost all my petunias to so dont feel bad did them twice and lost them twice to I will be petunia less this year but will have nolanas lol oh well
poop happens

Oh no tcs, I didn't get those seeds from you I got them from MamawK, I was just saying the link that you sent me about those ageratum said they come in pink, blue and white and was wondering about the red they didn't say anything about having red ageratum, I've never grown them before either :) Looks like I have some now though lol

I found it in the plantfiles:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/77523/

Seandor, when I was selling plants everything went well until one year nothing went right, I think sometimes mother nature just throws a screwdriver in our spokes to make us sit back and take another look :) I had been doing seeds for a few years and that year nothing went right!

make sure you wash your hand with a disinfecting soap before transplanting because if you have stuff on your hand not thinking lol clean the stove or did laundry a very small amount of certain things will kill the seedlings

and make sure you do not sit in the sun to do it that will hurt them also and let them be a little on the dry side and then put them in new moist not wet soil it will help them be happy in their new homes

SingingWolf,
Should I soak the Gourd, popcorn and Indian corn seeds? Should they be started in the GH with heat? Thanks.

I just finished doing some six packs to drain and forgot to say thanks guys for letting me know to put my ageratum in them :)

I had the ageratum that came in the different colors I sent out folks. Think it was oens from the Hawaian Series colors , if I remmebrign right.

I went to thew Callaway Garden flower show yesterday. Was really disappointed. I cam eout with onyl one plant. A nice full oen gallon pot fo some thign called Armeria " Joystick Red' It has the funniest bloom on it. Looks just liek a kids joy stick toy.

Nevr grown armeria before, has anybody else that can tell em about it and if it can be divied easily and if it will make seed to save. When it quts rainign enough will get camera and take pic.

Coulnd't find anythign I didn't have or wasn't so outragoeusly priced, ened up spendign my plant money I had saved to buy 29 packs of cookies and browine s from the cancer run for relay life booth. Ya know things was bad when I buying sweets instead of plants LOL

Ella, I've been wanting to go to Callaway Gardens sometime. My parents have been there, and I thought my DD would like the butterfly house. Do they have wonderful gardens? What time of year is best?

It expensive to get in, last tiem i checke d was like 20 or 25 bucks a person.

The buterfly house is amazign and so is the one huge gardens . It fileld with tulips right now and later after the tulips done wil be fileld with veggie s that they selland fruits.

They have ltos to see and it an allday thing. I would go soon as they have one section too that is all Azealas and they bloomign right now.

They have restraunts arudn too expensive btu good food and wear yoru swin suit or brign it cuz can go swimign and their boatign and fishing and the raptor house and such.

it a nice place to see and spend the day. The flower show is in a tent in differnt area so ya dont have to pay to go to it. But they have flower shop inside callaway to ya cna buy stuff.

the flower show is coming up not sure if its this week end or next will have to check my emails since they always send me one lol they know a sap that will spend all her money righ so they want to make sure they get my donation lol

This message was edited Mar 27, 2009 8:06 AM

I grew up about 30 min. away from Longwood Gardens in PA, so nothing else really ever compares (including Kew Gardens, IMHO) , but they don't have the butterflys and Callaway is a lot closer now than Longwood :(

just checked lol out bloom show is not till the first week end in may

Klstuart, I'm going to pamper those Yvonne's salvias and will be glad to share seeds if I'm lucky with it. I tried salvia bonfire last year and just loved that red salvia. I have to be careful where I plant things this year...I have a feeling we are going to get parts of our yard dug up to tie in to our city sewer...septic troubles...need I say more.

SW, if we do another seed swap I would love to try your popping corn next time. It sounds so interesting to put the cob in the microwave to make popcorn. I love the burgundy color of it; by now you all know I love that color.

LeBug, nice to know your Regeliana selfsows. Your Artemis salvia is just starting to germinate now too! So, I guess I should treat Artemis like a perennial. I'm glad to hear it comes back for you.

Star, a few of the snaps are sprouting...they are so tiny. I seem to recall Suzy saying as soon as they come up to put them outside. Does anyone remember? I think I forgot about that and have them planted in with plants that need to stay under the lights.

I think I also goofed by starting sunflowers indoors. They are already a few inches taller than everything else.

here is a photo of my 2 Yvonne's seedlings that are being pampered.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=6319864

these were sown indoors in a south facing window.

and this was out of 30 seeds!

I'm hoping my other pots do better.

I have some being WS'ed and some [28 seeds] on a heat mat.. where a few of them have germinated, but are about a 1/16 of an inch tall.

Wind the snaps can go outside early. I think they can even take freezing temps as long as they're protected from frost. Mine have been outside for a few weeks with temps in the lower 30's some nights and they're fine. I keep them up against my potting shed where they get mostly shade. A couple nights when it got down around 30 I stuck them inside the shed (unheated) to make sure they didn't get any frost.

Great info on snaps I have some under lights with 3 sets of leaves, so Ibetter get a move on with them.

Tcs- My Yvonnes still aren'tup maybe I should sow the rest in a single pot just in case. I think I only put about 5 seeds per cell. Do you think the heat mat is helping? I can put them on it if so. :)

Meredith... i think on the heat mat, they took about 5 days for germination... and out of 28 seeds, i maybe have 5 right now... though i'm sure more will pop up when ready. **praying**

in the window -- i think i had mentioned about 2 weeks... 10 days, maybe.

I did not do anything "special", no soaking, no peroxide.. nothing. So - i really dont know which is the best route to go.

those are good lucky seedlings wow very handsome, love it when everything is done right and the plants look so healthy
finally got off my but and sowed a flat and started the other only two more to go yes for this round and then only one more round the four weekers the third week of april so these will all be up before I do that

checked this morning and have a bunch of hostas coming up yes twelve different kinds went in and I am seeing little babies for most of them so exciting, those will be babied all summer in pots and planted out in the late fall in a special bed for a couple of years and then moved to there permanent positions which will exist by then I hope lol

well time to finish that planting be back later

we've got a cold gloomy day here. I was hoping to get outside today, but not sure that will happen.

It's sunny and about 55° here. I've made cleaning the beds a priority today as the perennials are coming up pretty steadily now. Yay....now I have a REAL excust to blow off the housework. I'm sure I won't get it all done, but if I can just get the raking done around all the new shoots I'll be happy.

I'm still waffling over starting a few more things, but I think I've finally realized that I've reached my limits. The last of the marigolds are starting to sprout as are the basils and I have the canna and castor seeds soaking. I'll probably give the 4'oclocks a little head start too, but other than that I think I can pack the seed bags away for another year.

I havent done many annuals yet.

I still have to do Zinnias, Marigolds and tomatoes for sure. OH and some Morning Glories... sometimes with them, i'll just stick the seed in the ground where i want them to grow.