Propagation: Starting seeds, Part 4, 2 by Pfg

Pfg wrote:
Me too... Worked hard today and got a lot done, still soooo much to do. Still pretty cold out there, we're expecting a freeze tonight. Brrrrrrr...

The covered stand is all zipped up and covered with Reemay. All the plants I broughtt out from the city yesterday are in there- snaps, campanulas, dianthus tucked in for the night. Everything that has been outside with no cover still is. No choice, no more room anywhere else. Tomorrow I'll unzip, but leave the Reemay.

So odd how Platycodons grow. Last year I had a bunch of P Hakone Blue from seed. Some went in the ground, some stayed in pots. In the fall I planted a group of them together, expecting to have a nice patch this year. Then over the winter I decided that they are impossible to blend into the color scheme, and planned a blue garden in another area around them. It's said that they are tricky to move, it's best to do it while they are dormant, but I wanted to wait until they were showing. The more mature plants are just coming up, so today was the day. I know there were 7 babies, but digging around gently in the area, I could only find 4. Then I found one in another area that had been overlooked in the fall, making 5.

But here's what's so odd... My 2 original blues came from a friend in mid July, high summer, an artist who just had to get rid of them because she couldn't make them blend into her garden. One wilted, one bloomed its head off, and to my great surprise both came back last year beautifully. In the fall I moved them, because I wanted to put my doubles in that spot. Well, both are up now... But one of them made a baby where I was digging up today. The root is far bigger than the ones from seed, must be a chunk that got left behind last fall. So now I have 4 Hakone doubles and one single in the new 'blue' area.

The other reason for kicking them out of where they were is that I want to put my new P Perlmutters there. They will fit in beautifully with the red roses and soft pinks, lavenders and whites already there. Whew!

Leaving again in the morning, won't be back here until the 24th, but then we're staying for 10 days. Boy, do I need that time in the garden! That's the tail end of the 'early' season for us, planting out date for tender annuals is June 1. Does this happen every spring, first it's too early, too early, too early... Then too late?!