Propagation: the key to cleome...., 1 by skip2525

skip2525 wrote:
I had my first cleome in pots on my deck and porch (from a six-pack of small plants), and now I can't get rid of them in my garden! Last summer the unexpected second wave of seedlings actually choked out my zinnia seeds in one garden bed. Between the wind and the birds, those doggone seedlings are showing up everywhere. In fact, two summers later I've even got a little patch of them growing in a gravel walkway (they don't seem to need much depth to root successfully). As an experiment in hardiness, I decided to let the ones in the gravel grow for a while instead of weeding them out. I never watered or encouraged them in any way, and they are doing just fine, though they are certainly a bit smaller than the original plants from two summers ago. I understand that climate differences are probably at work somehow, but based on my experiences I simply can't imagine any problems in germination for this aggressive re-seeder.