Mid-Atlantic Gardening: WHAT'S HAPPENING TO THE MID-ATLANTIC FORUM?????, 1 by Gitagal

Gitagal wrote:
Patti--

I will give some of these a shot......

Clematis---yes, those puffy things are seed heads. WHERE the seeds are in it--i do not know.
Probably at the base of each of those feathery things....

That red plant--all leggy--I have seen it and grown it--but cannot remember the name.
Is it--"blood"---something????
Anyway--it seems to be, in texture, the same as Imatiens and Coleus--water-filled stems...
I would say you could easily cut off about 2"-3" from the top and put it in fresh soil mix to root.
After years of propagating--I am no longer a fan of the water method.
Right into soil does it for me!

Your white Datura is the native form of the fancier Daturas. I believe it is also called
"Jimson Weed"???? This version will come back every year....and, it it fairly fragrant.
This version also is lanky and viney. It tends to flop all over--vs. the more advanced varieties,
like the ones I have, that grow in stiff, upright stems and can spread to 4'x4'.

You cannot hasten the pods on a Datura to ripen. They take their time.....Around October--you need
to check every other day to see if any of them pods have split open.
THEN you can cut them off of the plant and remove the seeds to dry. NOT before! DO NOT pull by hand!!!
The pods will fall apart in your hand. CUT!

I grow my daturas from seed--and in a timely fashion, plant them outside-- sometime beg. of May.
My pods are just now starting to ripen/split! I check them often. You do not want to let them go
too long--as the pods will spill all their seeds on the ground. Sometimes--they literally "pop"...
**DO NOT cut them off before they split. The seed is not ready!

You asked for some of these seeds from me--please remember what I have written here....

Gita

Here is a plate-full of ripe Datura seed pods I picked a couple of years ago.
You can see how "pithy" the outer coating is. It falls apart at the touch.
Tonight--I harvested an average-sized pod from my Yellow Datura--anf just for the heck-
I counted how many seeds were in there. 210!!!!!